good camera (1 Viewer)

Hey.. help!

I don't see where I should put this question - sorry if this is the wrong place!


I have quite an old Canon EOS. I find my bird pictures very poor. Yeah.. may storks still go - but those are 'slow' and 'large'. And their quality is discussionable (see eventually http://www.historvista.com/historvista/tl3/view0008343.php4. Even in Rocamadour my bird pictures were lousy (http://www.historvista.com/historvista/tl3/view0006301.php4

What kind of camera would give good pictures from fast birds?? 99 % of the my trials ended un in the garbage can....:C

Hi Jan

I've moved your post to the Camera forum and subscribed you to the thread so you don't lose track of it.

It would help if you could give some idea of your budget.

Jan

While a camera may help, the real issue is technique. Many of the images in the link you shared are backlit, during the middle of the day, or with other challenges. The combination of better technique and a little experience with editing will vastly improve your bird images.

Photography of fast birds in flight takes top level technique, lots of practice, and to some extent equipment that can be expensive. The technique and practice are free - and money is better invested in classes or instruction rather than camera gear. Normally you can practice with fat, slow birds that are easy to find. Here in the US, pigeons make good practice subjects.

Thanks!

Just a note in case you're practising on Pigeons and getting disheartened:

Pigeons are one of the fastest flyers in level flight of all birds (not wind assisted etc), if they was slow flyers Peregrines would be able to catch them without the fast stoop AFAIK, there is no bird that can keep up with a healthy Pigeon, no Hawks and not even Peregrines.

So... if I was you I'd practice on Gulls

Good point, Chris.

I was referring to small flocks of fat, slow, well fed pigeons - attracted if necessary with a small bag of seed to provide adequate modeling fees.

ericbowles said:

Good point, Chris.

I was referring to small flocks of fat, slow, well fed pigeons - attracted if necessary with a small bag of seed to provide adequate modeling fees.

Click to expand...

Yep, that'll work, Eric

Perhaps it would be even better to concentrate on birds on the ground, a bird feeder, or on a lake as they stay still longer.
My camera which I bought last year has the 50x zoom which is ideal for birding, but perhaps not as good as the professionals use. Depends what quality you want, as they say you pays your money and takes your choice. Good luck whatever you choose.

As others have pointed out, correctly, tracking fast-moving birds is a lot more to do with skill and technique than the camera used. Learning to find the bird in the finder, keep it framed while panning, and getting the camera settings correct to boot, takes a high degree of skill and practice - it can come to you, mostly by trial and error, and constant practice.

There are two factors involved with fast-moving birds in flight - and the panning is generally the most vital - this is all on the photographer, rather than the camera. More focus points and better predictive focus algorithms might help slightly, but it's still up to you to find the bird, move with the bird, and being ready for directional changes. Even basic, entry level DSLRs can get the shot, if the photographer can keep up with the panning.

The second factor, and really the only one where the camera's ability comes more into play, is when the bird is moving towards or away from you, during which the camera's focus system will have to be constantly adjusting the focus as the subject draws closer - the faster the bird, the harder it becomes for an older, slower-focusing camera or older, screw-drive lenses. It's still by all means possible, but you can see an improved ratio of keepers with some of the faster-focusing cameras and a good lens. It still requires the photographer to keep the focus point or points on the bird, and still pan with any directional changes...so that skill is still a necessary part of the equation. And choosing the right settings is still crucial, again this is the photographer's responsibility...making sure the shutter speed was fast enough, making sure you chose the right focus area for the subject, making sure you chose continuous AF tracking for a closing subject, making sure the exposure is correctly set and being able to correct it on the fly for changing background light conditions, and so on. So even with a super-fast, predictive AF-tracking camera and top of the line fast lens, the photographer's skill and experience are still going to be by far the most important factor to get the shot.

Start with slower birds in flight, get good at tracking, get comfortable with your camera's controls and settings, understand how it tends to meter in different conditions, and figure out which focus points to engage in different situations. Gulls, big waders, soaring raptors tend to be easiest...then work towards faster but consistent, straight-line flyers like ducks, cormorants, chunkier birds. Eventually, you can gain enough skill to start tracking the fast birds, even the really challenging buggers like swifts and swallows and sparrows - tiny, super-fast, and constant, unpredictable directional changes.

The following is just one set of hints for one particular scenario.

If the bird is crossing you (i.e. left to right or v.v.) at lowish altitude - track using your waist, not your neck. Start with your waist twisted towards the bird, track it until you have more or less untwisted, release the shutter smoothly while completing the follow through with your waist as if you were swinging a golf club. Many people set their camera to drive mode and take multiple shots as you pass through the 'target zone'. There are pros and cons as with a bird with a relatively slow wing beat such as swans you may do better shooting single shots when the wings are looking at their best, this requires additional skills so it probably best to use the drive mode for now.

Many cameras have an image stabilisation setting optimised for panning that will help for some shots.

Use one of the a/f targets (preferably the one you want to use for focussing) as a sight and track the bird with that centred on its eye, bill or obvious marking. I pre-select a single focus target as it works for me - other people get excellent results using other methods - we are all right - there is no one magic formula.

Zooming while tracking a bird is difficult and best not attempted while learning as you will not track the bird as smoothly.

For some shots a monopod with a free running head angled at about 20 degrees to the body may help to steady the lens, with the leg of the monopod pointing towards the approximate point of shutter release. Its not there to take the weight of the camera etc. so anything long enough with a nice sloppy head will be fine. Be aware that a sudden change of direction by the bird may result in you bending the monopod - not all recover - I have several vaguely banana shaped pods reserved for this purpose!

A potential training ground are hawk conservancy flying days. If you can get into a position where you won't annoy (or wound) other spectators you get a variety of subjects flying at different speeds.

I usually lock off metering, having set up a manual setting from a few practice shots if possible.

This works brilliantly for relatively predictable things like geese taking off or landing etc., but obviously useless for anything high or otherwise unpredictable.

You need to practice a lot as smoothness and anticipation are very important, it helps knowing the habitat and the species so you can predict likely flightlines and of course, you need a degree of luck.

All techniques assume the bird will behave in a certain way - they won't in the real world - and you do the best you can.

And finally - if you get better results by ignoring what everyone else is doing - that is fine and have the courage to do it your way. You will only learn by experimenting to find out what works for you and what doesn't.

Wauw, thanks for all this advise!!