Birds in Flight for beginners... (1 Viewer)

If I could resurrect an old thread as I couldn't find a recent relevant-ish one..

What do people think is a realistic distance to shoot over to get a good (ie clean and sharp) image with something like a Canon 400mm 5.6L or similar lens in another brand on a mid range DSLR like say a 7D? just wondering how much more something like that would give over a very good bridge camera like the Sony RX10 mk 3 or 4 for targets that are approximately 100m high and maybe 80-100m distant.

Resurrecting the thread as I’ll be getting into BIF now I’ve got the D7200.

I’ve enabled Back Button Focus, Aperture Priority, Auto ISO, CH Release AF 9 point and AF-C (for starters) if I keep the Back Button depressed while shooting is that sufficient to get BIF or do I need to enable 3D Tracking (or is that only for using with AF on the Shutter Button?)

Apodidae49 said:

Resurrecting the thread as I’ll be getting into BIF now I’ve got the D7200.

I’ve enabled Back Button Focus, Aperture Priority, Auto ISO, CH Release AF 9 point and AF-C (for starters) if I keep the Back Button depressed while shooting is that sufficient to get BIF or do I need to enable 3D Tracking (or is that only for using with AF on the Shutter Button?)

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Its my feeling that you should hone your ability to stay with the subject rather than use things like 3D tracking( which can be very unreliable), at first it may seem difficult but it gets easier.

Good advice from Nikonmike..........it's always better to gain a skill rarther than relying on the camera.Birds in flight,especially closer birds are difficult subjectsbut practice will get you better shots than 3d tracking.I used to practice in single shot mode rarther than relying on burst modes......if you can follow a bird and get it in focus in single shot mode you know your technique is getting there.3d tracking and continuous shooting are there to help once you have a good basic technique.....not to replace it.

Thanks for the input. So just using AF-C in conjunction with Back Button Focus is good enough to get BIF shots? I’ll play with the other settings (Manual aperture & shutter) in conjunction with Auto ISO, as I get to know the camera better, and see how I get on.

Apodidae49 said:

Thanks for the input. So just using AF-C in conjunction with Back Button Focus is good enough to get BIF shots? I’ll play with the other settings (Manual aperture & shutter) in conjunction with Auto ISO, as I get to know the camera better, and see how I get on.

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I use focus priority on the shutter release to help avoid taking OOF shots, i think BBF may override this so take care about releasing the shutter.

Apodidae49 said:

Thanks for the input. So just using AF-C in conjunction with Back Button Focus is good enough to get BIF shots? I’ll play with the other settings (Manual aperture & shutter) in conjunction with Auto ISO, as I get to know the camera better, and see how I get on.

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I don't have the D7200, though I think it offers the luxury to select all kind of settings, perhaps confusingly so. Focus priority, as nikonmike prefers, is fine, while shutter priority could give you "early successes" that are motivating.

With my Nikon1 I don't have so much choice: AF-C comes with shutter priority, AF-A means focus priority. I keep changing, and it doesn't matter too much. But I think starting with AF-C and single center point makes sense. It can be a challenge to find the bird quickly enough in the EVF. Practice...

Over the next months in dim light you can shoot ducks at 1/125 seconds, to improve your panning technique. When the eye isn't sharp, your movement isn't perfectly synchronized.

Back button focus can be useful for birds that are smaller than a thrush. When the AF-C of most cameras fails anyway. See the photo below (shot yesterday) as an example (AF-C would be too slow, BBF on the twig gives you a fighting chance). Or if you shoot bats in flight. Not much hope to achieve autofocus after sunset...

I admit it is not the best time of the year, but I am sure you'll find crows. The D7200 must be able to handle them with AF-C, but it isn't easy. Dial in some exposure compensation of +1.3 or so for those black beauties.

"Pro" claims they shoot terns with BBF pressed, quickly take off their thumb when the tern flies an abrupt turn, and reengage BBF press once they've got the tern back in EVF view is "impressive", but for now you should better forget it and simply file under "bragging". Even if it were true (I doubt it), only few will be able to master that technique.

I am a relative newcomer to BIF. I used to have an older camera where C-AF was mostly non-functional, so did use S-AF with a single (small) center spot. My keeper rate increased a lot when I got a better camera with C-AF quality getting close to yours, using a central diamond of focus areas. This works for all but the most cluttered situations - in those I might have to go back to single area AF. I have not even tested tracking on my camera

Niels

nikonmike said:

I use focus priority on the shutter release to help avoid taking OOF shots, i think BBF may override this so take care about releasing the shutter.

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I’ve disabled Focus Priority on the shutter button and gone all-in on the Back Button.