Birds in flight

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Olyman

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Hi all, new to here, seeking some advice re gear for birds in flight. When I see pros togs and serious guys taking pics of flying birds, most of them use canon gear. I don't and have very little sucsess with BIF. I would buy a canon and 70-300mm lens if I knew more about canon cameras, so any advice re body would be helpful. I obviously need very good AF and tracking.
 
Olyman said:
Hi all, new to here, seeking some advice re gear for birds in flight. When I see pros togs and serious guys taking pics of flying birds, most of them use canon gear. I don't and have very little sucsess with BIF. I would buy a canon and 70-300mm lens if I knew more about canon cameras, so any advice re body would be helpful. I obviously need very good AF and tracking.
Click to expand...

The kit that photographers use is strongly linked to how much they want/can spend and brand loyalty. Because you notice lots of people using brand X does not automatically mean that is the brand you should go for.
There is no simple and precise guide that will enable you to decide what to buy and what the majority of people recommend will be biased towards their own preference. I have been in the Nikon camp for ages and not interested in residing elsewhere. I have used a couple of other brands and never felt tempted to change from Nikon (even if I could do so without financial loss).

All the brands (there are not all that many) are capable of producing superb results. You really need to discover what suits you. Therefore, read, read, read and then read more. Find out about them and what lots of users think, etc. When you feel that you have a grasp of what is on offer then go to a shop and see how they feel in your hands - that matters a lot. For example, I must have a large solid feeling body and the controls must "naturally" fall to where my fingers go. I also want as many controls as possible to be buttons on the body so that I can use them without taking my eye from the viewfindinder in order to delve into complex menus.

Good luck.
 
BTW - I forgot to mention. BIF ............ thousands of photographers have lots of failures with that subject. It is not easy.
 
BIF Results = Photographer and circumstances ... I doubt very much that Canon v Nikon v Sony v Pentax etc, etc will make very much difference at all - however a model with a good AF engine and the ability to use a higher shutter speed without too much noise may well improve your chances.
 
Getting the camera with the best AF, tracking and frame rate is not going to give you great shots of birds in flight. As mentioned above the camera has to suit you and then practice, practice, practice.

Many digital camera can produce good BIF shots in the right hands and in the pre-digital days with no AF there were still good photos of birds in flight.

Dave
 
Thank you for your replies. I do know that a "Good" camera does not make a good photographer. I also know that some cameras suit a particular type of photography. The one I use is not suited to photographing birds in flight, AF and tracking is just not up to it.
Another tog on a shoot I went on on Saturday was using a Canon EOS 100D and got many more in focus shots than I did. Her camera cost much less than mine, under £500 compared to £1500, and she was an absolute beginner. I have quite a lot of experience in photography, hence the question.
 
Pick your 70-300 lens - then go practise panning for a month or so.
If you find large slow birds too hard, then goto an airport & practise on aeroplanes...
They 'generally' land in the same place & stay at a consistant speed...
 
When I was just starting I went to the seaside to photographs gulls etc that were not moving that fast and had a relatively predictable flight pattern. Good luck - as others have said practise, and don't be disheartened with lots of out of focus shots, it will happen!
 
Thanks for your help guys. I think I am going to settle for a 7D and 100-400mm lens. I have used a big lens with a previous camera. It was tack sharp but not fast enough to keep focus on a flying bird.
 
I have a camera and lens combination that is arguably the worst possible for BIF. A Sony A77 with a Sony 500mm f8 reflex lens. A slow lens which is slow to focus and can only use the central focus sensor which is specially adatpted to it. After spending half an hour trying to get one shot from a gang of seagulls wheeling over a public park and failing to get one I was inclined to agree it was totally useless for BIF. Even aeroplanes flying overhead I often failed to find in the viewfinder before they'd gone over the horizon.

The problem was aiming in the thing. It had such a narrow view that if I pointed it at something and couldn't see it in the viewfinder then absent other visual clues in the viewfinder, which there aren't in a blue sky, there was no way of knowing which way to move.

So I fitted a 1:1 red dot gun sight, 1:1 being the kind you use with both eyes open, one looking through the scope. It superimposes a red dot in the middle of what you see. I calibrated it so that whatever I put the red dot on was smack under the central focus sensor. Using that it was instant to aim the lens, and not hard to track it under the central focus sensor while it locked focus. From not being able to find a big slow flying bird at all I had to be selective to stop filling up the shot buffer with dozens of shots of every passing bird of any size. Most not quite in focus, but a fast burst of around five would usually have one in sharp focus. If the flying bird was close enough I could with a bit of luck lock focus on the eye.

Not suggesting you should get a 500mm prime! Just pointing out that a red dot gun sight can make BIF photography much easier. I mounted on lens barrel to minimise parallax. I glued it to a stout cardboard tube slightly too small to fit over the lens. When slit open that provided a firm and precisely aligned grip on the lens.

Red Dot gun sight on 500mm reflex lens by Chris Malcolm, on Flickr
 
hmmm a 7d is fine for b.i.f you don't mention though whether its mki or mk2 that your going for ,the lens also has two versions ,if your going to get into birding as your main photography (flying ,branched,from hides ,on the seashore etc) you would be far better off with the faster 400mm f5.6 prime .if you intend to use it multi use then the zoom might be better .
i always whenever i buy a new lens or camera set it up by simply finding a open bit of green or parkland take a loaf of bread and use it to bring in the gulls etc ,you can test on the go its easy ,when shooting b.i.f i always use a/v mode with the lens stopped down one or two stops and ensure using the iso that the shutter speed is over 1/1000 th of a sec. if at all possible .not forgetting that positive exposure compensation is needed as well to stop the sky overriding bird detail .
your entering into a extremely expensive side of photography where only certain equipment works the way you want it to ,its up to you to decide which part of the hobby or indeed birding you want to pursue and choose your equipment very carefully from there ,not going at all by what you might see on someone else's screen as that might not come out as a good pic when processed. heres one of mine plenty more on my flickr stream
got my easter egg by jeff cohen, on Flickr
 
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chris malcolm said:
I have a camera and lens combination that is arguably the worst possible for BIF. A Sony A77 with a Sony 500mm f8 reflex lens. A slow lens which is slow to focus and can only use the central focus sensor which is specially adatpted to it. After spending half an hour trying to get one shot from a gang of seagulls wheeling over a public park and failing to get one I was inclined to agree it was totally useless for BIF. Even aeroplanes flying overhead I often failed to find in the viewfinder before they'd gone over the horizon.

The problem was aiming in the thing. It had such a narrow view that if I pointed it at something and couldn't see it in the viewfinder then absent other visual clues in the viewfinder, which there aren't in a blue sky, there was no way of knowing which way to move.

So I fitted a 1:1 red dot gun sight, 1:1 being the kind you use with both eyes open, one looking through the scope. It superimposes a red dot in the middle of what you see. I calibrated it so that whatever I put the red dot on was smack under the central focus sensor. Using that it was instant to aim the lens, and not hard to track it under the central focus sensor while it locked focus. From not being able to find a big slow flying bird at all I had to be selective to stop filling up the shot buffer with dozens of shots of every passing bird of any size. Most not quite in focus, but a fast burst of around five would usually have one in sharp focus. If the flying bird was close enough I could with a bit of luck lock focus on the eye.

Not suggesting you should get a 500mm prime! Just pointing out that a red dot gun sight can make BIF photography much easier. I mounted on lens barrel to minimise parallax. I glued it to a stout cardboard tube slightly too small to fit over the lens. When slit open that provided a firm and precisely aligned grip on the lens.

Red Dot gun sight on 500mm reflex lens by Chris Malcolm, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Thats just a flipping anti air craft gun!!!!!
 
chris malcolm said:
I have a camera and lens combination that is arguably the worst possible for BIF. A Sony A77 with a Sony 500mm f8 reflex lens. A slow lens which is slow to focus and can only use the central focus sensor which is specially adatpted to it. After spending half an hour trying to get one shot from a gang of seagulls wheeling over a public park and failing to get one I was inclined to agree it was totally useless for BIF. Even aeroplanes flying overhead I often failed to find in the viewfinder before they'd gone over the horizon.

The problem was aiming in the thing. It had such a narrow view that if I pointed it at something and couldn't see it in the viewfinder then absent other visual clues in the viewfinder, which there aren't in a blue sky, there was no way of knowing which way to move.

So I fitted a 1:1 red dot gun sight, 1:1 being the kind you use with both eyes open, one looking through the scope. It superimposes a red dot in the middle of what you see. I calibrated it so that whatever I put the red dot on was smack under the central focus sensor. Using that it was instant to aim the lens, and not hard to track it under the central focus sensor while it locked focus. From not being able to find a big slow flying bird at all I had to be selective to stop filling up the shot buffer with dozens of shots of every passing bird of any size. Most not quite in focus, but a fast burst of around five would usually have one in sharp focus. If the flying bird was close enough I could with a bit of luck lock focus on the eye.

Not suggesting you should get a 500mm prime! Just pointing out that a red dot gun sight can make BIF photography much easier. I mounted on lens barrel to minimise parallax. I glued it to a stout cardboard tube slightly too small to fit over the lens. When slit open that provided a firm and precisely aligned grip on the lens.

Red Dot gun sight on 500mm reflex lens by Chris Malcolm, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Looks like a grenade launcher to me :D
 
Find some gulls, learn how to use back button autofocus and practice, the more you practice the luckier you'll get!
 
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