Where do you put your floodlights?

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coldpenguin

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How is everyone coping with the low light at the moment? What is the minimum shutter speed you can use on a bird? I am using the 100-400 f/5.6 from canon, I really wish I had a 2.8 with some reach. This is at f/5.6, t/400 and ISO 1600 with 1 stop added to the brightness in DPP.
The time is wrong on the camera it seems, it was 3:05 pm (50% crop)

And it is still too dark for my liking
 
For birds as close as that Blue Tit you can get some decent shots in very dim light with a flash and a Better Beamer flash extender.
 
Coldpenguin, you under exposed the shot which has added alot of noise. You'd be better off shooting at 100th on a tripod and getting the exposure to the right of the histogram as much as possible. 100th based on that fact you had to add a stop and still needs a stop added.

Ade
 
Wouldn't flash scare the bird off?
At t=1/100 isn't there the probability that the bird will be blurred? I will give it a shot, but I thought they moved somewhat faster than that (or is the hit-rate just intended to go down drastically?)
 
I dont think 100th would be enough to freeze the bird if the bird was in mid-twitch, but in between the twitches the bird should be still enough to freeze. Birds tend to move in a start-stop motion rather than with a continues, smooth movement. If you have the camera/tripod set-up, just use a remote cable to fire off a burst of shots. There's is bound to be at least one frozen shot. In fact 100th could be a good shutter speed to freeze the body but blur the wings i reckon, which with a bit of luck could produce a fantastic shot.

As for flash, im not experienced enough to say. Though the same thing could be said about the advice above.:gag:

Also what does 50% crop mean?
 
By 50% crop, I mean that I have cropped the image to 1600x1600, and reduced the size to 800x800 by resampling.
Others might have a different definition (to me, a 100% crop, is cropping to 800x800 without resizing).

I'll give the t/100 a shot, until the floodlights arrive. I am also considering re-siting the feeder so it is further away from the house, so there might be less shadow.
 
coldpenguin said:
Wouldn't flash scare the bird off?
Click to expand...

Well, what would I know.
Took this with the flash on, and it intrigued the bird so much it came to the window to work out what it was.

Doesn't the bird understand a 1.8m minimum shooting distance?!?

 
Thanks for the help.
These two were taken today, at t=1/160s
The first is slightly out of focus unfortunately (f/6.3), but the second, at f/8 is better.





(these are a 1:3 reduction, i.e. 2400px reduced to 800px)
 
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