Shooting flying birds -- how to set the focus? (Canon 40D)....
 

I was shooting Cliff Swallows on the weekend, trying to get them in
the air. Shooting 1600 ISO, Tv at 1/2000, sunlight (aperture was
around f8-11), 300mm lens. Most of the time I was set at AI Servo AF
and automatic focus point selection, but foreground birds that I
managed to catch were usually out of focus. The 40D manual is not very
clear about how the focus settings work and what to use when. Any
suggestions?

Archibald

Shooting flying birds -- how to set the focus? (Canon 40D)....
 

In article ,
Archibald wrote:

I was shooting Cliff Swallows on the weekend, trying to get them in
the air. Shooting 1600 ISO, Tv at 1/2000, sunlight (aperture was
around f8-11), 300mm lens. Most of the time I was set at AI Servo AF
and automatic focus point selection, but foreground birds that I
managed to catch were usually out of focus. The 40D manual is not very
clear about how the focus settings work and what to use when. Any
suggestions?

Archibald

Set the focus to infinity and try to use the something along the lines
of f11 apeture at 1/125 second for shutter speed. Aim the camera's
center point at the middle of the flock. This should give you a
reasonable depth of field.

Shooting flying birds -- how to set the focus? (Canon 40D)....
 

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:57:31 -0400, Shawn Hirn
wrote:

In article ,
Archibald wrote:

I was shooting Cliff Swallows on the weekend, trying to get them in
the air. Shooting 1600 ISO, Tv at 1/2000, sunlight (aperture was
around f8-11), 300mm lens. Most of the time I was set at AI Servo AF
and automatic focus point selection, but foreground birds that I
managed to catch were usually out of focus. The 40D manual is not very
clear about how the focus settings work and what to use when. Any
suggestions?

Archibald

Set the focus to infinity and try to use the something along the lines
of f11 apeture at 1/125 second for shutter speed. Aim the camera's
center point at the middle of the flock. This should give you a
reasonable depth of field.

For swallows, I need 1/2000 sec minimum to stop the birds' motion.

I should add these birds were flying in and out of their clay nests,
and sometimes hovering briefly before entering. There was usually
background (nests, the wall that the nests were attached to) present
(not just sky) and the autofocus was going for the background.

Archibald

Shooting flying birds -- how to set the focus? (Canon 40D)....
 

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:52:09 GMT, Archibald
wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:57:31 -0400, Shawn Hirn
wrote:

In article ,
Archibald wrote:

I was shooting Cliff Swallows on the weekend, trying to get them in
the air. Shooting 1600 ISO, Tv at 1/2000, sunlight (aperture was
around f8-11), 300mm lens. Most of the time I was set at AI Servo AF
and automatic focus point selection, but foreground birds that I
managed to catch were usually out of focus. The 40D manual is not very
clear about how the focus settings work and what to use when. Any
suggestions?

Archibald

Set the focus to infinity and try to use the something along the lines
of f11 apeture at 1/125 second for shutter speed. Aim the camera's
center point at the middle of the flock. This should give you a
reasonable depth of field.

For swallows, I need 1/2000 sec minimum to stop the birds' motion.

I should add these birds were flying in and out of their clay nests,
and sometimes hovering briefly before entering. There was usually
background (nests, the wall that the nests were attached to) present
(not just sky) and the autofocus was going for the background.

Archibald

A couple of examples will clarify the issues...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/archibald_smith/

My question is, for this situation, what are the best settings for the
AUTOFOCUS MODE and the AF POINTS?

Archibald

Shooting flying birds -- how to set the focus? (Canon 40D)....
 

"Archibald" wrote in message
...

A couple of examples will clarify the issues...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/archibald_smith/

My question is, for this situation, what are the best settings for the
AUTOFOCUS MODE and the AF POINTS?

In the winters I take a lot of photos of gulls, pelicans, turns, osprey,
etc. flying. On my 10D in bright sunlight I use the center AF point, ISO
400, AI Servo and aperture priority with an F stop that gives me a shutter
speed of at least 1/2000 second with a 100-400L lens with the IS turned off.
The hard part is keeping the AF point on the bird. Sometimes you succeed,
sometimes you don't.

Good luck!

Ron

Shooting flying birds -- how to set the focus? (Canon 40D)....
 

On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:29:15 -0500, TRoss wrote:

Without going into the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow....

You are trying to photograph a 6" bird that can hit speeds of 45mph.
Your reaction time and the autofocus speed just can't keep up.

I would set the camera on a tripod, focus on the closest nest colony,
and use a small aperture to increase the DOF. A shutter speed of
1/1250 should be fast enough to stop the motion, and it would give you
more depth. I would also set the drive shoot in bursts.

If the shooting distance is close enough and your flash supports
high-speed sync, it might help to freeze the action or provide a
little fill.

Thanks. I was using flash, my Metz 45CT-4 on manual full power, but
the flash was not keeping up by far, and was barely close enough to
make a difference. And it was not possible to get closer... short of
building a scaffold.

I will try the slower shutter speed... will help the DoF and may still
stop the motion enough.

Archibald

Shooting flying birds -- how to set the focus? (Canon 40D)....
 

Archibald wrote:
I was shooting Cliff Swallows on the weekend, trying to get them in
the air. Shooting 1600 ISO, Tv at 1/2000, sunlight (aperture was
around f8-11), 300mm lens.

Try to lower the aperture to f/5.6-8 and ISO 800.

Most of the time I was set at AI Servo AF
and automatic focus point selection,

Try Center AF.

-Wolfgang