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#21
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Shooting birds with a Zoom lens
"Ron Recer" wrote in message
... "celcius" wrote in message ... Hi all! I recently bought a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM fot my 5D Mark II. I shoot RAW. I was told by a photgrapher that it's best to use M or Av and not Tv. I was told to set my camera to M and ISO to auto. This way, I could choose the f stop as well as the speed and the camera would choose the proper ISO. Since the Mark II has pretty clean ISO to at leasrt 3200, this would do the trick. However, re-reading the book, I find that on M, the max ISO is 400. I looked into the preferences, but could not find a way around. At this juncture, when I'm not sure what ISO to use when birds fly to and from an illuminated background (against a blue sky) to a darker one (against trees in a creek), I shoot on Av and auto ISO. It works well, but I wonder if there's another way of approaching this. Thanks for any enlightment. Marcel I have taken a lot of shots of flying birds unsing the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM with a Canon 10D and a Canon 40D. On sunny days I set up where the sun is at my back, set the ISO at 400, turn off the IS, set the f stop to f8 or a little more open so that I achieve a shutter speed of 1/2000 to 1/3000 of a second, and leave AF on using AI Servo. I seem to do pretty good using these settings. You may or may not like them. Ron Thanks Ron. I take it you're on Av and you would set the ISO as to get a convenient rapid speed. Am I right? Two questions: 1- Why do you turn the IS off? 2- Is there a reason why you would set to f8 particularly? Is this lens better at f8? Thanks, Marcel |
#22
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Shooting birds with a Zoom lens
celcius wrote:
Hi all! I recently bought a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM fot my 5D Mark II. I shoot RAW. I was told by a photgrapher that it's best to use M or Av and not Tv. I was told to set my camera to M and ISO to auto. This way, I could choose the f stop as well as the speed and the camera would choose the proper ISO. Since the Mark II has pretty clean ISO to at leasrt 3200, this would do the trick. However, re-reading the book, I find that on M, the max ISO is 400. I looked into the preferences, but could not find a way around. At this juncture, when I'm not sure what ISO to use when birds fly to and from an illuminated background (against a blue sky) to a darker one (against trees in a creek), I shoot on Av and auto ISO. It works well, but I wonder if there's another way of approaching this. Marcel: I'd go fully manual for birds on the wing; focus at infinity; pretty wide open, shutter ca. 1/500. Low ISO. One wants a touch of OoF with the wings, but not a big blur. Pan with the flight. Lighting conditions will change ever so slightly over the track you're able to get, so you should have a few superb exposures of each flight. Good luck! -- john mcwilliams |
#23
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Shooting birds with a Zoom lens
"John McWilliams" wrote in message ... celcius wrote: Hi all! I recently bought a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM fot my 5D Mark II. I shoot RAW. I was told by a photgrapher that it's best to use M or Av and not Tv. I was told to set my camera to M and ISO to auto. This way, I could choose the f stop as well as the speed and the camera would choose the proper ISO. Since the Mark II has pretty clean ISO to at leasrt 3200, this would do the trick. However, re-reading the book, I find that on M, the max ISO is 400. I looked into the preferences, but could not find a way around. At this juncture, when I'm not sure what ISO to use when birds fly to and from an illuminated background (against a blue sky) to a darker one (against trees in a creek), I shoot on Av and auto ISO. It works well, but I wonder if there's another way of approaching this. Marcel: I'd go fully manual for birds on the wing; focus at infinity; pretty wide open, shutter ca. 1/500. Low ISO. One wants a touch of OoF with the wings, but not a big blur. Pan with the flight. Lighting conditions will change ever so slightly over the track you're able to get, so you should have a few superb exposures of each flight. Good luck! Thanks John! That's also a great idea! I was encouraged to experiment, that's surely something to try. I might miss at first but as they say, practice makes perfect. Best regards, Marcel -- john mcwilliams |
#24
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Shooting birds with a Zoom lens
On 09-12-08 7:38 , celcius wrote:
"Alan Browne" wrote in message ... On 09-12-07 17:49 , celcius wrote: "Alan Browne" wrote in message ... On 09-12-07 13:59 , celcius wrote: Hi all! I recently bought a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM fot my 5D Mark II. I shoot RAW. I was told by a photgrapher that it's best to use M or Av and not Tv. I was told to set my camera to M and ISO to auto. This way, I could choose the f stop as well as the speed and the camera would choose the proper ISO. Since the Mark II has pretty clean ISO to at leasrt 3200, this would do the trick. However, re-reading the book, I find that on M, the max ISO is 400. I looked into the preferences, but could not find a way around. At this juncture, when I'm not sure what ISO to use when birds fly to and from an illuminated background (against a blue sky) to a darker one (against trees in a creek), I shoot on Av and auto ISO. It works well, but I wonder if there's another way of approaching this. For birds I would think Tv would be more important as at least most of the time you will want to freeze motion by selecting a minimum shutter speed regardless of ISO. For your lens, shooting birds, I'd think about 1/200 to 1/100 or faster (at 400mm) with IS engaged. (This really depends on how large you intend to print, the larger the print, the faster the shutter speed required). Bird shooting is a metering challenge, which is why I would shoot them manual exposure and according to the light falling on them rather than by reflective metering off of them or their overall environment. Meter a nearby midtone object (rough bark on a maple tree is close) _in the same light_ and if the birds are dark/black, open up another 1/3 to 1/2 of a stop to bring out feather detail. Take full advantage of the high ISO quality of your camera to shoot with a slightly closed down aperture (f8 ish) and the fastest shutter speed you can manage. Say ISO 800 - 1600, f/8 and let the shutter speed fall where it may. For ISO 800 f/8 you should get 1/3200 in sunlight and 1/800 under thin overcast ... shooting the shadow side of the bird would be about 1/200 in sunlight. I don't understand this. It seems here you're in Av where you set F8 and automatic ISO or is it otherwise? Perhaps you set to f8, and ISO to a numer, say 3200 and let the speed fall where it will? That was my first stance (for motion control, Tv should be your mode), but how I would shoot anything outdoor is always based on the light _falling on the subject_ not the light reflected off of it. That's why a midtone reference is used - not the subject. (You could also meter the snow in the same light with the needle @ 2.0 to 2.3 or so - experiment away). Note that people have been making great bird shots at ISO 100 or less for a long time albeit with faster lenses and by pushing the film a stop on occasion. With your camera, the "band" is just much fatter and easier to hit. Look at Bret's (and other's) bird photos on pbase as well. The EXIF info should give you a lot of guidance. Thanks Alan, but you must be fast and quite knowledgeable to make all these decisions when a bunch of birds start flying: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cosmar/...7622823690341/ Somehow, in my mind, I have to set it up right before the fact. Yes! OK. If I understansd you correctly, I set the camera to Tv. Then, I set the speed to say, 250th sec. Ok I'll go to Pbase and see. Marcel Just meter something neutral grey in the same light as the birds manually. That should do it. Maybe 1/3 or so over if the birds are dark. Make the decisions before the birds fly. The light doesn't change. The values above are baseline "sunny-16" derived and any photographer should be able to do that in their head (or on at least on their fingers - stops up/down trades (reciprocity)). Thanks Alan! By the way, I had completely forgotten the "sunny 16". Many tend to set the aperture at f8 and I was wondering why. And why not f11. Thanks to you, I went back to the "sunny f16" after a Google search. I admit although I have a nice camera and good lenses, I'm still struggling with much of the basics in Photography. Nowadays, with automatic controls, one tends to forget the basics... and USE them. ;-) Well, for the sake of clarity, sunny-16 does not mean shooting at f/16. It's just a convenient way of remembering "f/16, 1/100, ISO 100" in sunlight. From there you can determine any other reciprocal needed. Likewise if you're under thin overcast, then drop a stop. Heavy overcast, drop 3 stops from s-16 and so on. |
#25
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Shooting birds with a Zoom lens
"celcius" wrote in message
... "Ron Recer" wrote in message ... "celcius" wrote in message ... Hi all! I recently bought a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM fot my 5D Mark II. I shoot RAW. I was told by a photgrapher that it's best to use M or Av and not Tv. I was told to set my camera to M and ISO to auto. This way, I could choose the f stop as well as the speed and the camera would choose the proper ISO. Since the Mark II has pretty clean ISO to at leasrt 3200, this would do the trick. However, re-reading the book, I find that on M, the max ISO is 400. I looked into the preferences, but could not find a way around. At this juncture, when I'm not sure what ISO to use when birds fly to and from an illuminated background (against a blue sky) to a darker one (against trees in a creek), I shoot on Av and auto ISO. It works well, but I wonder if there's another way of approaching this. Thanks for any enlightment. Marcel I have taken a lot of shots of flying birds unsing the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM with a Canon 10D and a Canon 40D. On sunny days I set up where the sun is at my back, set the ISO at 400, turn off the IS, set the f stop to f8 or a little more open so that I achieve a shutter speed of 1/2000 to 1/3000 of a second, and leave AF on using AI Servo. I seem to do pretty good using these settings. You may or may not like them. Ron Thanks Ron. I take it you're on Av and you would set the ISO as to get a convenient rapid speed. Am I right? Two questions: 1- Why do you turn the IS off? 2- Is there a reason why you would set to f8 particularly? Is this lens better at f8? Thanks, Marcel I sent you an email with a few photos attached along with the settings portion of their exif file. Ron |
#26
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Shooting birds with a Zoom lens
"Ron Recer" wrote in message
... "celcius" wrote in message ... "Ron Recer" wrote in message ... "celcius" wrote in message ... Hi all! I recently bought a Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM fot my 5D Mark II. I shoot RAW. I was told by a photgrapher that it's best to use M or Av and not Tv. I was told to set my camera to M and ISO to auto. This way, I could choose the f stop as well as the speed and the camera would choose the proper ISO. Since the Mark II has pretty clean ISO to at leasrt 3200, this would do the trick. However, re-reading the book, I find that on M, the max ISO is 400. I looked into the preferences, but could not find a way around. At this juncture, when I'm not sure what ISO to use when birds fly to and from an illuminated background (against a blue sky) to a darker one (against trees in a creek), I shoot on Av and auto ISO. It works well, but I wonder if there's another way of approaching this. Thanks for any enlightment. Marcel I have taken a lot of shots of flying birds unsing the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM with a Canon 10D and a Canon 40D. On sunny days I set up where the sun is at my back, set the ISO at 400, turn off the IS, set the f stop to f8 or a little more open so that I achieve a shutter speed of 1/2000 to 1/3000 of a second, and leave AF on using AI Servo. I seem to do pretty good using these settings. You may or may not like them. Ron Thanks Ron. I take it you're on Av and you would set the ISO as to get a convenient rapid speed. Am I right? Two questions: 1- Why do you turn the IS off? 2- Is there a reason why you would set to f8 particularly? Is this lens better at f8? Thanks, Marcel I sent you an email with a few photos attached along with the settings portion of their exif file. Ron Thanks Ron! I'll get back to you as soon as I digest nthis. Take are, Marcel |
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