Bill shares the settings he uses to photograph birds in flight. These are settings he uses when shooting with the Nikon D610 full frame DSLR and the Nikkor 200-500mm, f/5.6E VR zoom lens.
25 Comments
Such noisy background detracted significantly.
Thank you
Shooting wide open won't affect focusing – your camera will always focus wide open, the aperture change on capture. In your case you are already at 5.6 which is ok for depth of field. On my Canon 400mm f,28 I shoot at 5.6 – f8.
When using BFF (back button focus)… Do you push the button once or hold it till ready to shoot? I'm still trying to get used to it… I just started using BFF .
Thank you sir. Very well explained.
Thanks a lot gentleman
Here's another tip. stop reviewing your shots so much.
Why doesn't anyone ever mention metering modes in these video tutorials?
Thanks for this video I'm learning a lot !!!!
Next time I will turn off VC on lens. thanks Bill
Very well done. I've watched a number of YouTube presentations, many with a few good suggestions, but you've put almost all of them into ONE video. A very informative, easy to grasp, and "professional" presentation. Excellent work.
Excellent video. Very informative! Thanks for sharing the technique.
2+ minutes of throat clearing. Come on, dude, this is not academic literature…
Excellent . Also use the fabulous 200-500. Got a couple of tips. Many thanks.
Ameeei seu vídeo!!!!!
Hi Bill, thank's for yours settings. Is it possible with this settings to use with "S" priority or "A" priority ? I'm a beginner !
But not all lenses are sharp when full wide opened. long telephotos have a sweet usually one stop or two. For example, I use a 500mm manual prime with f8 max aperture but I stopped it down to f11 for sharp detailed image all over, glassy detail of the eyes in contrast to the feathered texture of the wings. Wide open apertures also have bokeh or depth of field so tendencies are you might be blurring the wings or the feet and tail when you've focused on the eyes. With wide opened aperture you're always on trial and error where the lens would focus unlike when the lens was stopped on the sweet spot where the depth of field is greater. It's no different with macro shots where you are avoiding too much shallow depth of field to give details to a spider's delicate textures from eyes to the abdomen.
Bill am going on a trip to an island to photograph birds on Saturday next. I've a Nikon D7200 and a 70-300 fx VR lens. Though this set up is different to yours I feel that I can use most or your tips because both cameras are similar
Hi Bill, We were communicating about me photographing kookaburras in flight. Now I'm photographing them near sunset, shooting into the sun at a slow shutter speed. I'm getting some great abstract photos. Keep up the good work. Carlos
Thank you Bill. Very helpful! I also am new to bird photography. One question. I was shooting with my Nikon D610 and a sigma 150-600 at Magee Marsh on Lake Erie this May: the problem I faced With a high AF area is that with this setting was my lens would constantly focus on twig and branches totally loosing my subject ! I dialed my AF area down to D1 (only one focal point) ? I do not know if that was the right thing to do since it is used more for still (model) photography.
Keep in mind these ISO settings shouldn't be used on a crop sensor camera. Like for example the Nikon D7200. Cause then you get pretty noisy/grainy pictures.
Very informative and wish I would of reviewed your video before my Bald Eagle shoot yesterday.
A very informative and helpful video, but the traffic noise was very intrusive.
Really Good Presentation…. Easy to understand… Thnx
Great movie, Bill thanks for sharing your experience …