Birds in flight

K

Ken B

Senior Member
I’ve had a D500 for 2 years. My old D7100 was great at birds in flight. I bought the D500 specifically because of its wildlife reputation, but using the same glass and same settings as the D7100, the D500 just doesn’t seem capable of in flight focus.

I’m using af-c and single point as I always have.

Suggestions?
 
Dangerspouse

Dangerspouse

Senior Member
Ken B said:
I’ve had a D500 for 2 years. My old D7100 was great at birds in flight. I bought the D500 specifically because of its wildlife reputation, but using the same glass and same settings as the D7100, the D500 just doesn’t seem capable of in flight focus.

I’m using af-c and single point as I always have.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Yes. Don't use single point AF, for one.

There are a couple of our members who specialize in bird in flight photography using the D500, notably Wev and Woody. Hopefully they'll chime in with suggestions based on their extensive experience. I've been having fun with BIF photography using my D500 also, but I'm not nearly as experienced or accomplished as them so I'll hold off on giving my own tips.

You may also want to read this article by noted wildlife photographer Steve Perry: https://backcountrygallery.com/nikon-d500-review/ In it, he has a thorough discussion of settings he uses to capture his own D500 BIF photos. I immediately improved my own shots after following his suggestions. Here's just one example where I was able to keep focus on the lead bird in this group of three, all very fast moving (D500, Nikkor AF-P 70-300mm):

Pigeon in Flight 1.jpg
 
Peter7100

Peter7100

Senior Member
Like Tom says above maybe some of the BIF experts can help so I will tag them for you @wev @Woodyg3 and they may respond.

I also have a D500 and D7100 like yourself and although I rarely do much bird photography I definitely get much better results with my D500.
 
BF Hammer

BF Hammer

Senior Member
On cameras that have the feature, I use the 3-D tracking focus for birds. My D7000 had that, and D750 does. It is actually an advantage for DSLR over most mirrorless bodies which don't have 3D tracking.
 
Woodyg3

Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
Wow, we need to figure out what's going on for you, because the D500 is a fantastic bird in flight camera.

I use group AF-C. Single point is going to be pretty difficult to use for BIF. Dynamic AF can work well, too. 1/2500 of a second or faster unless it's just too dark.

Which lens are you using. BTW? You might want to use panning vibration reduction if it is available on your lens.

If you could post a picture or two, that would possibly help in diagnosing the problem.

I had a D7100, and still have a D7200, and the D500 has always outperformed them both for me.
 
K

Ken B

Senior Member
Woodyg3 said:
Wow, we need to figure out what's going on for you, because the D500 is a fantastic bird in flight camera.

I use group AF-C. Single point is going to be pretty difficult to use for BIF. Dynamic AF can work well, too. 1/2500 of a second or faster unless it's just too dark.

Which lens are you using. BTW? You might want to use panning vibration reduction if it is available on your lens.

If you could post a picture or two, that would possibly help in diagnosing the problem.

I had a D7100, and still have a D7200, and the D500 has always outperformed them both for me.
Click to expand...

My main lens for walking around opportunistic bird pics is a Tamron 70-200, 2.8, which I’ve had for 6 years and had success with on the D7100. I’ve also used the Nikon 200-500. I also have the Nikon 18-200 for DX. All are great on still subjects, none are good with BIF. Very difficult to grab focus.

To help diagnose, I rented a copy of the identical Tamron, and had identical results after calibration.

I usually delete out of focus shots. I’ll look for examples, and if I don’t have any, I’ll go out and shoot some BIF.

Thanks for the help.

My next thought is to rent another D500 and see if there’s a difference.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
I still have my D7200 but mostly use my D500 for BIF. I too have had issues with single point focus with the D500. As Steve Perry points out (in the video linked by Dangerspouse), the size of the AF points are smaller on the D500 than on previous DX bodies. Therefore, focusing with single point doesn't have the high focus lock rate of other DX bodies. And I can certainly attest to that. When a subject doesn't have high contrast, quite often my D500 cannot lock focus with single point. Just yesterday I shot several frames of a Great White Egret while using single point focus. Not one is in focus even though the bird was stationary.
 
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