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<blockquote data-quote="STM" data-source="post: 563694" data-attributes="member: 12827">I may burst a few bubbles here, but cameras are not nearly as smart as many think, in fact they can be outright dumb at times. When you rely on autofocus, you are taking what the camera thinks you should be focusing on, however it may not be what YOU want to focus on. This is especially critical with long focal lengths, either prime or with TC's. I have no choice, all of my lenses are AI/AIS, so I focus everything manually. When I focus birds which are not moving, I always focus on their eye. Just like you should do in portraiture. Have just enough aperture to cover the depth of the bird with a little bit of margin on either side. And if practical use some kind of support. A monopod is an absolute necessity with my 600mm f/4 beast. At 20 pounds (lens, D700 and battery pack) it is way to much to support and manually focus. You should use at least a monopod if you are going to be shooting over a 300mm. This Great Egret was photographed with the D700 and 600mm f/4 on a monopod. It is as sharp as a razor in an 11x14 print. [ATTACH]216553[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="STM, post: 563694, member: 12827"] I may burst a few bubbles here, but cameras are not nearly as smart as many think, in fact they can be outright dumb at times. When you rely on autofocus, you are taking what the camera thinks you should be focusing on, however it may not be what YOU want to focus on. This is especially critical with long focal lengths, either prime or with TC's. I have no choice, all of my lenses are AI/AIS, so I focus everything manually. When I focus birds which are not moving, I always focus on their eye. Just like you should do in portraiture. Have just enough aperture to cover the depth of the bird with a little bit of margin on either side. And if practical use some kind of support. A monopod is an absolute necessity with my 600mm f/4 beast. At 20 pounds (lens, D700 and battery pack) it is way to much to support and manually focus. You should use at least a monopod if you are going to be shooting over a 300mm. This Great Egret was photographed with the D700 and 600mm f/4 on a monopod. It is as sharp as a razor in an 11x14 print. [ATTACH=CONFIG]216553._xfImport[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]

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