Any tips on pre release capture?

Clovishound

Senior Member
Today I finally got around to looking at pre release capture on my new Z8. I tried setting it up on a bird feeder, but the birds didn't cooperate. I noticed a bunch of dragonflies in a field and thought I'd try my luck with them.

It worked, although the camera couldn't keep focus lock on such a fast moving subject. Pardon the blurry pics, I was just trying to make sure it works, and I know how to set it up properly. I probably should have switched from bird to animal detection, but I doubt it would have made much difference. The focus box stayed put for the whole sequence.

I started out with .5 sec, but that wasn't enough to catch the insect in flight, I just got a tail heading out of the frame. I then set it to 1 sec pre and 3 seconds post at 30 fps. Probably should have done 60 for this subject, but I don't think it will work well for this subject because of focus, unless I manually prefocus on where I think he'll be. Anyway, this is what I got.

Sitting still.

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Wings coming up, ready to take off.

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Already in the air.

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Almost out of frame. There were no other frames in between in this four shot sequence. There were several before takeoff, and several empty after.


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Any advice on using pre release capture welcomed. I thought I might just put it in pre release and leave it, then switch to 30 or 60 fps when I'm ready to use it. I was also concerned about overheating if I sit for a long time with the shutter half pressed. I know about the 30 sec time out, but everyone says just let off the shutter button and then half press it again. I know the Z8 had some overheating problems early on, but was video recording, and, I believe, was the card that overheated. Pre release shouldn't access the card until you release the shutter, but I wonder if there are other components that might overheat. I did an internet search, and everything revolved around the older video issue.
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
Well, I tried out the pre-release capture on some warblers this morning. Not ideal conditions as there wasn't a lot of light due to a heavy canopy. I really wanted some in flight pictures so thought I'd give it a shot. I set the shutter speed too slow to get sharp images for small birds, trying to keep the ISOs from being too high since these are forced JPGs. I switched to RAW files early on, and had no firm grasp of how much more flexibility it gives in processing, especially in high ISO images with shadows.

All that to say these are not good images, but do give a hint at what I might be able to get if I can get everything right. Not sure I'm able to get bright enough conditions here at this forest, but I think next time here, I'll risk high ISOs to get higher shutter speeds. I may have to limit to sides of the boardwalk that get light from behind the camera, rather than more backlit.

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BF Hammer

Senior Member
I think you did good here. Put some faith in the camera's noise reduction feature and I think you can make high ISO work better than you think with the JPEG files.
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
I am planning on going back before the warbler breeding season is over. I'll try and pick a bright day. It wasn't too bad today, but we did have more overcast than sun. I think I'll bring my tripod to help keep me on target while I'm waiting for the "jump".

The nice thing about the warblers is you normally don't have long to wait before they fly. They don't often stay in one spot too long.
 
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