salukfan111
Senior Member
I like this. As I stated in the previous reply, many folks would be fine with these. I'd like to see them made up to par with modern technology and our DSLRs would be unnecessary for the most part.
Bird photography,lens,subject size,crop and working distance for beginers
- Thread starter mikew_RIP
- Start date
I started with bridge cameras and indeed in certain circumstances they are sufficient, sometimes phones are sufficient. I saw that mike changed from a full frame to an APS-C, for some people that can not be imagined. There is difference in quality, there is an enormous evolution as well, for example the D7200 is not your standard APS-C (dynamic range).
Not clear if this should be in this thread, but there are physical reasons why some technology works better then other, there is also good enough is good enough, which many people do not seem to get.
I fear a lot of bridge cameras could be better used, technique (tripod, stabilisation, remote trigger, ...) is needed with telephoto, bridge cameras do not replace that.
How to set your camera for bird photography, or at least some ideas.
First thing to say is there is no right or wrong way,the camera needs setting to suit you and your situation,my preferred choice is manual with auto ISO on the D7200.
My reasons are as follows
1 I want to control the shutter choice
2 I want to control the aperture choice
3 This leaves only one thing that can be varied in the hope I can attain the choices I want in the first two.
The usable top ISO will vary between camera models and what your prepared to put up with in the way of noise,with the D7200 for me its a max of 6400 ISO,i would rather not go that high but I will to get me out and taking pictures.
Focus point settings its single for me though I know others have great success with one of the multi point settings,I have tried them but when viewed in NX-i set to show focus point I found I can do better than the camera at keeping the focus point where I want it.
I dont lock the single focus point so I can move it with the command dial to the part of the bird I want,normally the head and a press of the OK button returns it to the center,see BBF bellow as an alternative.
BBF or Back Button Focus,this setting is very popular,it separates the focus and taking action, plus it gives focus lock and continues focus on one button /setting, depending on if you keep it depressed or not.
I dont use it at the moment as when I had the D7100 it over rode my focus priority setting,i have been told it doesn’t do this with the D7200 so I need to try it again.
The over riding benefit as far as I can see is when using BBF no matter how much you re-frame the focus point will not change, unless you press the button again.
U1 and U2 these two settings I use for exposure compensation I have U2 set for +1 and U1 set for +2 ev,I have poor eyesight as far as reading is concerned so found I can use these settings via the Braille system
,without looking at anything turning the mode dial to the right from M gives me one click I dont want two clicks +1 three clicks +2.
As for metering well I have gone back to my roots for the moment and trying center weighted,spot can be the most accurate but you need a thorough understanding of what its doing,matrix will just work well in loads of situations but not always perfectly.
First thing to say is there is no right or wrong way,the camera needs setting to suit you and your situation,my preferred choice is manual with auto ISO on the D7200.
My reasons are as follows
1 I want to control the shutter choice
2 I want to control the aperture choice
3 This leaves only one thing that can be varied in the hope I can attain the choices I want in the first two.
The usable top ISO will vary between camera models and what your prepared to put up with in the way of noise,with the D7200 for me its a max of 6400 ISO,i would rather not go that high but I will to get me out and taking pictures.
Focus point settings its single for me though I know others have great success with one of the multi point settings,I have tried them but when viewed in NX-i set to show focus point I found I can do better than the camera at keeping the focus point where I want it.
I dont lock the single focus point so I can move it with the command dial to the part of the bird I want,normally the head and a press of the OK button returns it to the center,see BBF bellow as an alternative.
BBF or Back Button Focus,this setting is very popular,it separates the focus and taking action, plus it gives focus lock and continues focus on one button /setting, depending on if you keep it depressed or not.
I dont use it at the moment as when I had the D7100 it over rode my focus priority setting,i have been told it doesn’t do this with the D7200 so I need to try it again.
The over riding benefit as far as I can see is when using BBF no matter how much you re-frame the focus point will not change, unless you press the button again.
U1 and U2 these two settings I use for exposure compensation I have U2 set for +1 and U1 set for +2 ev,I have poor eyesight as far as reading is concerned so found I can use these settings via the Braille system
,without looking at anything turning the mode dial to the right from M gives me one click I dont want two clicks +1 three clicks +2.As for metering well I have gone back to my roots for the moment and trying center weighted,spot can be the most accurate but you need a thorough understanding of what its doing,matrix will just work well in loads of situations but not always perfectly.
salukfan111
Senior Member
I've done some horse trading and the 600mm f/5.6 is coming via UPS. This baby with a tc16a should do really well on long stuff.
I have learned though that if it is under 200 yards and flying, the 180mm f/2.8 beats the heck out of a big lens with autofocusing teleconverter. Just remember to be in A mode and shoot closer to 8 than 2.8.
I have learned though that if it is under 200 yards and flying, the 180mm f/2.8 beats the heck out of a big lens with autofocusing teleconverter. Just remember to be in A mode and shoot closer to 8 than 2.8.
rob shearing
Senior Member
This is brilliant, just the information I needed. I recently purchased my first telephoto lens (tamron 70-300 vc usd) and was nearly at the point of returning it as I thought it was faulty. I had no idea that the depth of field would be so shallow when a subject such as a small bird was close. After reading this and refining my technique I am a happy snapper!
Thanks again.
Rob
Thanks again.
Rob
How to set your camera for bird photography, or at least some ideas.
Focus point settings its single for me though I know others have great success with one of the multi point settings,I have tried them but when viewed in NX-i set to show focus point I found I can do better than the camera at keeping the focus point where I want it.
I dont lock the single focus point so I can move it with the command dial to the part of the bird I want,normally the head and a press of the OK button returns it to the center,see BBF bellow as an alternative.
BBF or Back Button Focus,this setting is very popular,it separates the focus and taking action, plus it gives focus lock and continues focus on one button /setting, depending on if you keep it depressed or not.
I dont use it at the moment as when I had the D7100 it over rode my focus priority setting,i have been told it doesn’t do this with the D7200 so I need to try it again.
The over riding benefit as far as I can see is when using BBF no matter how much you re-frame the focus point will not change, unless you press the button again.
U1 and U2 these two settings I use for exposure compensation I have U2 set for +1 and U1 set for +2 ev,I have poor eyesight as far as reading is concerned so found I can use these settings via the Braille system
As for metering well I have gone back to my roots for the moment and trying center weighted,spot can be the most accurate but you need a thorough understanding of what its doing,matrix will just work well in loads of situations but not always perfectly.
Mike, can you elaborate on this. The Focus priority part is what I am not understanding, I guess. Single point, 9 point...? I am using U1 & U2 at the present time on my 7100 with BBF. U1 is set for D9 and U2 is set for Single point, I think. Ha! I am still trying to figure the D7100 out, so I may not really know what I have set and what I am doing. Ha!
Focus priority is where the camera will not allow you to take a picture unless its in focus,its not a 100% guarantee but i prefer it for BIF especially.
BTW I hate focus priority, if the camera get`s it wrong, it will not want to take the picture.
However back to the theme:
Cheapo set-up: Nikon D70s + 70-300 f4-5.6G (both under 100 EUR)
It was a sunny day approached the birds with the sun in my back.
About 10 m distance.
Raw out of camera:
after pp:
However back to the theme:
Cheapo set-up: Nikon D70s + 70-300 f4-5.6G (both under 100 EUR)
It was a sunny day approached the birds with the sun in my back.
About 10 m distance.
Raw out of camera:
after pp:
Long lenses and distance,picked a bit up on another forum and thought i would add it here,a guy was complaining his more distant shots lacked detail and it must be his lens,it was suggested he got a cuddly toy with fur on it and photographed it at different distances,then he could review the images all of the same subject in the same light and decide what distance too much much detail was lost.
If his images started of good but deteriorated as the distance grew it couldn't really be a lens problem.
If his images started of good but deteriorated as the distance grew it couldn't really be a lens problem.
I shot this handheld with my Nikon D7000 using my Tamron 150-600mm lens at a distance 1,000 ft or better. I spotted this eagle out of the corner of my eye as I was loading up my car to leave from this spot and only had a few seconds to get this shot! It is highly cropped.
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One of the many lenses i got to play with while my first Tamron 150-600 was on one of its visits back to Tamron was the Nikon 80-400D (just add the current Tamron after about 4,000 shots is behaving perfectly) at the time i was not all that pleased with it.On reflection though i may have been unfair to it especially now the prices on secondhand units has dropped so much,the focus motor is not in the lens so you need a body with built in motor,this system is not as fast as having the motor in the lens.
a few samples
a few samples
I just cracked for a TC1.7 EII so I started testing in the house:
For all D7000 + 300mm PF (meant to do all full open, but had some concentration loss during the session it seems):
Imagine you see a little bird at about 5m and you can use a tripod + remote (usually a feeder set up with a branch for pictures):
All cropped, but taken without moving the tripod, life view manual focus with maximum zoom.
Nikon TC2.0 EIII
Kenko TC2 DGX PRO 300
Nikon TC1.7 EII:
Kenko TC1.4 DGX PRO 300
No TC
For all D7000 + 300mm PF (meant to do all full open, but had some concentration loss during the session it seems):
Imagine you see a little bird at about 5m and you can use a tripod + remote (usually a feeder set up with a branch for pictures):
All cropped, but taken without moving the tripod, life view manual focus with maximum zoom.
Nikon TC2.0 EIII
Kenko TC2 DGX PRO 300
Nikon TC1.7 EII:
Kenko TC1.4 DGX PRO 300
No TC