First time using focus limiter

[Clovishound]

I've been taking a lot of hummingbird pictures in the backyard recently. Maintaining focus tracking has been something of an issue. These little guys are fast. Only occasionally, the camera will lock onto something in the background, and I have to use the manual focus ring to get back to the subject area. I decided to try using the focus limiter option, as I am now using the Z mount 180-600 vs the f mount 200-500 with an adapter. I set the limiter to just a little beyond where the bird is likely to be. I am shooting them as they hover near the feeder, so there is a narrow window of probability. Anyway, initial results seem to indicate that it seems to really help maintain focus, even without the issue of grabbing on to the background. I will try using this more and see if it really helps that much. While it might help in some other situations, I've always thought it would be too cumbersome to use that much. I might be wrong. I have been before. Just ask my wife.

 

[BF Hammer]

That is pretty much the reason for having a focus limiter function.

These DIY hummingbird videos seem to be all over YouTube and I sometimes wonder if some are AI. Maybe a next year project. Like I have said 2 years in a row.

 

[Clovishound]

It's one of those things I would have tried last year, when I first got my Z8, but I was using the F mount tele on it, and you have to have a z mount lens for it to work. It might come in handy for other birds in flight situations, but I was just afraid that it would be too limiting unless I had a situation that the birds were reliably flying at a given distance. I may give it a try in the field next time I'm out shooting BIF.

I put up a bird bath this year. I tried it with and without a solar fountain. So far I have seen zero interest from any birds. The only activity I have seen is from the squirrels. The only interest I want to get from them is in moving to a different location than my back yard.

The only thing I can figure is that my bird bath is a glass bowl, and perhaps it is too slippery for the birds to get a perch on, and so they avoid using it. I may try putting a rock in it that they can stand on comfortably.