Testing AF-C bursting shots z6ii

blackstar

Senior Member
Like to try AF-C bursting shots on moving objects with z6ii. Came up with shooting moving vehicle idea at city street side, but not at day time as drivers may be intimidated. So here comes two of the bursting series (z6ii with Z 24-120mm S, AF-C, wide area large, CH high)

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blackstar

Senior Member
Maybe I missed something... What exactly are we supposed to see???? And what are you trying to achieve/determine?

Fred, Sorry for not stating my experiment clearly. The test is kind of a simulation to shoot BIF or sport scene, only with vehicle object and taken at night time. Now I think I could had set wrong exposure parameters (shutter speed, iso, etc) that almost whole vehicle body except front lamps are invisible in the photos. But still the series show, at least by lamps, vehicle(s) was moving forward at each sequenced instant and lamp(s) remained somewhat in focus at each bursting exp. Can this be translated to a scene that a bird flies indirectly toward you is captured by your bursting shots? That's the purpose of this test. Just not sure if it is done right or valid. Please comment.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
I think you need to do this test in daylight... There's NOT enough light for me to discern what is or isn't really in focus...

If you did the same test in light, you'd have more car detail to judge where the focus point is...

I would expect the front of the car to get closer... remain in sharp focus as it got closer...and my reference would be the surrounding area of the shot remaining out of focus...

What I'm missing for context in your current shots, is the out of focus areas...
 

blackstar

Senior Member
Thanks, Fred, for the meaningful input. I'll try the test in daylight if I can. Or at other scenes if possible or available.
 

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
In fact...I would setup the test on a sidewalk alongside a busy roadway...on a tripod... adjusted so you could look ahead toward the oncoming cars... and as the cars got alongside of you, start panning the camera (on the tripod) and follow the cars going away from you...
 

blackstar

Senior Member
New try. This isn't a complete match to the BIF scene (not even close, I think). But more of a casual test of z6ii AF-C bursting shots. The moving object wasn't moving very fast and I didn't use sigma 600mm either. Can I say there isn't much-losing focus on the object each individual shot in the series?

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blackstar

Senior Member
This is a real field test with sigma 600mm, handholding, and OS on. The plane was moving quite fast. Targeting failed three times. Finally fired a burst before it's gone. The sharpness rate was 0 to 4! The best-savaged one is still a bit soft. Disappointing...

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Fred Kingston

Senior Member
@blackstar I few things I'd suggest...

First is your crop... <--this makes things easier in other areas... your crop is 600X239 pixels... Always, especially for social media posts, try to maintain one of the standardized aspect ratios... The original jpg and 600X239 doesn't leave much room for fixing stuff... So I upscaled the image using a New program I've been testing for Topaz... Photo AI. It's in an early beta at this point, and they are selling it...but I would probably NOT rush out to buy it just yet... If you own their other 3 programs, you get an early access to the new one... It attempts to do what the other 3 programs do in a single program, rather than using 3 different programs... I turned off the sharpening and denoise functions and only Upscaled your image 6X... There was no sharpening or noise reduction... what you see is just simple upscaling from a heavy crop... There was no other editing...

You can try this yourself with Lightroom's "Enhance" feature after you've cropped an image...
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
@blackstar I few things I'd suggest...

First is your crop... <--this makes things easier in other areas... your crop is 600X239 pixels... Always, especially for social media posts, try to maintain one of the standardized aspect ratios... The original jpg and 600X239 doesn't leave much room for fixing stuff...

Just a suggestion for blackstar - if you have Photoshop, you can use the feature to extend the canvas at the bottom of your image. Then the image can be resized to 2x3 or some other ratio. :)
 

Sandpatch

Senior Member
New try....

You might try shooting a passing train. Speed will be sufficient for a good test and you won't arouse suspicion. At 30 MPH, a train will cover 44 FT/SEC, so the time between shots will be noticable. I shoot a lot of trains and my now-ancient D5100 has a burst rate of only 4 FPS, which is often insufficient to capture an optimum composition.
 

Peter7100

Senior Member
I note you were shooting at 1/1000 sec. For fast moving subjects I usually use a minimum of 1/2000. Might be worth trying faster shutter speeds with higher ISO's.
 

Peter7100

Senior Member
I note you were shooting at 1/1000 sec. For fast moving subjects I usually use a minimum of 1/2000. Might be worth trying faster shutter speeds with higher ISO's.

To eleborate, use manual mode, set aperture to f8/f9, shutter to at least 1/2000 and use auto iso, then try shooting a fast moving subject.
Obviously you must also use the best AF mode for a moving subject (sorry can't help with your particular camera model).
Even though that lens has VR, where possible it is still good practice to try and balance the lens or your holding arm on something (a fence, branch etc) for more stability as 600mm will pick up minor shakes.
 

blackstar

Senior Member
Just a suggestion for blackstar - if you have Photoshop, you can use the feature to extend the canvas at the bottom of your image. Then the image can be resized to 2x3 or some other ratio. :)

I don't have PS. I use Gimp for general pp. Maybe I can find the feature in gimp. Thanks
 
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