mikeschmeee
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2010
- Messages
- 176
- Reaction score
- 38
- Location
- British Columbia
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
This is addressed to anyone who has plenty of D4s experience shooting in similar situations.
I've been photographing birds for a few years now but I'm still always learning so I don't consider myself anywhere near the amateur level. I'm still a beginner. Overall, I've been photographing for 8 years now. This does not include my off and on periods during my younger years.
Lets get right into it:
I'm shooting birds in flight with a D4s, 300mm f/2.8G ED VRII and TC-20E III teleconverter. Most of my images are out of focus when shooting birds in flight coming towards me. My current settings:
AF-C, release + focus, group area AF, focus tracking with lock-on is off, f/8, VR is on when hand held regardless of shutter speed, VR is off when on a tripod.
The camera will focus when I press and hold the shutter release button halfway to focus on the bird. Once focus is acquired, I press down the rest of the way and hold the shutter release button as a bird flies towards me, firing off multiple images (around 20 or so). When I preview the shots on the camera, the first two-five frames are alright but the rest of the 10 to 20 are out of focus. I had better luck with the same lens, teleconverter and similar settings on my D7100 and my D90 but the D4s is giving me a hard time. This is a new camera (bought on Jan 31, 2015) so I'm still learning but I'm interested to know if my settings are wrong? The lens and teleconverter were purchased late October 2014.
I also tried the following combinations:
AF-C, release, group area AF, f/8
AF-C, release, every dynamic-area AF, f/8
AF-C, focus, group area AF, f/8
AF-C, focus, every dynamic-area AF, f/8
When AF-C priority selection is set to release, I can shoot up to 44 shots with my SanDisk 64gb 160mb/s Compact Flash card but very little are in focus.
When AF-C priority selection is set to focus, my frame rate drops dramatically and it feels like I'm shooting with a D40. However, the focus rate does increase but not by much (I have not experimented enough with this combo just yet)
I shoot RAW, large, uncompressed, 14-bit
So far I've been shooting at a local lake but the weather has been quite cloudy with low lighting and I'm not sure if it's the fairly little contrast between the bird and what's behind it that may be causing this focus issue? Male and female mallards have a bit of contrast in my opinion but maybe not enough under these weather conditions? Perhaps it's the lens and/or the teleconverters but I did not run into this problem with my D90 or my D7100 so I'm still thinking that the D4s has a setting that I overlooked or I am not aware off.
I am supposed to be shooting in bursts? Focus, shoot 2-3 frames, let go of shutter release button, focus again, shoot 2-3 frames, so on and so on? I've also tried using the AF-ON button to focus and only use the shutter release button for snapping the image but that has little effect as well.
When shooting anything stationary with the D4s, the sharpness is great, no matter what lens I put on. But as soon as I start to shoot birds in flight it all goes south.
I have not experimented with AF-C single point yet as I'm under the impression that I should be using group area AF when shooting birds in flight. I'm determined to figure this out and I want the camera to work properly so all of the assistance I can get is greatly appreciated. I just want to know the best setting in order to photograph birds in flight and have crisp, sharp focused photographs 95% of the time whether or not the frame is filled. This issue is really concerning to me and at this point very disappointing. I am not ruling out that it may be the operator just not knowing how to use a professional camera
Looking forward to hearing from anyone who may have some insight
Please and thank you,
Mike
I've been photographing birds for a few years now but I'm still always learning so I don't consider myself anywhere near the amateur level. I'm still a beginner. Overall, I've been photographing for 8 years now. This does not include my off and on periods during my younger years.
Lets get right into it:
I'm shooting birds in flight with a D4s, 300mm f/2.8G ED VRII and TC-20E III teleconverter. Most of my images are out of focus when shooting birds in flight coming towards me. My current settings:
AF-C, release + focus, group area AF, focus tracking with lock-on is off, f/8, VR is on when hand held regardless of shutter speed, VR is off when on a tripod.
The camera will focus when I press and hold the shutter release button halfway to focus on the bird. Once focus is acquired, I press down the rest of the way and hold the shutter release button as a bird flies towards me, firing off multiple images (around 20 or so). When I preview the shots on the camera, the first two-five frames are alright but the rest of the 10 to 20 are out of focus. I had better luck with the same lens, teleconverter and similar settings on my D7100 and my D90 but the D4s is giving me a hard time. This is a new camera (bought on Jan 31, 2015) so I'm still learning but I'm interested to know if my settings are wrong? The lens and teleconverter were purchased late October 2014.
I also tried the following combinations:
AF-C, release, group area AF, f/8
AF-C, release, every dynamic-area AF, f/8
AF-C, focus, group area AF, f/8
AF-C, focus, every dynamic-area AF, f/8
When AF-C priority selection is set to release, I can shoot up to 44 shots with my SanDisk 64gb 160mb/s Compact Flash card but very little are in focus.
When AF-C priority selection is set to focus, my frame rate drops dramatically and it feels like I'm shooting with a D40. However, the focus rate does increase but not by much (I have not experimented enough with this combo just yet)
I shoot RAW, large, uncompressed, 14-bit
So far I've been shooting at a local lake but the weather has been quite cloudy with low lighting and I'm not sure if it's the fairly little contrast between the bird and what's behind it that may be causing this focus issue? Male and female mallards have a bit of contrast in my opinion but maybe not enough under these weather conditions? Perhaps it's the lens and/or the teleconverters but I did not run into this problem with my D90 or my D7100 so I'm still thinking that the D4s has a setting that I overlooked or I am not aware off.
I am supposed to be shooting in bursts? Focus, shoot 2-3 frames, let go of shutter release button, focus again, shoot 2-3 frames, so on and so on? I've also tried using the AF-ON button to focus and only use the shutter release button for snapping the image but that has little effect as well.
When shooting anything stationary with the D4s, the sharpness is great, no matter what lens I put on. But as soon as I start to shoot birds in flight it all goes south.
I have not experimented with AF-C single point yet as I'm under the impression that I should be using group area AF when shooting birds in flight. I'm determined to figure this out and I want the camera to work properly so all of the assistance I can get is greatly appreciated. I just want to know the best setting in order to photograph birds in flight and have crisp, sharp focused photographs 95% of the time whether or not the frame is filled. This issue is really concerning to me and at this point very disappointing. I am not ruling out that it may be the operator just not knowing how to use a professional camera
Looking forward to hearing from anyone who may have some insight
Please and thank you,
Mike