Need some AF tips

[Ornello]

........With birds, you have three problems: Movement, distance, and size. Birds swooping and zooming around are very difficult to track with long lenses. ..........

But, obviously, you have mastered that......... correct?

Oh, I haven't really done much of that kind of photography.

So in conclusion........... you're offering advice about a method you've never used, for a subject you've never really shot.

What next? How to perform heart surgery? Fly a 777? Be a prison warden? Become a mercenary? Guard at Buckingham Palace?

I have always done a lot of 'action' photography, from high school sports to every imaginable kind of activity (lacrosse, anyone? Just try to find the lacrosse ball in the air!). Birds are tough, too, but birds as a subject don't interest me. I am very good at action photography. The problem with birds is that they are small, requiring huge lenses, and it's hard to keep them in the frame when diving and swooping in flight, with or without autofocus. Ever notice that most 'bird in flight' photos are of large birds? Their larger size makes them easier to photograph, since they can't change direction so quickly, and they glide more. Sparrows are almost impossible to capture in flight (other than just taking off from a perch). As you can see here, almost every one of these sparrow photos is of a bird perched. The very few that show them in flight are almost certainly taken with the birds approaching or leaving a known nest or feeder.

So, yes, I am more than qualified to offer advice. If anyone can take a 1000mm lens hand-held and follow sparrows in flight, I'll eat my words.

sparrow - Google Search

Compare these photos of egrets:

egret - Google Search

 

[coastalconn]

........With birds, you have three problems: Movement, distance, and size. Birds swooping and zooming around are very difficult to track with long lenses. ..........

But, obviously, you have mastered that......... correct?

Oh, I haven't really done much of that kind of photography.

OK, so backing up to the OP who specifically asked about bird photography, why did you feel the need to chime in on something that you have very little experience with in a field that requires a great deal of experience? Because you don't have the required skills to track BIF with long lenses means you really have nothing to offer to the original question in this thread. It really doesn't make much sense for you to argue about using MF for bird photography when many of us that do shoot birds, and many on this site do it quite well, when we all use AF and long lenses..
Cheers

 

[soufiej]

[
OK, so backing up to the OP who specifically asked about bird photography, why did you feel the need to chime in on something that you have very little experience with in a field that requires a great deal of experience? Because you don't have the required skills to track BIF with long lenses means you really have nothing to offer to the original question in this thread. It really doesn't make much sense for you to argue about using MF for bird photography when many of us that do shoot birds, and many on this site do it quite well, when we all use AF and long lenses..
Cheers

I thought I had already answered that question.

 

[Ornello]

........With birds, you have three problems: Movement, distance, and size. Birds swooping and zooming around are very difficult to track with long lenses. ..........

But, obviously, you have mastered that......... correct?

Oh, I haven't really done much of that kind of photography.

OK, so backing up to the OP who specifically asked about bird photography, why did you feel the need to chime in on something that you have very little experience with in a field that requires a great deal of experience? Because you don't have the required skills to track BIF with long lenses means you really have nothing to offer to the original question in this thread. It really doesn't make much sense for you to argue about using MF for bird photography when many of us that do shoot birds, and many on this site do it quite well, when we all use AF and long lenses..
Cheers

See previous post.

 

[480sparky]

......So, yes, I am more than qualified to offer advice. ..........

I nominate this for TPF Troll Post of 2016.

 

[Ornello]

........With birds, you have three problems: Movement, distance, and size. Birds swooping and zooming around are very difficult to track with long lenses. ..........

But, obviously, you have mastered that......... correct?

Oh, I haven't really done much of that kind of photography.

OK, so backing up to the OP who specifically asked about bird photography, why did you feel the need to chime in on something that you have very little experience with in a field that requires a great deal of experience? Because you don't have the required skills to track BIF with long lenses means you really have nothing to offer to the original question in this thread. It really doesn't make much sense for you to argue about using MF for bird photography when many of us that do shoot birds, and many on this site do it quite well, when we all use AF and long lenses..
Cheers

Show me anyone who can track a sparrow zooming around with a lens of 500mm or greater. Impossible, manual focus or autofocus!

You have to be realistic. You have to know what can and cannot be done practically.

'In flight' is ambiguous, because birds sometimes hover, and slow down when coming in to land.

Here is a rugby player crossing the goal line, and a skateboarder, both in mid-air:

 

[soufiej]

......So, yes, I am more than qualified to offer advice. ..........

I nominate this for TPF Troll Post of 2016.

"Entertainment value" is pretty darned shallow, isn't it?

 

[480sparky]

......So, yes, I am more than qualified to offer advice. ..........

I nominate this for TPF Troll Post of 2016.

"Entertainment value" is pretty darned shallow, isn't it?

No, it's still better than listening to Trump on the tube.

 

[gckless]

........With birds, you have three problems: Movement, distance, and size. Birds swooping and zooming around are very difficult to track with long lenses. ..........

But, obviously, you have mastered that......... correct?

Oh, I haven't really done much of that kind of photography.

OK, so backing up to the OP who specifically asked about bird photography, why did you feel the need to chime in on something that you have very little experience with in a field that requires a great deal of experience? Because you don't have the required skills to track BIF with long lenses means you really have nothing to offer to the original question in this thread. It really doesn't make much sense for you to argue about using MF for bird photography when many of us that do shoot birds, and many on this site do it quite well, when we all use AF and long lenses..
Cheers

Show me anyone who can track a sparrow zooming around with a lens of 500mm or greater. Impossible, manual focus or autofocus!

You have to be realistic. You have to know what can and cannot be done practically.

'In flight' is ambiguous, because birds sometimes hover, and slow down when coming in to land.

Here is a rugby player crossing the goal line, and a skateboarder, both in mid-air:

Not sure you have an arguing point anymore.

 

[soufiej]

......So, yes, I am more than qualified to offer advice. ..........

I nominate this for TPF Troll Post of 2016.

"Entertainment value" is pretty darned shallow, isn't it?

No, it's still better than listening to Trump on the tube.

Like I said, (Ornello's) entertainment value gets thinner than Trump's American Express card.

You must have a TV with, like five, channels. Go take some photographs.

 

[soufiej]

Real entertainment value; Colbert Absolutely Destroys Palin's Whatever The Hell That Was


Take that! Ornello.

 

[Overread]

 

[JacaRanda]

........With birds, you have three problems: Movement, distance, and size. Birds swooping and zooming around are very difficult to track with long lenses. ..........

But, obviously, you have mastered that......... correct?

Oh, I haven't really done much of that kind of photography.

So in conclusion........... you're offering advice about a method you've never used, for a subject you've never really shot.

What next? How to perform heart surgery? Fly a 777? Be a prison warden? Become a mercenary? Guard at Buckingham Palace?

Holiday Inn BRO. It can happen.

 

[coastalconn]

Not sure you have an arguing point anymore.

I don't?

I have always done a lot of 'action' photography, from high school sports to every imaginable kind of activity (lacrosse, anyone? Just try to find the lacrosse ball in the air!). Birds are tough, too, but birds as a subject don't interest me. I am very good at action photography. The problem with birds is that they are small, requiring huge lenses, and it's hard to keep them in the frame when diving and swooping in flight, with or without autofocus. Ever notice that most 'bird in flight' photos are of large birds? Their larger size makes them easier to photograph, since they can't change direction so quickly, and they glide more. Sparrows are almost impossible to capture in flight (other than just taking off from a perch). As you can see here, almost every one of these sparrow photos is of a bird perched. The very few that show them in flight are almost certainly taken with the birds approaching or leaving a known nest or feeder.

So, yes, I am more than qualified to offer advice. If anyone can take a 1000mm lens hand-held and follow sparrows in flight, I'll eat my words.

Perhaps if you want to see Sparrows in flight you should google "sparrows in flight" sparrows in flight - Google Search The problem with sparrows is they don't free fly very often. There really are no native 1000MM lenses on the market

Show me anyone who can track a sparrow zooming around with a lens of 500mm or greater. Impossible, manual focus or autofocus!
You have to be realistic. You have to know what can and cannot be done practically.
'In flight' is ambiguous, because birds sometimes hover, and slow down when coming in to land.
Here is a rugby player crossing the goal line, and a skateboarder, both in mid-air:

OK, I say possible, here are some swallows and martins that are much faster and way more unpredictable then swallows, also some other smaller birds......All with my 500 F4 handheld and AF. Again experience and skill comes into play here and of course good equipment...
Blue Jay in flight 10_14 3 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr
Purple Martin 6_30 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr
Swallow in flight 6_28 1 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr
Tree Swallow Splash 9_14 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr
Tree Swallow in Flight 6_8 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr
Barn Swallow in Flight 6_29 by Kristofer Rowe, on Flickr

 

[spiralout462]

That's the post I was waiting on! !!