Royal Tern Flight- 50D

[Doug Brown]

I've now shot close to 8,000 frames with my 50D. This morning I picked up my Mark III to do a little flight photography, and boy was it slow by comparison. There is no question in my mind that the 50D is head and shoulders better than the Mark III at flight photography when it comes to AI Servo AF performance.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/photos/394836069_rxb9o-O.jpg

Canon 50D, 400mm, f/7.1, 1/4000, ISO 400, -1/3 EC, no flash, hand held

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

Very nice Dough. Love the sharp wings.
Szimi

[Stephen Earle]

I love the sharpness you've achieved right to thtips of the primaries. Thx also for the 50D info......... a few more from you and I'm gonna bite.

[Juan Aragonés]

Great job on this flight Doug. the orange bill is fantastic and I like a lot the dorsal view of the bird

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

i really like the wing position and pose!

[IvoZafirov]

Doug, my hands are itching already and your posts are having a lot of contribution for that. I hope to get my 50D in two weeks.

[Ramon M. Casares]

Very nice pose and exposure control! Congratualtions!

[Rene A]

Congrats:)

[Neil Losin]

You're making the 50D awfully tempting with all these posts. Stop it :)

Seriously, this is excellent. Great dorsal view.

[John Chardine]

Very impressive image Doug, and very useful to see what can be done with the new 50D. I wonder how the AF stacks up against the major competition???!

[Linda Robbins]

Perfect sharpness in this lovely flight pose. Lovely capture!

[James Salywoda]

Awesome by all means Doug super upper wing shot great angle of capture....... I'm glad your happy with the new camera .

[Larry Kaufman]

That's a beauty of a Royal Doug. Nice to meet you, although you are likely going to cost me $$ as now I want a 50D!
Take care.
Larry

[Wilson Hum]

Nice flight shot Doug. I am curious if you have used the 40D previously? I am asking to get a point of reference regarding your comment about the 50D's AF speed in Ai-Servo performance. I currently own a 40D.

Can I ask what you mean exactly when you say the 50D is heads and shoulders better than the 1D MKIII in Ai-Servo? Is this on the initial AF pickup? Do you mean the 50D stays on the bird longer or better (against distracting backgrounds, etc.)?

Would it be possible to provide a scenario of how differently the 50D would perform compared to a 1D MKIII? Thanks.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Wilson! Good question. The 50D is significantly faster at initial focus acquisition, stays on the bird better, and produces substantially more keepers than either my Mark III or my 40D. I've shot extensively with the 40D, and was never terribly impressed with its AF when it came to BIF. The Mark III is good, and I've done a lot of BIF with it. The 50D is a big step up from the Mark III for BIF in my opinion.

[Haim Ziv]

Killer shot !! very beautiful done.

[David Billingsley]

Doug, thanks for sharing your experiences with the new 50D. Your results are outstanding.

Would you say that the improvements in the 50D BIF AF capabilities also equate to better AF performance on static subjects?? While I have many good images with the 40D, I have not been too pleased with the 40D AF overall. The results you are experiencing make it very tempting to get the 50D.

Have a blessed day - dave b.

[Doug Brown]

No problems at all with static AF so far. I'll post a couple of static pics in the coming days.

[Doug Brown]

I might add that the 50D also does a much better job when the bird is flying right at you.

[Stu Bowie]

Very, very impressive. Thanks for sharing info on the 50D.

[Gary Woodburn]

Doug, I was wondering what in camera settings you are using, my color is all over the place with bif, but works fine for indoor hockey, regards gary

[Doug Brown]

I'm not sure I entirely understand what you're saying Gary. Are you referring to your exposures or your colors with BIF. If you're having problems with varied BGs causing over- and under-exposure of BIFs, you might consider using manual exposure. I'm helping teach a workshop with Jim Neiger right now where we stress manual exposure for BIF.