Let's try one in flight

[CM Prince]

This Pileated Woodpecker was on the pole but by the time I got focus he flew, this is what I ended up with.



Nikon D90, 1/1600 at f 8.0,300 mm, ISO 400.

All C & C welcome, just trying to improve

C M

[Diane Miller]

Sharpness seems to be suffering a little here. Not so unusual in my experience for flight shots, especially when the subject has just launched. Were you on AI Servo (whatever the Nikon equivalent is)? Even so, it can take a while for me to acquire and follow focus.

Nice to see this subject in flight, with nice wing position! Could use a little more on the left for some room to fly into.

[Randall Farhy]

Wow, what a pose. It has been my experience that track focusing this type of shot is darn near impossible, maybe a 1DX or equivalent Nikon can pull it off with consistency, not sure. When going for something like this, manually focusing ahead of the birds anticipated path then tracking and firing as it transitions would give you better odds for success, provided you guessed distance and direction correctly. (one of the few instances where Canon's back button focus has an advantage-you can manually focus without switching modes and the trigger won't change the pre-determined focus setting.) OOTB techniques may yield interesting results if you're up for some experimentation, this one already has a water color look about it.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Perfect pose! You've got an overdose of noise unfortunately. Either the D90 did not like the 1600 ISO or you've cropped heavily to bring the bird closer (and/or perhaps raised exposure?). Anyway, with the equipment you've had in your hands - not bad at all, well done!

(PS: did you use a 300mm prime lens or did you zoom in to 300mm?)

[Diane Miller]

Wow, what a pose. It has been my experience that track focusing this type of shot is darn near impossible, maybe a 1DX or equivalent Nikon can pull it off with consistency, not sure. When going for something like this, manually focusing ahead of the birds anticipated path then tracking and firing as it transitions would give you better odds for success, provided you guessed distance and direction correctly. (one of the few instances where Canon's back button focus has an advantage-you can manually focus without switching modes and the trigger won't change the pre-determined focus setting.) OOTB techniques may yield interesting results if you're up for some experimentation, this one already has a water color look about it.

I think with the 7D or 5D3, the issue with shooting BIF is both the speed and accuracy of AF, and that can depend to some extent on the lens.

There has been discussion here in several threads about using the shutter button vs. back button for focus for BIF (In AI Servo, of course.) Among the experienced and successful BIF shooters here, I've seen several who favor it, and several who use the back button. David Salem recently pointed out (in the General Photography forum) some advantages to using the shutter button in order to change exposure quickly with the thumb wheel. But with shutter button focus you can still have the advantage of quickly locking focus (i.e. going to manual focus) by using the * button to lock/hold focus.

[Randall Farhy]

I think with the 7D or 5D3, the issue with shooting BIF is both the speed and accuracy of AF, and that can depend to some extent on the lens....

...But with shutter button focus you can still have the advantage of quickly locking focus (i.e. going to manual focus) by using the * button to lock/hold focus.

Which works well for focus and recompose situations, with focus being attained using AF. For situations such as in this photo, I believe manual focus is necessary to guesstimate the flight path, which unless I'm missing something (and I might be) requires manually switching the lens for the shot and then switching back again for AF to function.

In BB mode, both MF and AF are always at the ready, one can pick and choose the method of tracking once the subject passes through the selected zone. I use this technique frequently when tracking racing action. I'm not arguing in favor of one method over another, just making a case for situational use. I can't tell you how many times I put a camera down for one reason or another and had a WTF moment when I picked it back up because I had forgotten to switch back to AF. David Salem is on another level when it comes to BIF, and if he sees an advantage to using SB, then there is one. Because of his comments, I have gone back and set a C function with SB release for certain situations and look forward to seeing if it helps.

[Arthur Morris]

Some general comments on all of the above. First off, you have pretty much zero chance to get a really sharp image unless your name if Brian K. Wheeler.... Or unless you are superbly skilled.... I used to see BKW's hawks in flight images before AF: he got 50%of each roll sharp. Nobody else was within miles of him.

I cannot speak of AF with the 7D but as far as accuracy of tracking once AF is attained the 5D III is as good as the 1D X. Pileateds fly like rockets. They undulate in flight. They are fast and unpredicitable. And yes the lens matters too. But the single biggest problems with acquiring and maintaining focus is operator error. I have seen Jim Neiger in action. He raises the 600, puts the bird in the middle of the frame every time, acquires focus, and 95% of the time tracks the bird successfully while keeping the central sensor squarely on the bird. He photographs birds in flight almost every day of the year. He is strong with great hand-eye coordination. And he has refined his AF techniques so that he can re-acquire quickly when the sensor falls off the bird.

For most folks the AF systems are much better than the photographers, me included.... I use rear focus. Jim Neiger firmly believes that shutter button is best.

In short the ability to acquire and track focus is much more a function of the skill of the photographer than of the camera and the lens. That said, I have a much higher keeper rate with my 1D X than with any previous camera body.

Folks might be interested in Jim Neiger's great e-Guide, Flight Plan. Click here.