AZURE KINGSISHER

[Ian McLachlan]

These are rare in southern Aust and I think only appear in summer. In any case this is the male of the only pair I have ever seen south of the sub tropics. i had the A1and the lens for only a few weeks but this bird seems to have been in focus coming straight at me at about 40mph for 10 or so frames in a row. The background is water from the creek [green] then wild rosemary, then dead bush on the left. Seems to me to be focused right on the eye. Next summer I'm hoping for more evening light as these birds are very beautiful though only four inches long.

A1
200/600
@433MM
ISO 3200
HH
6.3
45%crop
All comment much appreciated

[Colin Driscoll]

Looking lonely here Ian! That is not a bad shot given how fast these little fellows fly. Not too much detail in the bird and that foliage on the left is not pretty.
Hopefully the next attempt will be an improvement.

[Dorian Anderson]

Incredible capture, even if the IQ is lacking a bit. White nape looks a bit hot. Stuff on the left is what it is. Bummer the bird's gaze and flight path are oriented towards it and not away.

[Arthur Morris]

Incredible bird and AF. What AF method were you using? I am not a big fan of the dead bush.

Do you know about a7INFO?

with love, artie

[Ian McLachlan]

Artie 'ZONE ',the best for fast BIF,but much less than 600mm which would have liked to have used ,but as I was only going to get one shot at this I thought I'd have a better chance of picking it up at the lesser focal length and then crop.Will follow up a7info thanks. Dorian this bird is turning left of me and he isn't going to look any where but where he is going. And the eye focus seems to me to be right on.Agree about the brush and I'm hoping they will be back in our summer.
Thanks for the comments.

[arash_hazeghi]

that's a super pose , wow! incredibly fast subject, you did not mention the shutter speed but for this you need 1/5000 sec or even faster, IQ not great but descent for the speed

do you have the A1 BIF guide BTW?

TFS

[Ian McLachlan]

Glad you are back Arash. I have been contemplating the shutter speed as the wings tips are blurred. But the light was poor and I was at 1/4000th in this frame and iso 3200 seems to be absolute max for this lens maybe 2500? Yes I have your A1 BIF. Excellent .Your Peregrine juveniles made me get the a1 .By the way can you change the focal length at that speed ?I did not for fear of losing focus.
Thanks all

[arash_hazeghi]

Glad you are back Arash. I have been contemplating the shutter speed as the wings tips are blurred. But the light was poor and I was at 1/4000th in this frame and iso 3200 seems to be absolute max for this lens maybe 2500? Yes I have your A1 BIF. Excellent .Your Peregrine juveniles made me get the a1 .By the way can you change the focal length at that speed ?I did not for fear of losing focus.
Thanks all

hey Ian I think you did the best you could. The zoom’s limitation is low light so for something like this pull out the prime if you can. The zoom while focus technic will be challenging here as the KF is zipping super fast your best bet is too zoom out while he is far so it won’t go OOF by the time you lock on him. It’s a tough challenge but I am sure you will nail it next time

great work