Help with prefocusing songbirds in flight

[Colin Knight]

I have a very promising situation in the paper box under my mailbox- an eastern bluebird is building a nest there. With any luck, I'll have some wonderful chances to catch mom and dad bringing food to their babies in a couple of weeks. I've been trying to figure out the best way to capture the nest building process. I've been setting up in the driveway, photographing them landing on the most unnatural perch- my mailbox.

I would like help with two things. First, if they are successful in hatching some eggs, will it disturb them to build a small perch to land on, just outside of the mailbox- something more photogenic?

The second question is recommended settings for manually prefocusing on a perch. As we all know, a songbird passes through a few inches in a small fraction of a second.According to the DOF calculator, I have about 2 inches at f/4 and 3.5 inches at f/8. I plan on using ~1/2500 sec to stop the action. So, that leaves me with somewhere around ISO 200-800 at those apertures on a sunny day. Do you go for high ISO, with more DOF, or the other way around?

I'll be using my trusty 500mm and 7D.

I've only gotten a few chances so far, and I think I could get some good images in the future.

500mm, 7D, 1/2500sec, f/4, ISO 400

[Alfred Forns]

Looks like you will have a great situation !!! Hope they will be successful

Settings wise would try at a distance you will need to crop a bit, not much but don't try for a full frame ... just reasonable. Getting back a little will increase dof !!

Will trade speed for dof, just pick something that will freeze the bird but don't worry much about the wings. ISO wise experiment with how much you can get away with before you start doing the bird. Not sure you can go to 1600 withe the 7D, I have had trouble cleaning up the image and with feather detail.

Going manual and pre focusing is the way to go !! Can't wait to see what you come up with !!!!

[Colin Knight]

Thanks Alfred!

[Alfred Forns]

... forgot about the branch ... would try setting up when both birds are out, should not bother them!!

[Desmond Chan]

How about setting up a remote system around your mail box and let the camera/bird take the pictures? You can even use shorter focal length lenses (even a wide-angle) to get more DOF.