Least Tern needs help

[Bill Dix]

Sun from the east, wind from the west; terns fishing into the wind. So I could shoot into the sun as they approached, or get nicely lit tern backsides going away from me. Next time I'll check the wind forecast. This one is a compromise as this juvenile (I think I'm right on the species?) went by me like a bullet. I'm disappointed in the IQ. Don't know if it's the AF, dof, ss, or what. I've gotten better tern bif (but not Least) and seen lots of tack-sharp tern bif at lower ss than this. Any suggestions?

D90 | 80-400 VR @ 370mm | ISO 640 | 1/2500s @ f/7.1 | -0.3 EV | HH

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Bill,

Greetings. Looks like focus point or AF struggling to keep up to me... since the most in focus part is the far wing. If you have the software, you might check the focus point. By reputation, the 80-400 AF might be struggling with the faster birds.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Bill Without a good wind direction is tough to do any good with flight !!! Hope for a good East wind in the morning or West afternoon

Lens wise I have used the 8-400 from students I was teaching and did just fine. Need to pre focus for faster acquisition and keep the center point on the bird ... but will get excellent results !! Here Michael is right and the point did not grab around the head area, for these little birds I have trouble keeping around the head !!! .. btw if you have the light might experiment keeping the shutter speed at around 1/2500 ... will see a difference !!!

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Michael and Al. Here I was using 1/2500s, which should have been fast enough, so perhaps it is the struggling AF. According to Nikon's ViewNX, the focus point was on the upper part of the near wing, but that is obviously not the case - I've never trusted the accuracy of that information. I may take a page from Artie's book and try using the AutoISO with a high preset ss. And an east wind.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Bill - agree with the above - AF systems are never perfect - AL'S suggestions were a good one.
Wind direction will slow em down and make like easier!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Looks pretty good to me Bill. I have been working on Terns too and they are FAST! No keepers yet. Hard to prefocus as they are erratic flyers IMO. Guess if they are heading into the wind would help,

[arash_hazeghi]

I think this one was AF not keeping up, but don't drop the shutter speed if you want to get tack sharp photos, I also prefer to stay above 1/2500sec and raise the ISO if needed. Not sure about D90 but with D300/D700 if you set your camera to Dynamic Area AF (9 points) it will help a lot keeping the focus on the bird. I also would not rely on AF point display for debugging things, it just tells you which sensor was active when the shutter was pressed, focus can be anywhere in the frame...TFS

[Bill Dix]

I think this one was AF not keeping up, but don't drop the shutter speed if you want to get tack sharp photos, I also prefer to stay above 1/2500sec and raise the ISO if needed. Not sure about D90 but with D300/D700 if you set your camera to Dynamic Area AF (9 points) it will help a lot keeping the focus on the bird. I also would not rely on AF point display for debugging things, it just tells you which sensor was active when the shutter was pressed, focus can be anywhere in the frame...TFS

Thank you Arash. I've always used the single point (AF-A) mode. I'll try using the Dynamic AF and see if that helps. I always wondered why the ViewNX didn't accurately reflect the apparent focus point. Now I know. Thanks for explaining it. I've had the D90 for a little over a year now, but still learning new things about it.