XS10+XC50-230 bird photos and...( The Fuji duck issues)

Phil1 wrote:

Thank you for letting me see the results of the focus point plugin. They probably explain the out of focus shots. In fact, suspect that a lot of the out of focus shots I've seen over the years in this forum have been due to a missed focussing point due to inadvertent camera movement. It's quite difficult holding the camera sufficiently still when pressing the shutter button so that the focus point doesn’t drift off the target and then if the subject is also moving.....

However I should add a note of caution. The square shown by the plugin, as far as I know, doesn't indicate the size of the focussing area but it shows just the central point so there is no knowing exactly what area of the image was actually used for focussing, only the point of the centre of that area.

You probably know all of this already but in case not, from what I've seen over the years, one needs to get all of, or at least the large majority of, the actual (camera) focussing square on the subject. If there is a high contrast and/or bright area behind the subject and the camera's focussing square is partly on the background then there is always the risk of the camera focusing on the back ground, giving an out of focus shot,

With a small target like a distant duck, based on the above, I'd suggest using a small or very small focussing square and firing a burst of 3-5 shots. The logic behind this is that any minute camera movement caused by pressing the shutter button will mainly affect the first shot or two, so that hopefully the later shots in the burst will have a greater chance of being in focus. It’s also worth reading up on shooting techniques and then practising a lot!

Happy hunting & please let us know how you get on.

Phil

Thanks, good suggestions , my bird photographs had been mainly with A6400 and 200-600mm Sony combo .Little experience with the Fuji system and to be honest, a bit over-ambitious with the XC 50--230( one-fifth of the price of Sony 200-600).

I was aiming for the head which is not a very big target in a duck.

Movement could be an issue .In a stationary duck , even at 1600 ISO there were still details but with almost similar positioning of focus point the moving ducks were not sharp.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65794628?image=4

I probably will have to target the body of a moving duck and the head of a sitting duck .😊