Questions regarding Birds in Flight and Birds In Shade with my equipment

The Gannets In Flight shots I have from the E-M10 II were shot with the 40-150 lens in good light.

I constantly forget to set Shutter Priority and ISO low enough, so my aperture is at or below f10.

I now also have the 14-150 and the 75-300 lens - but we are still in Covid-19 Alarm Level 2. Wearing a mask while panning with flying gannets is a distraction.

In my perception - it is not the gear you use - it is how you use it. I choose a focusing method that favors the central area. There are several menu areas that refer to 'Displayed Grid' and AF. The jury is out on whether or not they interfere with each other.

This one is on a 33x23 inch print on a wall.

Henry

Very nice.

I had the 40-150 mm and sold that a few years ago and replaced it with the 14-150 mm I

I then sold that lens because I became frustrated trying to get sharp images at 150mm.

I probably could have kept those 2 lenses.

As I look at your response and others, I see that I can certainly work with my equipment, with practice and asking questions.

Hi C Sean,

Sorry I don't know how to respond within the message, like you did.

You wrote;

"Just be aware people here started with the either the original 75-300 or the 100-300 and later upgraded.

I thought that the newer Panasonic, that I have, is supposed to focus more quickly than the original.

Currently there is demand for the new Olympus 100-400 and you need to ask yourself why?"

Is it not the longer reach and the fact that you can use the teleconverter?

Birds in Flight tips at https://naturalexposures.com/photo-tips-from-the-field-birds-in-flight/

hockey guy wrote:

I looked at the video. Very helpful.

I noticed that he recommended shooting JPEG LF and avoiding RAW when shooting birds.

he mentioned buffering as the reason.

Can you explain that?

Is that what you do?

Thanks

It's to do with the burst speed. In spite of that I shoot jpeg + raw. Here's another video which shows the buffering effect and how a fast sd card helps:

hockey guy wrote:

For birds that are not flying do you shoot in aperture priority and keep an eye on the shutter speed or use shutter priority.

The bird may not be in flight, but may be hovering or preening.

Thanks.

I always shoot BIF in M mode because at several of the locations that I shoot the background changes from sky to trees to fields.  In anything other than M mode (with fixed ISO) the exposure will change as the background changes, and I don't want that.  I want a constant exposure for the bird.

I have to adjust the exposure as the light changes, and I do that off a reference area, normally a patch of grass.  I find that a good starting point is sky+1EV or grass -2/3EV, but I adjust that for the birds' plumage.

Chris R-UK wrote:

hockey guy wrote:

For birds that are not flying do you shoot in aperture priority and keep an eye on the shutter speed or use shutter priority.

The bird may not be in flight, but may be hovering or preening.

Thanks.

I always shoot BIF in M mode because at several of the locations that I shoot the background changes from sky to trees to fields. In anything other than M mode (with fixed ISO) the exposure will change as the background changes, and I don't want that. I want a constant exposure for the bird.

I have to adjust the exposure as the light changes, and I do that off a reference area, normally a patch of grass. I find that a good starting point is sky+1EV or grass -2/3EV, but I adjust that for the birds' plumage.

Once again listen to Chris, he talks a lot of sense.  I would be very wary about taking too much notice of the video.  Bird photography isn't about getting all your settings right before you leave the house.  It is largely intuitive which is why Chris pushes the manual approach.

Chris R-UK wrote:

hockey guy wrote:

For birds that are not flying do you shoot in aperture priority and keep an eye on the shutter speed or use shutter priority.

The bird may not be in flight, but may be hovering or preening.

Thanks.

I always shoot BIF in M mode because at several of the locations that I shoot the background changes from sky to trees to fields. In anything other than M mode (with fixed ISO) the exposure will change as the background changes, and I don't want that. I want a constant exposure for the bird.

I have to adjust the exposure as the light changes, and I do that off a reference area, normally a patch of grass. I find that a good starting point is sky+1EV or grass -2/3EV, but I adjust that for the birds' plumage.

Exactly that.

I always use manual exposure for BIF, usually using a patch of grass to judge exposure. You can't tell from one second to the next if you'll be shooting either a pale or dark bird, against either a pale of dark background. Of course it's a pain if the light levels keep changing, and you have to keep checking exposure, but it's more reliable than trying to select the correct exposure compensation while actually tracking and shooting the bird at the same time.  And if you happen to be using back button focusing (which I do) then you don't have enough fingers or thumbs to adjust exposure compensation anyway.

But for stationary birds in a tree, I will usually use aperture priority, with some exposure compensation. I don't think I've used shutter priority more than a handful of times in the last decade.

Mike

hockey guy wrote:

Does that mean that you shoot perched birds using shutter priority mode?

Thanks

Loads of people do, it might work well for you.  I use manual mode for everything.  Single small AF point and continuous drive so when you have the shutter button pressed, the camera keeps taking photos.

Even for perched birds, do you need to adhere to a minimum shutter speed regardless of whether taken hand held or with a tripod?

hockey guy wrote:

Even for perched birds, do you need to adhere to a minimum shutter speed regardless of whether taken hand held or with a tripod?

yes, birds rarely sit still

hockey guy wrote:

Even for perched birds, do you need to adhere to a minimum shutter speed regardless of whether taken hand held or with a tripod?

Definitely.

If I'm absolutely desperate for extra light, I'll fire off a burst at 1/100th, or even down to 1/20th if the bird is pretty still.  This only really works when shooting in bursts as you will likely have motion blur in some of the shots, but there should be a few good ones.  It can depend on the species, wind, and how steady you and the camera are, but you'll get a feel for how low you can go after a few outings.