Tripod and cable released used. I will use a smaller aperture if I can persuade the little b...grs to feed in better light! Often use -1 or -2 stops fill in flash. Thanks for all the suggestions - gets int a useful tutorial with personal mentors - and any of you that know me - it would take a lot to offend having spent a life in a hated proffession! Keep the comments coming on anything I post or edit away especially if you tell what you did which is helpful for a lot of us out there.
Ah!... I suspect the culprit here is your cable release Phil.
I don't see how you can possibly use a cable release for wildlife shots unless the critters are stuffed and mounted. It's critical to stay focused on the same spot - the eye usually.
I'll tell you what I do: -
Mount the camera on a tripod, but slack off the head so you can move the camera in any direction (keeping hold of the camera obviously) A ball head is fine - a three way head will drive you crackers.
Enable just the centre AF spot and servo focusing.
When an opportunity presents itself - place that AF spot over the critter's eye. With the head being slacked off you'll be able to keep track of any movement and the servo focusing should maintain focus. Press the shutter button as you would normally. Obviously the shutter speed should be enough to overcome the twitching and head movement of these birds. With the camera tripod mounted, even though your holding the camera, you'll be a lot steadier than just hand holding (no pod).
If you use a cable release there's far too much opportunity for head movements etc from the bird before you take the shot. Even if you have all the AF points selected to cover the movement, you've no idea which AF spots the system will choose to use and the likelihood of maintaining focus on that eye is slim.
Try it Phil- see how you get on.
Hated profession? My dentist is a lovely little feller.
