Beginner Birds of Prey Workshop Lens Advice

DowntonMini

DowntonMini

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Mark Gameson
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Hello

I have a couple of questions

I have just signed up to do a Birds of Prey workshop in the middle of December through the club I am a member of.

I will be using my Nikon D750 the longest lens I have in my bag is my Nikon 70-300 VR, we will be doing some BIF work so my first question is would it be worth hiring a longer lens if so what would people recommend I've looked at a couple of sites Lenses for Hire and Lens Locker (who appear to be cheaper)

I have considered buying a lens but I would want to know I would get use out of it first. I am also interested in Motorsport so I would be able to use it for that so if there is a lens that is suitable for both It is something I would consider as a more favourable option.

Any advise would be gratefully received.

Thanks
 
Is the workshop with captive birds?
 
It will take place on a local farm where as long as the weather is ok it will be outdoors but they have a large barn if the weather is bad.
 
Okay, so I assume captive birds that will be 'placed' and flown to your advantage photographically.
If you are not used to a long lens I would suggest that it could cause more problems than benefits, as long lens technique can be challenging at first and I doubt you would get the best from the lens on the day.
Your 70-300 will give you good options for when the birds are 'placed', i.e. you will be able to get closer to the subject, also when the birds are in flight the advantage of being able to zoom out will enable you to find the bird in the viewfinder and zoom in as required for the shot ... with a long lens it can often take too long to find the bird in the viewfinder until you get used to it.
Personally I would go to the workshop with what you are used to using and enjoy the day, if you then feel that you would like to try a longer lens you can hire one out and try it later without risking the results of a workshop day :)
 
gramps said:
… Your 70-300 will give you good options for when the birds are 'placed', i.e. you will be able to get closer to the subject, also when the birds are in flight the advantage of being able to zoom out will enable you to find the bird in the viewfinder and zoom in as required for the shot ...
Click to expand...

+1
 
Thanks @gramps I do have a teleconvetor but on the 70-300 it doesn't like auto focusing and obviously I lose a couple of stops.

What sort of settings would people recommend (I plan to have a but of a play before I go to the workshop)
 
Settings obviously depend a lot on conditions ... how is your camera body with ISO?
With birds in flight I would never go below 1/640th and I would recommend 1/1600th or greater in order to get a sharp image, so don't be afraid to up the ISO in order to use higher shutter speeds ... as often said, better a noisy sharp image than a clean blurred one.
Personally I would likely be using manual mode having tested the selected settings with Auto-ISO in the available light ... remember that wide open will make for a narrow DOF so closing a few stops if possible will give you a better option for focus and hence sharpness.
You will have to make a judgement so keep checking your images regularly to ensure that your settings are still okay (sudden cloud cover/bright sunshine may affect your manual settings).
If you are unsure about using manual then probably Aperture Priority, but watch the shutter speeds, as too low and you will be disappointed with the results for in flight shots.
 
Nikon settings that I use for BIF:
AF-C
D9
A priority- f/8-11 for that lens
Spot metering- EC as needed, but I usually leave it alone unless things are more consistent.
Release priority- focus+release. Depending on the camera it won't care about the setting (but I think the D750 does)
Delay w/ tracking-Low (but not off)
Auto ISO-max limit set (probably 1600-3200 on the D750)
If the D750 has an *auto* min SS I would set that to 2x FL (1 tick towards faster), otherwise ~ 1/800
BBF would be nice

These settings are for demanding subjects and may require a bit more skill/experience. If you are having a harder time finding/locking/tracking then you may need to increase AF points to D21-51 (I never use 3D), increase the delay w/ tracking, and switch metering mode to CW (probably not matrix).

If the light is constant and the situation easier, then I might choose to switch to manual mode for exposure.

If the light is crappy, then you will have to give on some/several of the settings (ISO/Ap/SS)... I would probably let the SS drop quite a bit first for panning with a gliding bird of prey.

I suspect even 300mm is longer than you will actually need... if you have a sharper/faster lens, bring that along.
I have about zero success zooming while also focusing and panning... it might be usable if you can pick the bird up far enough away to complete the zooming and then focus/track, but don't count on it. And if it's that far away you should be able to pick it up pretty easily at 300mm anyways.
It can also help to pre-focus and not activate the AF until the bird comes into rough-focus... This can help prevent AF misses and the AF racking to one end or the other. Another thing that can help is to rack the focus all the way in/out in-between attempts... that way the AF knows which way to go instantly.
 
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Thanks @sk66

I will be taking all of my lenses with me

Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 24-120 F4
Sigma 105 Macro
Sigma 12-24
and of course the 70-300

I will also have a Tamron 18-200 but that will be on my D7000 which my brother will be using

I'll have a play over the next few weeks so I am at least a little prepared....
 
Downton Mini said:
Thanks @sk66

I will be taking all of my lenses with me

Nikon 50mm 1.8
Nikon 24-120 F4
Sigma 105 Macro
Sigma 12-24
and of course the 70-300

I will also have a Tamron 18-200 but that will be on my D7000 which my brother will be using

I'll have a play over the next few weeks so I am at least a little prepared....
Click to expand...

do you have two bodies?

always useful when you have a range of lens in such situations
 
BillN_33 said:
do you have two bodies?

always useful when you have a range of lens in such situations
Click to expand...

I do but at the moment my brother is planning on using the D7000 unless he gets a new camera in the mean time (I keep showing him the P900:)
 
I have done 2 of these now! The 70-300mm will be fine you are close to the birds, most of your pics will be when the bird is on a "natural" perch! When flying you can request if you wanted for the bird to be flown "at" you or over you! The start of the day normally consists of the "teacher" of the workshop telling you best settings for camera setup to capture still then moving birds
 
Been some years since I went on one of these experience days/workshops but IIRC, I used a 70-300 for most of the day, reverting to a Sigma 12-24 (on a D200) for a few shots as an owl was landing on my fist. Having said that, it was a gloriously sunny day in July so light was pretty strong. Typically, all the shots are on a different computer so I can't check the above but it was before I was ill and my memories from back then are reasonably good! Again, from memory, I used AF-C, fixed centre focus point and (probably) P mode, although I might have gone to S to keep the speed up. On the D200, ISO was pretty much restricted to an 800 ceiling before noise was a real problem - lucky the light was good!
 
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