shooting moving birds

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karlwilson1986

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Karl
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Hey all

I am off to a bird sanctuary today or tomorrow and pretty new to flying birds!!

I have just bought the 70-200 VR 1 f2.8

I notice it has an active button for finding moving objects

I havent had time to sit and read the manual but thought id ask on here

for moving objects i'm guessing 1/500 and above is a good place to start?? and then panning

do i need to set my D90 to 3d tracking as well as using the active button or do i just need to set the active button?

thanks
Karl
 
karlwilson1986 said:
Hey all

I notice it has an active button for finding moving objects

I havent had time to sit and read the manual but thought id ask on here
Click to expand...

I do recommend a quick read of the manual first, the 'Active' switch is for the VR mode, to be used when on a moving platform (i.e. car, boat, helicopter etc.). Set it to Normal if you're shooting birds from solid ground, or if you're at higher shutter speeds (1/1000s) turn it off altogether.
 
Worth a read for Nikon VR shooters - http://bythom.com/nikon-vr.htm

I shoot with Canon, but with the shutter speeds I prefer for BIF - 1/1000 minimum, if possible, I leave IS off altogether. I'd rather shoot at 1/2000 or more if the light allows. It makes a big difference to the sharpness of the crops, and sometimes crops are what you need. It's easier to deal with a little noise than it is to deal with a little blur, so crank the ISO if need be.

Of course you can try shooting at lower speeds, but then both skill and perhaps a bit of luck become increasingly important.

Oh, and I also prefer to use single point AF for BIF, together with back button focusing, which I always use. The more AF points you bring into play, and you may find you have to if you are struggling to keep one point located on the bird, the more data the camera has to process and the more decisions it has to make. The fewer points you use the greater the certainty that the right AF point will be used to focus on your subject. If you have a busy background this is increasingly important. With a clear sky you can more easily get away with expanding the AF point spread, if you need to. Just be careful that the camera doesn't start focusing on wing tips instead of eyeballs when you hand over more responsibility to the camera.
 
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