Mythmaker's Nature Learning Journey...
- Thread starter Mythmaker
- Start date
Mythmaker
Senior Member
Hi sjackal!
Thanks for taking time to be the first to comment!
They are all shot with the 5D Mark III and Tamron 150-600mm. I have recently purchased a 7D2, so all future shots will be with the 7D2 instead of the 5D3
(That's when I finally finish get to finish my zoo photos; currently it's on lowest priority to be processed heh)
#24
Well, this is unexpected. I wasn't expecting to upload anything into this thread until I'm done with my Taiwan photos, but it turned out that I actually took a photo of a butterfly in Taiwan :bsmilie:
I quite like it, so here it goes!
Swee ahh! Bokehlicious and pleasing colors! Also with the Tamron 150-600mm lens?
Mythmaker
Senior Member
haha I not that insane to bring the 150-600 for a leisure trip :bsmilie:
It's shot with the Canon 70-200 f4L IS
haha I not that insane to bring the 150-600 for a leisure trip :bsmilie:
It's shot with the Canon 70-200 f4L IS
Got put closeup filter? The 500D thing?
Mythmaker
Senior Member
Haha. It's the great job of the 5D3
The only thing I have to do is hold it steady heh.
thanks figo007!
Artistic is one thing, I feel it is important for photos to have a soul that can communicate with the viewer. I don't know whether the photos are "speaking" to you, but it sure is to me. I was inspired by the book "Out of the Wild", where the photographer similarly removed the BG and shot B&W for the animals (with extremely tight crop, way tighter than mine). The photos turned out fantastic and the animals seem to be speaking to me in every page. I wrote down a few notes while flipping through the pages, stuff like DPI, eye contact, crop factor, etc. Hopefully I'll be able to apply whatever I've learnt in my next trip to the zoo and churn out more meaningful images
Mythmaker
Senior Member
#25
Went to do some birding yesterday, I'm a newbie in his baby steps. More questions arose than what I had learnt:
1) How are you supposed to find the bird at 960mm in the viewfinder? All I see in the viewfinder are leaves... and when the birds are the same colour as the leaves or if it's a small bird, they had left by the time I found the spot...
2) I realised I can't fully lock my gimbal head. I turn to the max and it's still moving (I'm using this cheap one from Amazon for learning purposes). Any decent gimbal to recommend?
3) I have trouble getting accurate focus of Birds in Flight. I stayed on the bird for more than 2 seconds in the viewfinder, but I find that it's still not really focusing accurately. This is the entire photo:
And this is the 100% crop:
About 9 out of 10 frames is like that. Shutter is at 1/2000. Is it because shutter is not fast enough? I am currently using a Canon 7D mark 2 with a Tamron 150-600. Settings are
- AF Case 3, Tracking Sensitivity +1, Accel./decel. tracking +2, AF pt auto switching +2
- AI Servo 2nd image priority: Focus priority
- Auto Selection: 65 pt AF
- Initial AFpt, AI Servo AF: AUTO
- iTR: OFF
Hopefully someone can enlighten me, thanks in advance!
richiemccaw1
Senior Member
Welcome to birding bro
Some prelim thoughts before I sleep:
1) You are right about it being really hard to pick up the bird at the max focal length. Best to zoom out a little to find the bird before zooming as much as you need. The more you use your lens, the easier you'd find the bird.
2) The bird looks to be out of focus especially if you're already at 1/2000 for a big bird. Perhaps it's an issue of not having the AF points switch too quickly.
I'm not up to date with the 1dx/7d2 af system so I cant help too much on the exact settings. My best suggestion is to download the official AF manual and mug it - I did that for my 1D3, 1D4 and a77ii. Really glad I made the effort to learn the system well so I can maximise the super cheem AF system.
3) I have the Jobu Jr3 gimbal head from Tk for my A-mount copy of the T156. Works a charm as I've said to quite a few people For your gimbal head, can it be that your setup is too heavy for the head?
Thanks.
Some prelim thoughts before I sleep:
1) You are right about it being really hard to pick up the bird at the max focal length. Best to zoom out a little to find the bird before zooming as much as you need. The more you use your lens, the easier you'd find the bird.
2) The bird looks to be out of focus especially if you're already at 1/2000 for a big bird. Perhaps it's an issue of not having the AF points switch too quickly.
I'm not up to date with the 1dx/7d2 af system so I cant help too much on the exact settings. My best suggestion is to download the official AF manual and mug it - I did that for my 1D3, 1D4 and a77ii. Really glad I made the effort to learn the system well so I can maximise the super cheem AF system.
3) I have the Jobu Jr3 gimbal head from Tk for my A-mount copy of the T156. Works a charm as I've said to quite a few people
For your gimbal head, can it be that your setup is too heavy for the head?Thanks.
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Mythmaker
Senior Member
Welcome to birding bro
Some prelim thoughts before I sleep:
1) You are right about it being really hard to pick up the bird at the max focal length. Best to zoom out a little to find the bird before zooming as much as you need. The more you use your lens, the easier you'd find the bird.
2) The bird looks to be out of focus especially if you're already at 1/2000 for a big bird. Perhaps it's an issue of not having the AF points switch too quickly.
I'm not up to date with the 1dx/7d2 af system so I cant help too much on the exact settings. My best suggestion is to download the official AF manual and mug it - I did that for my 1D3, 1D4 and a77ii. Really glad I made the effort to learn the system well so I can maximise the super cheem AF system.
3) I have the Jobu Jr3 gimbal head from Tk for my A-mount copy of the T156. Works a charm as I've said to quite a few people
Thanks.
Hi Richie!
Great thanks for your help! I actually tried zooming out to 150mm before I start locating, but the entire process takes about 3-4 seconds to zoom out and in and alot of things could had changed... and when I zoom back to 600mm, the frame changes and everything looks foreign heh. I'm wondering how does the 500mm/600mm prime lens users locate their birds, since they can't even zoom out...? But I'll take your advice and use it more often to see if I can get to it faster
Ok, I'll start mugging the AF system again. Just curious, what is the shutter speed normally used for big birds in flight?
Thanks for the recommendation for the gimbal head! That really helped me. It's not an issue of weight for my existing one, since I still can't tighten without any camera on it.
I once saw a video of this bird photographer talking about gimbal head, and he mentioned that he likes to keep it nice and snug so that when he pushes the lens, it stays at that position (facing up or down). I have extracted that portion of the video into a GIF, and the JR3 Deluxe looks a little small... is it able to do stuff like this:
[Warning 4MB link, do not open on mobile]
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53763341/Images/Facebook/Gimbal Head.gif
richiemccaw1
Senior Member
Happy to chip in a little.
For locating birds in the viewfinder, I guess it is really a matter of practice - how you align your camera with where you are looking.
Shutter speed - I would reckon 1/1000 thereabouts should be enough? I havent shot many bigger BIFs before paiseh. At least for the small ones I would try to keep it above 1/1600 at least.
Gimbal head - I would recommend you bring your whole camera and lens setup to Tk to test out the gimbal head before buying. Else you can grab a used one off BnS. Think there was someone selling his copy recently.
If you use a battery grip, do note it may prevent you from turning the entire swing arm such that the front of the lens is perpendicular to the ground. Just FYI in case you plan to shoot like that. The Tk guys alerted me to this small impediment when I was trying out the Jobu gimbal head.
Cheers.
For locating birds in the viewfinder, I guess it is really a matter of practice - how you align your camera with where you are looking.
Shutter speed - I would reckon 1/1000 thereabouts should be enough? I havent shot many bigger BIFs before paiseh. At least for the small ones I would try to keep it above 1/1600 at least.
Gimbal head - I would recommend you bring your whole camera and lens setup to Tk to test out the gimbal head before buying. Else you can grab a used one off BnS. Think there was someone selling his copy recently.
If you use a battery grip, do note it may prevent you from turning the entire swing arm such that the front of the lens is perpendicular to the ground. Just FYI in case you plan to shoot like that. The Tk guys alerted me to this small impediment when I was trying out the Jobu gimbal head.
Cheers.
Mythmaker
Senior Member
Happy to chip in a little.
For locating birds in the viewfinder, I guess it is really a matter of practice - how you align your camera with where you are looking.
Shutter speed - I would reckon 1/1000 thereabouts should be enough? I havent shot many bigger BIFs before paiseh. At least for the small ones I would try to keep it above 1/1600 at least.
Gimbal head - I would recommend you bring your whole camera and lens setup to Tk to test out the gimbal head before buying. Else you can grab a used one off BnS. Think there was someone selling his copy recently.
If you use a battery grip, do note it may prevent you from turning the entire swing arm such that the front of the lens is perpendicular to the ground. Just FYI in case you plan to shoot like that. The Tk guys alerted me to this small impediment when I was trying out the Jobu gimbal head.
Cheers.
I was thinking since I'm starting out, might be good to start with a big bird first :bsmilie: Ok I'll take 1/1000 as a base point and work from there.
I had discovered why the shot isn't sharp and it's actually a known issue. The problem lies with the lens itself; my Tamron 150-600 was purchased early last year. When panning with the lens, the VC (only canon mount versions) will screw up the shot as detailed in here and here. There were two firmware updates addressing this issue, so I'm sending it in to the service centre for an update.
Okay I'll monitor the BnS section for a gimbal. I don't use my battery grip for birding so it's okay. The lens is heavy enough already :bsmilie:
Many thanks for your help and advice! Appreciate very much that you spent time pointing me in the right direction. Nothing better than learning on the shoulders of giants
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richiemccaw1
Senior Member
Good luck. I am very much still a novice so there's plenty for us to learn
Please PM me if there's anything else you may need help with. Id try my best to help.
Please PM me if there's anything else you may need help with. Id try my best to help.
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