franco
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Post by franco on May 27, 2021 15:01:19 GMT -8
A male Flame Robin , from yesterday.
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rebeccad
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May 28, 2021 6:02:02 GMT -8
Post by rebeccad on May 28, 2021 6:02:02 GMT -8
GaliWalker, I find I’m using the manual focus a lot, especially for things like birds. But I need some lessons on using the camera—it was my husband’s camera, and I never bothered to learn it. I still won’t carry it hiking, but it is much better than my compact version for wildlife.
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GaliWalker
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May 28, 2021 6:54:05 GMT -8
Post by GaliWalker on May 28, 2021 6:54:05 GMT -8
rebeccad , there are others here who can provide better advice on wildlife photography than me, but here's what I've found useful: - I use autofocus for bird photography. They move quickly enough that I don't want to rely on manual focus. (Note: I use manual focus a lot, but primarily for non-wildlife photography, when the camera is mounted on a tripod and I don't have a focus point that falls on the point I want to focus on.) Depending on your camera, autofocus is getting better and better. For birds in flight I'll switch to focus tracking, but I still find this quite challenging with smaller, fast-moving birds. I also use burst shooting mode from time to time with moving birds. - Try and use the fastest shutter speed you can. Shoot with the widest possible aperture for your camera/lens combination. You may also have to bump up your ISO; while this can introduce noise into the final photo, these days software is good enough to clean that up (usually). - You can mount the camera on a tripod, but you may still want to pan the camera. If you're shooting handheld, a good rule of thumb is to shoot with shutter speeds faster than 1/{focal-length}.
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rebeccad
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May 28, 2021 21:07:00 GMT -8
Post by rebeccad on May 28, 2021 21:07:00 GMT -8
GaliWalker, I *want* to use the autofocus. But for some reason I have a devil of a time getting it to focus when using the zoom. Thus my comment about needing lessons—on the particular camera, more than photography in general (not that a bit of advice there goes amiss). I just haven’t figured out all the controls, apparently. Next time I see my BiL I’ll get him to help me figure it out better.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on May 29, 2021 6:55:50 GMT -8
GaliWalker, I *want* to use the autofocus. But for some reason I have a devil of a time getting it to focus when using the zoom. Thus my comment about needing lessons—on the particular camera, more than photography in general (not that a bit of advice there goes amiss). I just haven’t figured out all the controls, apparently. Next time I see my BiL I’ll get him to help me figure it out better. Unfortunately you might need to look at the camera user guide. Newer cameras have a variety of autofocus types you can choose from. A camera that’s been used before can have specialized settings different from the out of the box defaults: a reset would fix that btw. For a specific target like a bird something more restricted than letting the camera decide from everything in the view what to focus on would be faster. I try and sort that out at home: now with digital cameras it’s easy to just delete the practice shots with no “waste” of film! My latest camera they didn’t even bother packing the big guide in the box, just a fast start guide about the simplest things: charging and inserting the battery, choosing a language, date and time and putting on a lens plus shooting in “auto-everything”. The big detailed guide into all the details was online. The nice thing is that Nikon has got it fully linked up so when I see something in the table of contents I want to use a. click on it sends me right to the correct page: no endless scrolling! And I put it on this iPhone so it’s always there if I need to find something, like switching from general area exposure to a spot exposure. And turning off tapping on the view screen to take a picture to stop the $&^#** camera having my nose trip the shutter! I prefer using the viewfinder even in this mirrorless as i shoot outside in bright light a lot and the back screen is hard to see.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 29, 2021 9:15:45 GMT -8
My latest camera they didn’t even bother packing the big guide in the box, just a fast start guide ... It seems like everything is headed that way. If you don't have fast internet in today's world, you're really handicapped.
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GaliWalker
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May 29, 2021 11:15:18 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by GaliWalker on May 29, 2021 11:15:18 GMT -8
... for some reason I have a devil of a time getting it to focus when using the zoom. Firstly, when you say “getting it to focus”, you mean before you’ve taken the photo, or do you mean your eventual photo ‘looks’ out of focus? If it’s the latter, then it could well be motion blur, in which case try and use a faster shutter speed. (There are other tricks too. Getting crisp photos with a telephoto lens isn’t as easy as it looks.) If it’s the former: - Have you got a polarizing filter screwed on? If you do, make sure it’s a circular polarizer, else your autofocus may not work. - Are you trying to focus on distant objects? If so, check if your telephoto lens has a range for distance. Switch to that. Camera manufacturers spend a lot of effort on a good autofocus system. If your camera is old maybe you’re just out of luck.
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rebeccad
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May 29, 2021 16:44:14 GMT -8
Post by rebeccad on May 29, 2021 16:44:14 GMT -8
GaliWalker, good suggestions. It’s the before-I-shoot focus that I struggle with, and it may be due to range issues, or a need to switch type of focus. With birds, especially, there are usually branches and things that are at a different range. I’ll find that manual soon!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 29, 2021 17:30:42 GMT -8
GaliWalker , good suggestions. It’s the before-I-shoot focus that I struggle with, and it may be due to range issues, or a need to switch type of focus. With birds, especially, there are usually branches and things that are at a different range. I’ll find that manual soon! Most digital cameras have several different auto focus patterns, and most default to a some kind of multi-point focus pattern. The camera selects several different focus points to attempt to get 'everything' in focus. Fine for static generic photos, but often it's not what you want in focus.
I shoot Panasonic (G9 body) and had a devil of a time shooting moving targets until I learned to use a single point focus, and keep my subject in that focus area. I can make the focus area as small (pinpoint) to as large (the entire area) as i want. I usually keep it as small as practical (depends on the subject) and keep it locked on my subject. Nice thing is, even with static subjects (like a flower close-up) I can focus exactly where I want it.
This camera (as well as many others) - I can adjust the focus to follow a moving object; and I've found I get the best results using continuous focus (the focus automatically changes as my subject moves) in combination with a feature that recognizes and tracks people, animals, vehicles, planes, etc. I can nail a good percentage of well exposed photos this way, but you will always lose some. The camera can't 'think', but we can. With a lot of practice, you can do the same with manual focus, but I like using auto focus with these computer guided aids because then I can concentrate on other things that the camera cannot 'see' such as lighting and composition, or whatever emotion I am trying to catch
Each camera is different, just as each woodworking tool I use is different; it just takes a bit of messing around to figure out what will work best for that piece of equipment, and for me, that's half the fun!
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Post by Coolkat on May 29, 2021 18:41:58 GMT -8
Of course this opportunity comes along when I don't have the right lens on the camera but fun anyway.
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franco
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Post by franco on May 29, 2021 21:22:29 GMT -8
A couple of photos of the Little Eagle. One from yesterday and one from this morning.
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Post by Coolkat on Jun 3, 2021 18:09:45 GMT -8
You guys have much better pictures of birds but then again I haven't' YET put a ton of effort into it but here is a couple of Sandhill Cranes from a couple of years ago.
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Post by trinity on Jun 4, 2021 5:26:26 GMT -8
I call this Redbird Showdown: Northern Cardinal vs. Summer Tanager. Two of the most vibrant birds around here. They did not like each other.
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Post by Coolkat on Jun 4, 2021 5:28:32 GMT -8
They did not like each other. Seems to indicate that red heads do have a temper problem.
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Post by trinity on Jun 4, 2021 6:34:44 GMT -8
Seems to indicate that red heads do have a temper problem. Ha! We've got some Vermillion Flycatchers nearby, hopefully they'll never get involved.
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