Dunlin in flight

I have been working with Dunlins the whole weekend. Because they are very tame they rarely fly, and when the do it's just nearly hopeless to catch them with my big lens. Tried a lot with both 500/4 and 70-200/2.8. I ended up with just 5 flight-shots that I'm reasonable happy about. From swinging that big 500 around my arms are really hurting today

1D MarkIII + 500/4; iso1250, 1/1600, f5, 80% of original.

I'd be more than happy to endure sore arms for a shot such as this.
Excellent result.

Hi Helge

Excellent flight shot - wish it were mine!

David

Excellent Helge!
Rene de Heer

Wonderful-full marks

Great result Helge

Colour and contrast seem slightly muted on my screen, but nothing a small tweak wouldn't rectify {although this may be a more realistic view, as shown}.



Alan

Stunning

Hi Helge great capture of the Dunlin in flight which is not easy.
John
Aberdeen

Thanks for the comments, my new monitor is not calibrated, so I'm struggling a bit with final appearance. Here is a slightly modifed version, hope it's a bit better.

Looks noticably better to me Helge!

My screen is not perfect, so i am only comparing 'relatively' against other posted shots though.

Alan

Cracking flight shot Helge.


Mark

ISO 1250 - I hate you ( )

Superb cap Helge - repost is better

I gotta get me a III body

Stunning shot,love the bg and the detail in the bird.

Stu.

Nice capture, but I'm not sure that the image is critically sharp - always difficult to tell at this size, though. Out of interest, what settings are you using for C. Fn III -2 (AI Servo tracking sensitivity) and C. Fn III -8 (AF expansion) and what firmware do you have installed?

Hi Phil, it seems sharp to me in 100%. Focuspoint is on the lower part of the upper wing - very close to the body. So maybe birds eye is 2-3 cm. from the sharpest plane of focus. It was somewhat underexposed though, as I really needed the shutterspeed. It was very cloudy and just an hour before sundown. Below are my EXIF, as you can see I'm still on original firmware, C. Fn III -2 at slowest (-2) and C. Fn III -8 (AF expansion) at 0 (disabled). I don't remember if I here used central point only or "Ring-of-fire".

Would you recommend a different setting ?

Cheers, Helge


Firmware: Firmware Version 1.0.8
Date/Time: 2007:09:01 18:47:21
Shutter speed: 1/1600 sec
Aperture: 5
Exposure mode: Av
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous
ISO: 1250
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Image size: 3888 x 2592
Image quality: Raw
White balance: Auto
Picture style: Standard
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: 3
Contrast: Normal
Tone: Normal
Custom Functions:
CFn I-7: Spot metering linked to active AF point
CFn I-8: Safety shift enabled (Tv/Av)
CFn II-1: Long exposure noise reduction: AUTO
CFn III-1: USM electronic MF disabled in AF mode
CFn III-2: AI Servo tracking sensitivity: slowest (-2)
CFn III-7: AF Micro-adjustment: adjust by lens
CFn III-9: Selectable AF point: outer 9 points
CFn IV-1: Shutter button/AF-ON: Metering + AF start/AF stop

Lovely shot. I think the re-post is slightly the better of the two.



Paul

Hello Helge,
I prefer the repost. Excellent capture though, in somewhat difficult low light conditions.
Best wishes
Phil

Hi Helge

Great flight shot with lovely angle on the wings. Second post is better, although still a fraction too dull for my taste, I think you can bring the levels up a bit more, on the bird at least, not the background.

Focus point looks to be slightly behind the head, eye is a tad soft.

Nice work.

cheers

Sean

Hi Helge,
Lovely flight shot , prefer the repost.

Kind regards
Andy...

Super... the repost is much better...

Here's another bloke admiring your skill as waders in flight photographer !

Cheers,
Marko