Posted by Paul Ashton on October 29, 2007 at 3:10 PM
Three months ago I bought a Canon 500mm followed closely by a 1D3. Now I find that the lens is beautifully sharp wide open but with little depth of field focusing is critical. The 1D3 has very high speed focusing.
Trying to take birds in flight has been disappointing to say the least. The 1D3 focusing setup is so adjustable that it has proved difficult to get right.
My lack of experience with this equipment and the masses of erroneous advice offered on some forums has combined to make me at times quite despondent.
Readjusted the AF settings today and went down to the beach. Took 140 frames of anything that moved in front of the lens. Got 120 images in focus!
120 out of 140 sounds like a very impressive hit rate, even more so given the subject matter and with an extender being used.
Posted by Paula Graham on October 29, 2007 at 4:36 PM
Wow, it sounds as if you got this one under control.
It took me a year to get used to my 'pro' camera and even now I have to get the book out when I need to change some settings,but that could be due to age I presume!
Nice shot.
Posted by Mark Fellowes on October 29, 2007 at 4:42 PM
Great shot - superb BG, very nice.
Mark
Posted by Andy Astbury on October 30, 2007 at 4:58 AM
Looks good from here Paul - and that IS one impressive hit rate
Posted by Phil Shaw on October 30, 2007 at 8:04 AM
Paul, I don't want to disappoint you, but I'm pretty sure that if you were to look at your Curlew image at 100 percent, you would find that it is not sharp. It doesn't look sharp to me as a small jpg and if it doesn't look sharp at that resolution, it certainly isn't going to be sharp at an actual pixel resolution. What are you using to judge image sharpness?
If you are unsure about which settings you should be using, ask or post your settings. I would be happy to help.
Discussion
6 repliesTrying to take birds in flight has been disappointing to say the least. The 1D3 focusing setup is so adjustable that it has proved difficult to get right.
My lack of experience with this equipment and the masses of erroneous advice offered on some forums has combined to make me at times quite despondent.
Readjusted the AF settings today and went down to the beach. Took 140 frames of anything that moved in front of the lens. Got 120 images in focus!
1D3 500mmm +1.4TC 1/2000 f6.3
It took me a year to get used to my 'pro' camera and even now I have to get the book out when I need to change some settings,but that could be due to age I presume!
Nice shot.
Mark
If you are unsure about which settings you should be using, ask or post your settings. I would be happy to help.