Posted by Ian Butler on February 22, 2010 at 7:35 AM
Hi all
Ive been photographing tree sparrows this week but have been trying to get some flight shots.
This is the closest I got to one being in focus (but still massively out!!!)
I was prefocusing on a set flight path but obviously still wasnt as accurate as I needed it with the bird being around 15mm out.
I'm looking into buying some infra red beams for this sort of photography to get the accuracy needed but was wondering:
a) has anyone used a certain type/brand and have got the results needed
or
b) Is there another way around buying an infra red setup?
Thanks in advance
Regards
Ian
Canon 40D
Canon 500mm F4
ISO 800
1/2500sec @ f/5.6
The best Infrared beam set-up readily availible in the UK is a Shutterbeam but it is very expensive when you have purchased all the bits. Warehouse stock these.
Another maker was JAMA (I have one of these) but I have not seen them advertised recently, they are French and I think they are www.jama.fr. They are much cheaper that the ShutterBeam but again you would need to assess what options you want. They work but I have not tryied what you are doing above, the lag time between the beam breaking and the cameta firing is short enough to do this but I am not sure how narrow the beam so you would have to investigate. you may require a double beam unit.
Other than that, you could try the trap focus of ZigView S2 (although I have one I don't use it for this so cannot comment)
T
Posted by Ian Butler on February 22, 2010 at 9:32 AM
Thanks Tom. I've seen the shutterbeam product but like you say is very expensive. To give the accuracy I think I will have to go for the double beam unit. Ill have a look at the JAMA products. Cheers.
Posted by Dave Courtenay on February 22, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Heres one from the states
http://www.phototrap.com/
Dave
Posted by John Robinson on February 22, 2010 at 10:52 AM
Ian
I think a 500mm @ f4 is pushing it a bit. The DOE won't be hardly anything.
I did some yesterday with a standard lens and remote control and got a few shots.
O didn't percivere though.
Cheers
John
Posted by Phil Shaw on February 22, 2010 at 11:44 AM
If you are trying to get them landing on a feeder, as it appears, why not try a short focal length lens positioned close to the feeder, and use a remote release.
Posted by John Chapman on February 23, 2010 at 4:18 AM
Hi Ian, a nearly great pic. and I agree with Phil's and John's comments.
Posted by Ian Butler on February 23, 2010 at 5:56 AM
Thanks for the comments.
I was using an aperture on f/5.6 John, which I know is still quite low but if I pushed it any further I would'nt have got the shutter speed, just a blurred brown blob... and i didnt really want to push the ISO above 800 due to the noise on the 40D. Catch 22 as always.
I only had a few hours of doing this due to the weather. I was going to put the 1.4x TC on and try it that way as being further away would have given me the extra DOF, but it started to snow so didnt get the chance.
Never thought of using a shorter focal length Phil. I would have thought this would have caused more problems. It would have brought the background into being more focussed, and being closer to the bird would have yielded problems with getting the bird in the frame in choosing the flight path. Is this correct?
Thanks
Discussion
7 repliesIve been photographing tree sparrows this week but have been trying to get some flight shots.
This is the closest I got to one being in focus (but still massively out!!!)
I was prefocusing on a set flight path but obviously still wasnt as accurate as I needed it with the bird being around 15mm out.
I'm looking into buying some infra red beams for this sort of photography to get the accuracy needed but was wondering:
a) has anyone used a certain type/brand and have got the results needed
or
b) Is there another way around buying an infra red setup?
Thanks in advance
Regards
Ian
Canon 40D
Canon 500mm F4
ISO 800
1/2500sec @ f/5.6
Another maker was JAMA (I have one of these) but I have not seen them advertised recently, they are French and I think they are www.jama.fr. They are much cheaper that the ShutterBeam but again you would need to assess what options you want. They work but I have not tryied what you are doing above, the lag time between the beam breaking and the cameta firing is short enough to do this but I am not sure how narrow the beam so you would have to investigate. you may require a double beam unit.
Other than that, you could try the trap focus of ZigView S2 (although I have one I don't use it for this so cannot comment)
T
http://www.phototrap.com/
Dave
I think a 500mm @ f4 is pushing it a bit. The DOE won't be hardly anything.
I did some yesterday with a standard lens and remote control and got a few shots.
O didn't percivere though.
Cheers
John
I was using an aperture on f/5.6 John, which I know is still quite low but if I pushed it any further I would'nt have got the shutter speed, just a blurred brown blob... and i didnt really want to push the ISO above 800 due to the noise on the 40D. Catch 22 as always.
I only had a few hours of doing this due to the weather. I was going to put the 1.4x TC on and try it that way as being further away would have given me the extra DOF, but it started to snow so didnt get the chance.
Never thought of using a shorter focal length Phil. I would have thought this would have caused more problems. It would have brought the background into being more focussed, and being closer to the bird would have yielded problems with getting the bird in the frame in choosing the flight path. Is this correct?
Thanks