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BIF, Canon 5D2 + Vivitar Series 1 135/2.3
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 5:34 am    Post subject: BIF, Canon 5D2 + Vivitar Series 1 135/2.3 Reply with quote
The local castle is due to open for the season on the 1st of April, two days ago they had an open day/trial run. It was a nice day, weather wise, so I popped along to see what state my muscle memory is in, having not shot any birds since October. I did ok.

Harris Hawk, Desert Falcon, Peregrine Falcon and Gyr Falcon, in a random order. ISO 100, aperture; there are three clicks between 2.3 and f4, I was shooting one click below f4, whatever that is. A couple of these have had 'Smart Sharpen' applied, I haven't used it before so left it on the default settings to see how it looked, I think it's a bit too much. Oh well, we live and learn.










PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 8:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice job on capturing these fast moving birds, Gary. Smile


PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I am always amazed that you can capture these birds with a manual focus camera.
Very nicely done
OH


PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I really liked those shots. The combo suits you it seems.


PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Oldhand wrote:
I am always amazed that you can capture these birds with a manual focus camera.
Very nicely done
OH

+1 Absolute shots! Shocked


PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 10:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
anktonio wrote:
Oldhand wrote:
I am always amazed that you can capture these birds with a manual focus camera.
Very nicely done
OH

+1 Absolute shots! Shocked


Very nice indeed!
Nice MF skills Cool

BTW,
-Which camera (7D or 5D2) have you used?
-ML have any role in this shots?


PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 5:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated.

@vlousada: This was with the 5D Mkll. Magic Lantern is not used for these type of shots. If I had any faith in 'af confirmation adapters' I suppose I could use trap focus or something similar, but I've never found any of those adapters to be accurate. Practice, patience, muscle memory, a tiny bit of skill and a huge amount of luck, that's what's needed Very Happy


PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks for the reply.
Same here... Still trying to tweak my EMF adapters to get a more accurate focus confirmation and maybe explore some feature of ML on Canon 5D2!

A bit off-topic:
I was also tempted to switch the focus-screen of 5D2 to EG-S..
What was your opinion when compared to the original focus-screen?

Thank you


PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
excellent work, especially the shots flying towards the camera (less motion blur, but much harder tracking focus!)
Did you fire off at maximum frame rate and pick the best ones, or just choose your moment?

I imagine shooting with Magic Lantern might be a non starter - the slightest delay in focus confirmation would make it pointless for this sort of shooting.


PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Amazing shots, focusing must be tricky!


PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 11:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
vlousada wrote:
Thanks for the reply.
Same here... Still trying to tweak my EMF adapters to get a more accurate focus confirmation and maybe explore some feature of ML on Canon 5D2!

A bit off-topic:
I was also tempted to switch the focus-screen of 5D2 to EG-S..
What was your opinion when compared to the original focus-screen?

Thank you

I found that the EG-S screen was helpful, it can get darker at smaller apertures but it doesn't bother me really (your mileage may vary). At larger apertures it is easier to see your focus point but not dramatically so.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Basilisk wrote:
excellent work, especially the shots flying towards the camera (less motion blur, but much harder tracking focus!)
Did you fire off at maximum frame rate and pick the best ones, or just choose your moment?

I imagine shooting with Magic Lantern might be a non starter - the slightest delay in focus confirmation would make it pointless for this sort of shooting.


You're absolutely right about ML, it's no use for this kind of shooting, some of these birds reach over 100mph during the display. In fact any AF would struggle to keep up.
The 5D Mkll has a slow max frame rate, 3 or 4 per second I think, so I can't blat away and hope one is in focus. I have to time it right, wait for the bird to come into range and adjust focus as necessary as the bird passes by. Practice really is key, muscle memory too, your hand needs to know how far to turn the focus ring to cover an area of flight. I probably try to cover a 5m part of the flight and adjust focus as the bird passes through that area. I'll fire on the highest speed fps as I can but only fire off 2 or 3 shots. I usually come home with 30-50 shots, of which 10-15 are good at first glance. After closer inspection I might end up with half a dozen sharp images.


PostPosted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kds315* wrote:
Amazing shots, focusing must be tricky!


Thanks, yes it is.


PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nice, great job tracking and focusing on the bird.


PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2015 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
@vroger, thank you. When I first tried this I came away with nothing, not a single bird in focus. I think that was the result for the first 10 visits Sad It took a long time to capture sharp shots regularly, I tried with af lenses too (sssshhh, don't tell anyone!) with similarly poor results most of the time. I think success came with a Zeiss 135/3.5 before any other lenses, plus it provides great 'pop' so I was really encouraged to use mf lenses from then on. I probably go to 15-20 shows a season now.
My father tries this twice a year when he comes to visit. He uses a 7D and a 70-200/2.8L with IS, I don't think he has ever got a sharp image Crying or Very sad which I think goes to show that practice really helps.
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