Sony a7 and Vivitar Series 135/2.3

SonicScot · Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 1:44 pm Post subject:

Ok, so I changed some settings and now, when using continuous shooting, the EV only blacks out after the first frame. After that, it stays lit for all other shots. A big improvement Like 1 small

Koen Nhz · Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 84 Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Very nice images, especially #4!
It's impressive that you can follow the birds during their flight and keep them in focus, for such fast moving subjects with a longer lens I usually just try to focus on one point and then try to catch the subject when it's at the right place inside the dof, but of course that's not very usable if the subject makes random movements.

About the EVF blackouts and your solution: are you sure you are not just seeing the last picture you took in the viewfinder for a split second instead of the live view, I thought I read that somewhere but can't find it anymore?
And if so, could you perhaps share this setting here, I haven't found that jet, it's a great camera, but the menus are such a mess..

SonicScot · Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 5:22 pm Post subject:

Koen Nhz · Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 84 Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Thanks for your explanation!
Muscle memory is great, you need to be really 'one' with your gear Smile

SonicScot · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:10 pm Post subject:

Muscle memory is very important, on Monday I took the same 135/2.3 lens back to the falconry but this time on the Canon 7D.

Here are a couple of 'runs' of 4 frames, both times I was focusing as the birds approached me. Without the muscle memory, this wouldn't be possible really.

#1

#2

#3

#4

I think 3 and 4 uploaded in the wrong order, above.

#1

#2

#3

#4

fwcetus · Joined: 12 Jun 2015 Posts: 303 Location: New England

Koen Nhz · Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 84 Location: Antwerp, Belgium

Wow, that is very impressive! I Don't believe AF could do it this well?!
The pictures are great, not even considering the focus skills needed, but on purely the lens side, I like the way it rendered the background of the second scene more than the first.
Edit: perhaps my preference is also about the bird, that one always seems to be aiming right for you(r lens) Smile

SonicScot · Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:10 pm Post subject:

Thanks.

In my experience, AF cannot keep up like this. I've borrowed a Canon 70-200/2.8L, used it on both the 7D and 5D Mkll, and on both cameras I really struggled. The 7D is designed with sports in mind so I expected it to be ok at this but the AF just isn't good enough. I tried single point AF and zone AF, the latter was better but both were poor really.
By the time the camera has achieved focus, told you with some indication in-camera, then you react by hitting the button, the bird has already left the focus area long behind. Manual focus rules Smile

With mf I suppose there's an element of prediction going on, I don't consciously focus ahead of the birds but I think that's what I'm doing.

In the second set, with the owl, the background is further away than in the first set with the hawk.

An owl's eyes are tubes, not balls like ours, so they don't move at all. Once they lock onto the subject (in this case, me) they stay locked. This is why they are able to turn their heads 270 degrees, otherwise their range of vision would be very limited. Their vision is way, way better than ours, except close up (they sacrifice close up for distance and low-light performance).
Add to that the owl's incredible hearing and you realise that owls are the James Bond of the falconry world.

An owl's ears are asymmetrical, they can hear a mouse in grass from 50m away and they can tell not only how far away it is but also what height it is. They will land in a tree 3-4m above the mouse and the mouse will freeze. The mouse will start to panic (because owls are scary) and its heartbeat will increase, the owl can hear this Shocked

the mouse is now as good as dead.
Nature is scary Laughing

mfkid · Joined: 23 Jul 2015 Posts: 53 Location: Florida USA

Outstanding photos ! Smile

SonicScot · Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 12:48 am Post subject:

@ mfkid, thank you.