| Re: Auto focus niggle I would try closing the aperture a little to give you greater depth of field, sure you can recompose but it takes time and movement that can betray your presence if your in hiding.
Generally I try to be set up before even seeing a bird, I use a depth of field calculator to determine what my maximum size aperture should be to get the bird in focus. Of course some assumptions have to be made but generally it seems to work OK.
It's horses for courses really whatever seems to come more naturally to you.
Ed |