Switchovers

[crisscross]

There may be no advice except practice, but wonder if anyone has wise words about perennial problem

Anytime there are interesting birds flying about, camera needs to be aperture wide open, aperture priority, focus on constant and, for against-the sky, EV +0.7 to 1 according to conditions - yes?

Then you see peep of a nice landscape or a nice animal pausing (wild ones incredibly briefly) and every one of those settings is wrong. The landscapes usually keep still, though not necessarily the lighting that is critical to them, but the few secs to change over can be too long for an animal or static bird against dark background. And then the buzzard hovering overhead will get bored before I change back. Not too keen on exposure auto-assessing whole pic.

Any tips? (I have D80, so there is an accessible button to change each thing without rummaging in menus, but no global preset, (planned for the D4 no doubt )

[NickCantle]

I'm not familiar with the camera mate, but all I can say (which sounds weird ) is to practice changing your settings as quick as you can. It's best to be able to change your exposure compensation, aperture, shutter speed and ISO without removing your eye from the viewfinder. So from my point of view, even though it doesn't answer your question directly my answer would be to get to know your camera inside out!

I learned this when I was taking a photograph of a tree silhouette with the Bigma at 50mm, then a Kestrel flew over at about 12-15feet and I was way too slow to capture it, and I was confident it would have been a lovely full frame image. That taught me that I'd be best to learn about my camera and how to edit settings quickly and efficiently.

Needless to say that I found myself in the same situation again about a month ago when Photographing a deer against a green background on a tripod. Then a Chaffinch perched relatively close to me (on a tree with a light background) so the speed thumb came out and dialed in the necessary exp comp, opened up a few stops and got the shot

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by crisscross

There may be no advice except practice, but wonder if anyone has wise words about perennial problem

Anytime there are interesting birds flying about, camera needs to be aperture wide open, aperture priority, focus on constant and, for against-the sky, EV +0.7 to 1 according to conditions - yes?

Then you see peep of a nice landscape or a nice animal pausing (wild ones incredibly briefly) and every one of those settings is wrong. The landscapes usually keep still, though not necessarily the lighting that is critical to them, but the few secs to change over can be too long for an animal or static bird against dark background. And then the buzzard hovering overhead will get bored before I change back. Not too keen on exposure auto-assessing whole pic.

Any tips? (I have D80, so there is an accessible button to change each thing without rummaging in menus, but no global preset, (planned for the D4 no doubt )

my advice would be to shoot raw ( NEF in nikon speak) if you are anticipating these conditions , then you can sort the exposure variance out later.

alternately two bodies is a possible option - I generally go this route to save lense changes - long lens on one short on the other.

thirdly you could set your camera to bracket exposures (assuming the d80 can as a canon user i dont know for sure) , then you will get one decent shot anyway - the problem being that you will fill your card three times as fast.

[zan]

I would agree to practise changing your settings I use a Canon 40d mostly in aperture priority, and often shoot seabirds (white) that fly over a dark sea (need to set about-1ev) and then swoop up into the sky (need about +1ev). After much messing about and practise, I can now pan with a bird and change the exposure as it switches between the backgrounds without taking my eye away from the viewfinder (you should have an exposure meter in the viewfinder). I know it's not a quick and easy fix, but with a bit of practise it shoudn't take you any time at all to switch your exposure 'on the fly'

[Jim Ford]

You must also remeber that wildlife has an uncanny ability to recognise the focal length of a lens you've got on a camera. They'll often wait until you've replaced your telephoto lens for a wide angle before showing themselves!
;^)

Jim

[wildlifesnapper]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

You must also remeber that wildlife has an uncanny ability to recognise the focal length of a lens you've got on a camera. They'll often wait until you've replaced your telephoto lens for a wide angle before showing themselves!
;^)

Jim

Boy do I know that feeling

I will echo what has already been said and practice changing the +/- exposure compensation while still holding the camera to your eye.

neil

[crisscross]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

practice changing your settings as quick as you can. It's best to be able to change your exposure compensation, aperture, shutter speed and ISO without removing your eye from the viewfinder.

shoot seabirds (white) that fly over a dark sea (need to set about-1ev) and then swoop up into the sky (need about +1ev). After much messing about and practise, I can now pan with a bird and change the exposure as it switches between the backgrounds without taking my eye away from the viewfinder (you should have an exposure meter in the viewfinder)

Thank you all so far, especially the above on doing changes while in viewfinder, which I haven't so far tried, but can immediately see is easier than looking in the top read-out. NB because the D80 is a physically reduced sized (same as 350D) version of D200 (like 30,40D), there is no LCD read-out above play-back LCD as on larger bodies. Also the ISO doesn't repeat in the viewfinder display, but normally only change ISO by the hour.

I had also noticed the hiding in response to FL syndrome

I always shoot RAW/NEF; there is no further auto-bracket function, but I use the Nikon dedicated Capture NX2 software, which will squeeze all there is to be squozen (& allows all processing to be kept permanently fluid without mammoth PSDs, but that is another thread).

My kit was also severely limited to what a geriatric can carry as well as flask, swimming cozzy and, if needed 15" laptop - and cost, so I have a good but notoriously slow tele (80-400) and no 2nd body.

Another sub-question - (off tripod) do you guys always leave camera on continuous shoot? Weeding card is no problem; do that anyway as I often take 2 or 3 manual control landscapes & haven't run out yet.

[zan]

Generally, I try not to change my settings too much if I'm out shooting wildlife and will leave the camera set up for action rather than fiddle with all the settings, so will generally leave it on continuous shooting \ Av \ appropriate ISO for a fast shutter speed etc. If theres' a really nice landscape, I'll switch to one-shot focussing, rather than AI servo (continuous focus) but that's about all I'll change.

[Ollie]

Funnily enough I was practicing changing the exposure, ISO, Aperture value etc myself without taking my eye from the viewfinder on my 40D only a few days ago. It does get easier the more you practice and I would thoroughly recommend it.
Roger

[DrNickBurton]

The D90 (along with the D3, D700 and D300) has banks of camera settings that can be quickly switched between, to address this kind of problem.

Not much help to a D80 user I know, but there it is.

It's also true that more often than not you have the wrong lens mounted too, and the menu settings cant fix that!

The only alternative then is... ...two bodies (one for long, one for wide). Not as catchy as "2 Jags", but similarly extravagant.