B.I.F Canon 50D Sigma 150-500mm

ronkingfisher · #1 (**permalink**) 28-12-2011, 05:00 PM

Hi i have been invited to gentlemans house to photograph his birds of prey Hen Harriers and Barn Owls in flight. I was wondering what would be the best setting to use taking that the lights good,

Ron

Geoff F · #2 (**permalink**) 28-12-2011, 08:35 PM

The trouble I find with that lens is that the autofocus is a bit slow unless you have a slow moving target and can pan while retaining focus.

So on the camera, use AI Servo and centre/spot exposure. If you can manage it, I would prefer F8 but this may need a bit extra on the ISO.

Whether you use Mode 1 or Mode 2 stabilisation is a bit questionable. Mode 2 is recommended for moving targets but I often find that Mode 1 is actually more reliable.

Do you have any other fairly large lenses which you can also take with you?

This year I took that lens to an air display but struggled to achieve fast focus and as most shots were within 200 mm I regretted not having my Canon 70-200L lens as an alternative.

ronkingfisher · #3 (**permalink**) 29-12-2011, 05:03 AM

Thanks for the reply i agree that the IS is is not that reliable and never really use it. I have some good shots on flikr of Gulls flying but this was against a good sky, also nice shot of teal flying. About Airshows go to my flikr sight and look at the shots from this years Blackpool Airshow they may help you as i got some great shots with the Sigma lens, and as John a member that has helped me a lot on this site said that all cameras have a sweet spot, and mine goes against what everyone says. I get most of my crisp clear pictures on Manual mode as you can see from the Airshow shots. The Red Arrows are Manual Shutter 1/2000 Aperture 6.7, ISO 400 Spot Metering but on this day i changed my WB to Colour Temp {6200k}. I think i will try all the settings when i get to shoot the Raptures flying. I suppose it would be a good idea at some point to have a smaller lens like a Canon 70-300 but not seen any shots to say i would see a vast differance in qaulity of images unless i was shown some. Thanks anyway for advice and please look at Airshow photos at ronbose8@btinternet.com. password. superman1

cosmicma · #4 (**permalink**) 29-12-2011, 03:20 PM

as Geoff F has already said i think you would be better off with something like a 70 - 200mm lens considering these are captured birds and there not that small also the chances are you won't be that far away from them

i would consider taking a couple of lenses something in the region of 24 - 105mm and 70 - 200mm or 70 - 300mm depending on whats available to you

Geoff F · #5 (**permalink**) 29-12-2011, 07:22 PM

I did get a few good aircraft shots Salcombe Regatta 2011 Photo Gallery by crustacean at pbase.com

But I missed several because I was quite close and by the time this lens locked onto them it was too late. I did better previously with the cheaper 70-300 lens.

cosmicma · #6 (**permalink**) 30-12-2011, 01:10 AM

i,m a bit partial to aircraft photography myself if you care to take a look

in the air - Marks Gallery

all these photo's have been done with a canon 50d and either a 70 - 200mm lens with or without a 1.4x teleconverter or a 300mm prime ( no converter )

the way i see it photographing an aerial display is a bit like photographing captive BOP your much closer to the subject than normal and 500 - 600mm lenses arn't really needed even 300mm might be too much

ronkingfisher · #7 (**permalink**) 30-12-2011, 06:43 AM

Thanks for all your help and i have taken onboard what you all have said. What a great site with helpfull people, i will be back to show you how i got on. Tried to upload my wildlife photos but files are to big, is the any software thats free that i can compress my files in order to place them on WIld About Britain.

cosmicma · #8 (**permalink**) 30-12-2011, 02:10 PM

a free favorite is IrfanView it will pretty much do what you want and more

IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide

Geoff F · #9 (**permalink**) 30-12-2011, 07:38 PM

Have you read this thread about uploading photos?

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...otos-info.html

What editing software do you currently use? Most programmes should be able to simply resize a photo.

Look under Image - Size or something similar.

PMG · #10 (**permalink**) 31-12-2011, 07:29 AM

Not got it myself but know folks who use Picasa which I think is a free download and can do all kinds of stuff with photos - pressumambly resizing as well.

I have used Irfanview in the past and may not have used it properly but found it was a bit severe in the resize taking things down a lot more than I wanted to. Probably there are individual settings that I didn;t find where I could have customised it more to my taste?

Pauline