The cloudy, breezy afternoon weather here of late has been great for my three mile daily walk. In addition, it has made for some good photgraphic opportunities. (I love white skies.) There are more Ospreys down by the lake than in recent years and many have been carrying moss for their nests. My favorite flight photography combo has been the Canon EOS-50D and the lightweight but pricey Canon 400mmm f/5.6L DO lens. I have written extensiveley of the 50D’s fabulous autofocus tracking accuracy in recent Bulletins–you can visit the archives, which have a great search feature, here: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html. Though I have stated clearly that the 50D tracks birds in flight more accurately than any Canon camera that I have ever used, we get lots of e-mails from disbelievers. You can also find a great BPN thread on the subject here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=29716.
The first three images are a sequence. Note that the bird remains in sharp focus even when it flies behind the telephone pole.
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| The image below is my very favorite from the afternoon. It was created it as the bird landed atop the pole. All images as follows: ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1 1/3 stops at f/6.3., AI Servo AF/central sensor only. (The shutter speeds varied depending on framing. If that is confusing to you see the ABP/ABP II sale here: http://www.birdsasart.com/books.html). |
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To see this image larger, click here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=232556#post232556,
With the release of the 7D you can get some great buys on used 50D bodies and AF is so much better than on the “cheaper” cameras that I would strongly recommend going for a used 50D.
Great blog, I learned about it from your workshop in Little Rock last month! I am fairly new to photograpy and I am finding my XSi lacking in several departments. AF is the one that bothers me the most. I am trying to decide between the 50D and a new lens or a 7D. Do you find the 7D to be a significant upgrade in IQ and especially AF in AI Servo for BIF?
Thanks! AF for BIF was good with the 50D but the 7D is better. IQ is about the same. More pixels = more noise unless you expose to the right 🙂
I had to try five times this afternoon to access your website. Are you having problems with your site hosting? Or is it on my end?
Hi Gerry, It is Sunday morning on Long Island and the blizzard is in full swing. The web site is fine this morning from this end and I did not hear of anyone else with problems.
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