Big Lens Tips, Tricks, & Magic

Jim Neiger had three Flight School Photography clients on his pontoon boat this morning and asked that I work without my tripod. I did not let that request keep me from making a few of my beloved head portraits.

With the set-up above I was working at approximately 29X maginfication. Even when handholding I felt confident that I could make at least a few sharp images at 1/1000 sec. It is only possible to hold the lens up for 10-20 seconds at a time so I rested it on a deck chair until Jiim had the boat in perfect position.

Many folks do not understand that with the 800 being an f/5.6 lens that once I add the 1.4X TC the central AF sensor is the only one available (and that only with a pro body….) With the wind up a bit the boat was rocking; I knew that keeping the sensor on the bird’s head would be a challenge so I quickly set CFn III-5 ( Lens drive when AF impossible) to “1: Focus search off.” This prevents the system from searching for the background when the sensor momentarily falls off the subject. In addition, I was hoping to make an image that featured the baby bird’s head in the lower right corner of the frame. The last thing that I wanted was to have the AF system search for the distant trees. So setting CFn III-5 to 1 had two probable benefits; my plan worked to perfection and I was able to capture the image that I had visualized 🙂

Both the Mark IV and the 7D Guides are chock full of such tips, tips that will help you to create better images on a consistent basis. You can learn more about these guides as well as the MIII Guide by scrolling down here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=32