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Archive 2017 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered

  
 
PetKal
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


(Sorry, the show is over)

The folks at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy have a North American kestrel which on occasion they show off to their seminar participants. The little falcon is not particularly well trained, and it flies a very short distance, almost unpredictably and lightning fast. My previous attempts to photograph the little flutterer in flight were not very successful, whereby I'd get one OK shot perhaps, but no more. It was clear that my old AF setting of one preselected AF point + expansion was not good enough to track such fast bird in very brief flight.

Then I decided to let all of the 1DX AF points come into play, starting with a preselected AF point, and that has made a huge difference in the shot in-focus rate which increased dramatically to something like 50 %. Clearly, 1DX auto AF point select feature was doing a much better job of tracking the bird than I did by manual AF point preselection. That has given me a renewed respect for the 1DX AF system.

The lens AF drive speed (spec) makes no difference, given a good prefocus.....I could have shot those with 85L if I was able to get close enough. What does matter is the lens nominal aperture......the larger, the better.
Therefore, 200 f/2 IS, 300 f/2.8 and 400 f/2.8 are all well suited to the task. If one is able to approach closer to the bird, I'd recommend 200 f/2 IS lens, although that would require a fast, not to say violent, tracking swing of the lens, which tends to destabilize the lens/camera. Longer lenses allow shorter/slower tracking arc, and that adds stability and control, although the issues get complicated by an increase in weight of longer lenses.

Edited on Feb 27, 2017 at 09:24 PM · View previous versions



Feb 23, 2017 at 05:51 AM
psharvic
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


These are beauties, Peter. Thanks for the information.


Feb 23, 2017 at 07:03 AM
schlotz
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


They are very fast but not for the pijun master


Feb 23, 2017 at 07:29 AM
surfnron
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


I've been thinking about trying the same thing Peter. Now I'm gonna' give it a try for sure ~ Ron

Great shots BTW...



Feb 23, 2017 at 07:59 AM
scottiet
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Beautiful shots!


Feb 23, 2017 at 08:07 AM
arbitrage
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Very nice Peter.

I've been using the zone and all point modes more and more in specific situations over the past year or so. I used to just use the single point expansion modes but using the more automatic zones has increased success in certain situations. My 7D2 was the camera that drove me towards them as zone mode on my copy was much better than expansion.

TFS
Geoff



Feb 23, 2017 at 08:20 AM
Warkari
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered



Superb captures, Peter.

- Amit



Feb 23, 2017 at 08:21 AM
RogerZoul
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Sweet!


Feb 23, 2017 at 08:47 AM
dmacmillan
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Excellent captures! I tried a little BIF over the weekend with a rented 400mm and found it very challenging. I have a newfound admiration for all the BIF guys on FM.


Feb 23, 2017 at 09:16 AM
mikedec
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Very nice.


Feb 23, 2017 at 09:33 AM
birdied
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Beautiful as always in your skilled hands.

Birdie



Feb 23, 2017 at 09:46 AM
LuckyStrike
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Very nice, Peter!!!



Great to have you return to the forum!!!!

LuckyT




Feb 23, 2017 at 10:34 AM
Kenneth Farver
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Excellent shots!
So happy to see your posts!



Feb 23, 2017 at 10:39 AM
HaJa
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


As usual, great exercise, great proof and great advice.

As usual and unfortunately, your advice is greatly expensive, Peter

Jarmo



Feb 23, 2017 at 10:50 AM
Bob Malbon
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


The information on focus issues is good stuff - the images are super! Thanks for both.


Feb 23, 2017 at 11:25 AM
technic
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


arbitrage wrote:
I've been using the zone and all point modes more and more in specific situations over the past year or so. I used to just use the single point expansion modes but using the more automatic zones has increased success in certain situations. My 7D2 was the camera that drove me towards them as zone mode on my copy was much better than expansion.


I tried both modes briefly last summer with my 80D and 4/300IS for flying dragonflies and could not get it to work at all, the AF only locked in a few cases (and often on the wrong part like a wing tip). Compared to birds of prey dragonflies are probably faster (for angular velocity), the focusing mechanism probably needs to work harder because of the closer distance, and there is less to lock on because dragonflies are very slim. Also 80D and 300IS have 'slower' AF technology compared to the pro bodies and lenses.

I'm hoping to try again this summer with my 2.8/200 (normally too short ...) and 100-400II (maybe too slow?), but would be surprised if the AF works well. I talked to many dragonfly photographers over the last years, and almost everyone seems to use MF for this - both on Canon and Nikon DSLRs. But I really need AF for certain types of action shots where I cannot plan ahead ...

I really admire the pictures you guys are getting from these birds and all the practicing that must be behind it :-)



Feb 23, 2017 at 11:26 AM
arbitrage
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


The only success I've had with DIF is when one was hovering in front of my kayak for like 5 mins. I was able to use small zone on the 1DX(or 2 can't remember) and make use of the short MFD from the 100-400II. I tried on land another day with a whole bunch of them around and could only get perched shots...(do drangonflies perch?). None of my AF systems (1DX2 or D500) could grab one succesfully in flight, mostly because of the random nature of their flight. At one point I was able to get a couple passible flight shots by prefocusing on a spot and then firing at 14FPS as the dragonfly flew across the prefocused spot. But there was no way I could move my camera, AF, and track one in flight like a can a BIF. Maybe against blue sky at some distance it can work.


Feb 23, 2017 at 12:00 PM
kdacharya
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


beautifully done, Peter.


Feb 23, 2017 at 12:05 PM
mogud
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Really nice images Peter. I like them all but the first one is something else. The captures sure are an endorsement of the 1dx's abilities.




Feb 23, 2017 at 12:31 PM
canon.eos30d
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Kestrel in flight or 1DX auto focus rediscovered


Crazily good detail images, Peter.

-Tam



Feb 23, 2017 at 12:54 PM
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