BIF with 100-400L

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Archive 2008 · BIF with 100-400L

JimN
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p.3 #1 · BIF with 100-400L

Here is the url to the Bumping the focus for BIF thread: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/660014/0#5880919

The 100-400mm lens is an excellant lens for bird photography and for BIF. A sharp copy of this lens will perform as well as the 400mm with the added flexability of zoom and IS. I started shootig BIF with a 10D and this lens and I still own both. It's not the lens of choice for BIF, but it is the lens of choice for BIF in it's price range. The added reach of the 40D with the 1.6 crop combined with the 100-400mm zoom makes a great all around bird photography setup for the money.

Because this camera/lens aren't the fastest, skills like initial aquisition, pre-focus, and bumping the focus all become more critical. If you use the center AF point only, shoot in manual exposure mode, and practice alot, the BIF images will come.

Ed,

Thanks for the kind words. The camera stand (hood) handles mud and a little moisture quite well. Wading in water more than a couple of inches becomes a bit of a problem, but there are ways of dealing with that as well.

Jul 07, 2008 at 10:33 PM

JimN
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p.3 #2 · BIF with 100-400L

PetKal wrote:
matonanjin wrote:

There was a long thread here recently about "bumping the focus" which I need to find again.

Good luck with that. Jim Neiger went into a considerable detail describing his technique of "focus bumping". I tried to understand it but couldn't. That's probably because I am just an old photo hack. I also tried to learn from a seemingly related instruction by A.Morris on BIF prefocusing method and turning the focus search off and some such. Again, to no avail.

I suppose one just needs to do it a lot, then perhaps improvements would come naturally.

If you let me know what exacly you don't understand, I will try to help.

Artie's prefocusing method is for the same purpose as my bumping the focus #1 to pre-focus (see the bumping the focus for bif thread). He does the same thing using the manual focus ring. His method works great on a tripod, but is too clumsy when hand holding. Focus search off was an attempt to avoid focusing on the bg when shooting bif against a varied bg. It may help in some cases, but I use focus search on and bump focus for bif on varied bgs. See bumping focus for bif #3.

Jul 07, 2008 at 10:53 PM

mccaf
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p.3 #3 · BIF with 100-400L

Question, is it better to move the focus button off the shutter via Custom function _ XX? I did this recently and I seem to get a couple more in focus via al servo and one shot. I use the 100-400 also. Agree with above, but saving for a 400 2.8. 100-400 is sluggish in low light...

Aug 31, 2008 at 05:09 AM

jerrykur
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p.3 #4 · BIF with 100-400L

I noticed most of the BIF shots posted here the bird is going past. Does anyone have any advice for BIF shots where the bird is coming at you? This is where my 100-400 struggles.

jerry

Aug 31, 2008 at 01:37 PM

martines34
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p.3 #5 · BIF with 100-400L

When shooting BIF with the 100 - 400 mm you might want to try leaving the Stabilizer Mode on # 1. Another thing you are going to have to learn is playing around with which Focus Point to use 1.8 or 6.5.

It is a good lens and does take a while to learn how to use.

Aug 31, 2008 at 01:46 PM

danmitchell
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p.3 #6 · BIF with 100-400L

A few things.

Big lenses are, uh, big. And the 100-400 is, indeed, larger and heavier than smaller lenses.

Have you tried using a tripod? When I photograph birds in flight I frequently put the lens/camera on a tripod with the drag loose enough that I can still freely pivot/rotate the lens. This not only reduces the physical toll from holding the heavy gear but it also steadies the camera and, for me, makes panning with moving birds a smoother operation.

Also, don't expect 100% success rates with your shots of BIF. It isn't that easy. I might shoot 200 frames to get one that I think is quite good and a few others that are decent. I delete a lot of files at the end of the day.

AI-Servo can be a good option. It may also be worthwhile to try using only the center AF point. Unless the bird fills the frame the camera/lens can easily AF on something other than the bird when the whole subject field is in motion.

Pre-focusing can work well in some situations. I sometimes shoot Pacific coast seabirds from bluffs and rocky outcroppings, and the birds often follow very similar paths across these areas. If I prefocus and shoot in burst mode as they come by - and time my shots carefully - they frequently fly right through the pre focused distance.

Dan

This image is copyrighted by the owner

"Three Pelicans in Flight. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. August 25, 2008. Copyright G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved."

(Photographed with Canon 5D and EF 100-400mm lens at 400mm. And, no, the birds were not photoshopped into this configuration - they actually were very cooperative about posing for me!)

troy12n wrote:
Just got my 100-400L on Friday and spent the weekend getting to get a feel for it. First impressions was how much bigger and heavier it is than my next largest lens 70-200/4L. Also the push-pull zoom is taking some getting used to. For the most part, I really like this lens, the only thing I dont seems to be the focusing speed. But from what I have read, it seems to be the M.O. for this lens. I shoot with a 40D usually in AI-Focus mode, but when trying to shoot BIF's, I switch over to AI-Servo. It seems here at times the lens really hunts, especially when a bird would fly over a light background like a cloud. Is this a limitation of the lens, or the camera body? It seems to get confused at times. Anyone have some advice on this? I was considering the EF 400/5.6 prime and this lens, and for its versatility I am glad I picked the 100-400. But after a few days of handholding this thing all day, I am SORE!!!! The end of today, I pulled out my 400D which is now my backup body, and put the 70-200/4 on it and it was like I was holding a P&S it was so light (relatively speaking) and nimble feeling.

Edited on Aug 31, 2008 at 05:53 PM

Aug 31, 2008 at 05:22 PM

PetKal
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p.3 #7 · BIF with 100-400L

jerrykur wrote:
I noticed most of the BIF shots posted here the bird is going past. Does anyone have any advice for BIF shots where the bird is coming at you? This is where my 100-400 struggles.

jerry

Jerry, that's where EOS cameras' AF systems struggle.

The sluggishness of the zoom probably just aggravates the situation.

Naturally, much depends on the bird size (frontal cross section really), colour/contrast and speed of approach.

Edited on Aug 31, 2008 at 06:21 PM

Aug 31, 2008 at 06:21 PM

danmitchell
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p.3 #8 · BIF with 100-400L

Mine were approaching my position obliquely - not really "going past" exactly, though they did go almost directly overhead. I think you can see this in the photo from the positions of the pelicans.

Edited by danmitchell on Aug 31, 2008 at 07:30 PM GMT

Edited on Sep 01, 2008 at 03:30 AM

Aug 31, 2008 at 07:40 PM

skid00skid00
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p.3 #9 · BIF with 100-400L

PetKal wrote:
Jerry, that's where EOS cameras' AF systems struggle.

It's a pet peeve of mine...saying that BIF's traveling perpendicular require fast AF. Here's a very fast flying Swallow, with a high slew rate (he's not flying across the scene, but at me.) 1Ds and 400 5.6 + 1.4x TC II. This is a 100% crop, BTW.

Edited on Sep 01, 2008 at 02:18 AM

Sep 01, 2008 at 02:17 AM

jerrykur
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p.3 #10 · BIF with 100-400L

PetKal wrote:
jerrykur wrote:
I noticed most of the BIF shots posted here the bird is going past. Does anyone have any advice for BIF shots where the bird is coming at you? This is where my 100-400 struggles.

jerry

Jerry, that's where EOS cameras' AF systems struggle.

Here is one with a big bird coming at 350 knots. For some reason I can't seem to get a clear picture of small bird coming at 30.

Edited on Sep 01, 2008 at 06:05 PM

Sep 01, 2008 at 06:03 PM

Imagemaster
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p.3 #11 · BIF with 100-400L

Funny that some claim that the 100-400 is great for BIF, yet not a single good shot of a small, fast-flying BIF.

Sep 02, 2008 at 03:28 AM

danmitchell
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p.3 #12 · BIF with 100-400L

Imagemaster wrote:
Funny that some claim that the 100-400 is great for BIF, yet not a single good shot of a small, fast-flying BIF.

It is great for BIF in some circumstances, but perhaps for very small birds a longer lens could be better? (I don't think my pelican shot is too bad, but they certainly aren't small birds! However, when I shoot them I often find that I need to go to a _shorter_ focal length than 400mm.)

Dan

Sep 02, 2008 at 05:25 AM

Colin Key
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p.3 #13 · BIF with 100-400L

Imagemaster wrote:
Funny that some claim that the 100-400 is great for BIF, yet not a single good shot of a small, fast-flying BIF.

Hope this link works:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

A Common Swift flying straight towards me at approximately 60 mph.

1D Mk3 and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 at 400mm
1/2500s f/7.1 ISO 400
AI Servo with "ring of fire" AF
Approximately 50% crop

Sep 02, 2008 at 08:07 AM

PetKal
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p.3 #14 · BIF with 100-400L

Colin Key wrote:
Imagemaster wrote:
Funny that some claim that the 100-400 is great for BIF, yet not a single good shot of a small, fast-flying BIF.

Hope this link works:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

A Common Swift flying straight towards me at approximately 60 mph.

1D Mk3 and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 at 400mm
1/2500s f/7.1 ISO 400
AI Servo with "ring of fire" AF
Approximately 50% crop

Colin, that's a real tough one to capture.
You've got some patience, mate.

Sep 02, 2008 at 11:31 AM

M Vers
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p.3 #15 · BIF with 100-400L

Takes a bit of practice to nail down to a science, but fwiw this is my first BIF shot with the 100-400 mounted on a 5D--cropped roughly 75%

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Sep 02, 2008 at 11:41 AM

Colin Key
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p.3 #16 · BIF with 100-400L

PetKal wrote:

Colin, that's a real tough one to capture.
You've got some patience, mate.

Thanks for the compliment Pete. That shot was one of a burst of seven (I have the "High Speed" set to 8 fps) after locking onto the bird at quite a distance (having now moved the AF activation to the rear "AF On" button I am getting better results in AI Servo while tracking the subject and then pressing the trigger when ready). Of the seven frames only three had the entire bird in-frame, two had just plain sky! The bird was "flapping" rather than gliding and this shot with the wings horizontal was the best of the lot. It was taken just after sunrise so the light was not that great - I would normally be looking at 1/5,000s or faster for subjects like this.

I am now using the 400 f/5.6 prime in preference to the zoom; it is lighter and ergonomically easier to handle than the zoom (and has a decent lens hood!). I do not miss the IS and find the AF reaction speed is much quicker on the prime. I think my copy of the zoom (two years old) is a good one, but still prefer the prime for BIF (but do not want to digress into the zoom v prime argument again here!).

This shot was posted in another thread recently but the link seems to be broken:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

This Red-rumped Swallow was shot with the 1DMk3 + 400 f/5.6 at 1/8,000s f/6.3 and ISO 800. The crop is again about 50%. It was also shot in AI Servo with "Ring of Fire" AF against a "busy" background, a situation in which the Mk3 is allegedly supposed to fail miserably. The Red-rumped Swallows are not as fast as swifts, but they are so agile they can "turn on a sixpence/dime".

It sounds like something John Wayne might have said, "if you can shoot swifts and swallows in flight, you can shoot anything".

I only wish I was younger and had stronger muscles, faster responses, and better eyesight.

Colin

Sep 02, 2008 at 12:14 PM

PetKal
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p.3 #17 · BIF with 100-400L

Colin Key wrote:
I only wish I was younger and had stronger muscles, faster responses, and better eyesight.

Colin

Colin, a fine shot that one too.
Mind you, all physical fitness is for naught if mental alacrity was lacking.

Edited on Sep 02, 2008 at 02:11 PM

Sep 02, 2008 at 02:09 PM


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