p.2 #4 · First Violet-greens of 2020 and why 20FPS sometimes isn't enough...
Very nice series. What types of crops are you doing on these? When I’ve shot swallows on the 1DX2 in the past, I was typically cropping down to about 3-4 megapixel images with the bird taking up similar or slightly less of the final frame as most of your photos show. I’m wondering if the Sony tracking is allowing for only light crops with images in good focus. Basically is it tracking these little bullets well when you’re getting close to minimum focus distance.
p.2 #5 · First Violet-greens of 2020 and why 20FPS sometimes isn't enough...
Folks, when I shot with Geoff he shot anything that flew - close or far. I (good naturedly), laughed at him 'cause I knew that he wasn't gonna get any keepers with how far away his targets sometimes were. These great shots prove that there was method to his madness...
p.2 #9 · First Violet-greens of 2020 and why 20FPS sometimes isn't enough...
Holy smokes Geoff, these are outstanding! Now that's a real world test for the autofocus system, but it needs the expert behind the camera, too! I certainly couldn't get a single pic that sharp even if these birds were stuffed
p.2 #10 · First Violet-greens of 2020 and why 20FPS sometimes isn't enough...
KINGOFKNGS wrote:
Very nice series. What types of crops are you doing on these? When I’ve shot swallows on the 1DX2 in the past, I was typically cropping down to about 3-4 megapixel images with the bird taking up similar or slightly less of the final frame as most of your photos show. I’m wondering if the Sony tracking is allowing for only light crops with images in good focus. Basically is it tracking these little bullets well when you’re getting close to minimum focus distance.
These are still fairly big crops. 4-10MPs in the end.
The A9 can sometimes keep up focus as they get closer but usually I can't react fast enough to keep them in the frame as the closer they get, the faster they move over the FOV.
I think the best solution for these swallows is as many MPs as you can throw at them with good AF.
My problem is all the best AF cameras are 20-24MPs. The A7RIV got me a few shots...the one posted here is one of the 10MP ones but the first A9II image is also around 10MPs so that was probably the closest shot of the day.
I've been successful with D500 and D850 but the limitation with D850 is that the AF points don't go to the frame edges so you miss some that the A9/R4 will get as it nails the swallow closer to frame edge as my tracking panning lags. The D500 has AF points closer to edges but then it is only 20MPs.
The best would be a 45-60MP mirrorless camera with A9II type AF and A9II blackout free EVF. That was the other issue with A7RIV as I could only shoot very short 2-4 image bursts as the blackout combined with EVF lag made me lose the swallow in the VF. And of course the A9 has 20FPS which surely helps.
p.2 #13 · First Violet-greens of 2020 and why 20FPS sometimes isn't enough...
I've tried shooting swallows with minimal success, so these are very impressive to me! You may need to develop a bug launcher to attract these little bullets to the right range!
p.2 #14 · First Violet-greens of 2020 and why 20FPS sometimes isn't enough...
Hi Geoff - very fine work. Have you considered writing an article for one of the bird magazines about how you got these images? And the differences in shooting small, fast-moving birds with mirrorless (Sony) vs. SLR's (Nikon) - you've got the images and the first-hand knowledge to write such an article
p.2 #16 · First Violet-greens of 2020 and why 20FPS sometimes isn't enough...
morris wrote:
4 and next to last are my picks from this great set Geoff.
Morris
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amlsml wrote:
Unreal, love them all 4 and the sequence are perfect!
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Pius Sullivan wrote:
Super set, Geoff.
2 hours x 20fps = how many shots would that be... i'm joking
Amazing work man...
Pius
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AGeoJO wrote:
What an awesome set, Geoff and YGMV! The tree swallows are active now at a local bird sanctuary near me. I did it last year using an adapted lens and I had to wait until they hovered a bit to be able to get keepers. Now, your images make me want to try out the GM lens on mine.
Joshua
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kdacharya wrote:
Geoff
The way you understand and use the camera equipment is out of the world and the results speak for themselves. YGMV
Bravo
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dclark wrote:
YGMV
Dave
Thanks everyone. No Pius, I didn't shoot constantly for 2hrs
