Burrowing owls at sunset. The red-eye effect was caused by the setting sun i.e. no flash was used. I can easily remove the red eye in Lightroom but it was so cool to see the red eye when the owl was facing the setting sun at a particular angle, and I prefer to leave it "as shot".
Focus was not the issue here - I think you did achieve focus - but the shutter speed was a little too slow for flight shots. I don’t recommend cranking the ISO 12800 but you might be able to get away with it, as no two situations are alike. I’ve had mixed results at 12800, and Topaz DeNoise AI may or may not do a good job of cleaning up the noise.
stanj wrote:
Speaking of owls... can't get flight shots in focus in this light. Hints appreciated.
bobbytan wrote:
Focus was not the issue here - I think you did achieve focus - but the shutter speed was a little too slow for flight shots. I don’t recommend cranking the ISO 12800 but you might be able to get away with it, as no two situations are alike. I’ve had mixed results at 12800, and Topaz DeNoise AI may or may not do a good job of cleaning up the noise.
Yeah, I can do 12k with DXO PureRaw just fine. That's obviously not what I used here, oopses, but the problem is that the belly is in focus and not the eyes. I had three flight sequences today and this is the sharpest one. Didn't have the same challenge with a 1D3 and 600 and snowy whites flying calmly at greater distance against a blue sky Will try higher ISO next time - if I can anticipate flying...
stanj wrote:
Speaking of owls... can't get flight shots in focus in this light. Hints appreciated.
Looks like it has decent focus on the foot area. Maybe Canon needs to work on the BEAF a little more. Of course those are tough low light conditions so maybe we can't expect miracles. 1/640s is too slow for any consistency but in the shot posted it wasn't the issue. I would try using the Zone AF mode instead of the Eye-AF mode.
arbitrage wrote:
Looks like it has decent focus on the foot area. Maybe Canon needs to work on the BEAF a little more. Of course those are tough low light conditions so maybe we can't expect miracles. 1/640s is too slow for any consistency but in the shot posted it wasn't the issue. I would try using the Zone AF mode instead of the Eye-AF mode.
This specific photo was taken with Zone AF (wide, a bit up in the frame). I think that better shutter speed is the first thing to try in general. What AF tracking mode do people use for this kind of scenario? I was in #4 for this specific shot, again trying out things...
For very busy backgrounds, I would not even bother with BIF. For less busy backgrounds I would use Horizontal Zone. For relatively clean backgrounds, this works for me:
stanj wrote:
This specific photo was taken with Zone AF (wide, a bit up in the frame). I think that better shutter speed is the first thing to try in general. What AF tracking mode do people use for this kind of scenario? I was in #4 for this specific shot, again trying out things...
Here are a couple of my first images with the RF 400mm f2.8. I feel like the 2x is a little faster in the AF dept. I feel I am seeing better detail in the 2x also. Nothing side by side yet with the EF version. Not much time for more with the rain we had. These are all with the 2x. Flickr will show better detail for those interested.
Will try higher ISO next time - if I can anticipate flying...
