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 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.
