Very often we on this forum get questions on the suitability of 100-400 for fast action such as BIF. In addition, people sometimes ask me how to do BIF photography if \"there are no birds around\". If a bird like Cooper\'s Hawk shows up at you backyard feeder, it\'s usually gone in a flash, plus that kinda visit happens once in a blue moon anyway. So how can you possibly become proficient at shooting Cooper\'s Hawks in flight ?
First, I consider the 100-400 AF drive to be generally too slow for many bird species. Which doesn\'t mean that good BIF shots don\'t happen with it, however, the issue there is the keeper rate/chancess of success (risk of missed shots).
Therefore, if I anticipate some fast Cooper\'s action in my backyard, 100-400 is one of the last lenses I will have on my camera.
However, for some birds such as geese, herons, egrets, cormorants, Caspian Terns, large Buteo hawks, Turkey Vultures and Albino Peregrine Falcons (i.e., seagulls ) the 100-400 AF is quite adequate. Which brings us to the second issue: what birds are there in sufficient numbers to be able to develop/maintain the skill of shooting them in flight. Well, seagulls are certainly very good and common targets in many coastal (large lake) areas around the world. Their flight pattern is relatively easy to track and they do not require much light for proper exposure. Moreover, given an interesting background as well as bird flight attitude, it is certainly possible to produce pleasing shots involving a bird as mundane as a seagull. Even man-made structures could be used for background where natural backdrop of some merit is not available. IMO anything is better than a uniformly vacant sky, if that can be helped.
So let us see your 100-400 BIF action images. I don\'t care if you shoot Bald Eagles, Canada Geese or Dragon Flies with it, the lens doesn\'t know if a bird you are pointing it at is at the verge of extinction or half-domesticated. The objective is to try to draw some kind of BIF application boundary for 100-400 lens.
Nov 12, 2009 at 03:29 PM
Previous versions of PetKal's message #7767421 « 100-400 & Peregrine Falcon (Albino) »
) the 100-400 AF is quite adequate. Which brings us to the second issue: what birds are there in sufficient numbers to be able to develop/maintain the skill of shooting them in flight. Well, seagulls are certainly very good and common targets in many coastal (large lake) areas around the world. Their flight pattern is relatively easy to track and they do not require much light for proper exposure. Moreover, given an interesting background as well as bird flight attitude, it is certainly possible to produce pleasing shots involving a bird as mundane as a seagull. Even man-made structures could be used for background where natural backdrop of some merit is not available. IMO anything is better than a uniformly vacant sky, if that can be helped.