No doubt, BIF of medium and low difficulty are quite feasible with 100-400, unless either the camera AF system or lack of operator experience presents impediments.
Quite a few different bird images posted in this thread by different folks illustrate that rather well.
In my own experience, more difficult BIF shots such as pijuns in flight or duck head-on flight shots become somewhat tedious with 100-400 though, particularly against a busy background. If AF is lost for a split second, it does take a long time for the lens to regain its bearings by which time the fast target is long gone.
I have never tried shooting passerines or swallows in flight with the 100-400 nor do I plan to. That task is difficult enough even with the fastest camera/lens combination.
I think in all this one has to use their capture success rate as the governing criterion for the BIF goodness of any lens. We all get lucky shots and fluke shots, however, those can be hardly used to demonstrate the fast action worthiness of a lens. If a lens allows us to get expected results routinely, then it is probably safe to say that we understand that lens performance, be it bad or excellent.
Nov 13, 2009 at 09:20 PM
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