“Hey Chris!
It’s Trevor Pottelberg. Hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy! With the unique spring we are all facing, I have been finding myself photographing more songbirds. They are obviously a lot faster and more erratic than the larger predatory birds. Do you have any suggestions of settings for capturing them in flight? I’ve tried with the Flex Point M setting but haven’t had a lot of tracking luck when a bird leaves it’s perch. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks Trevor”
Hey Trevor,
Thank you. We are safe, healthy and staying in self-isolation on our property.
There are a lot of factors that collide into a razor sharp action shot of anything. Here’s the short list:
Firmware: Make sure you are using the latest firmware from your camera manufacturer. It amazes me how few opt to check and upgrade their camera’s firmware. Manufacturers constantly tweak and tune many aspects of how your camera operates and often unlock great new features.
Shutter Speed: I strive to use at least 1/5,000s when I want razor sharp images. As you can see from the settings above, I was at 1/6,400 of a second exposure to ensure every detail was sharp in this image. Our cameras and lenses resolve so much detail these days, it is imperative to start to realize that freezing our movement (or that of the camera/lens) is just as important as freezing the subject; think about the wingtip speed of a windmill vane (blade).
Silent shutter: Be sure to use electronic shutter and turn off any shutter sounds so that your subject remains undisturbed. Migrating songbirds fly away as soon as they hear the sharp sound of a mechanical shutter; it was always the best way to end a great opportunity, we used to have to hold off until everything was just right and often missed the best image with hope of something better; something mirrorless has changed forever.
Solid footing: I use a solid tripod with gimbal head (Wimberley Head II) as often as I am able.
Camera settings: Here are the key settings that I use most often to ensure the most reactive AF on my Sony a9II:
Priority set in AF-C (Camera 1 - 5/14): AF
Focus area (Camera 1 - 5/14): Tracking: Flexible Spot S (note that less experienced action shooters or those who have trouble acquiring and following the target may get better results with Flexible Spot M)
AF Tracking Sens. (Camera 1 - 6/14): 1 (Locked-on). This is counter-intuitive to some who feel that they need to use 5 (Responsive) for fast moving birds with erratic flight patterns. The AF remains really responsive when set to 1 (Locked-on), however it will stay locked-onto your target much more reliably. If you were photographing a team sporting event, you would choose 1 (Locked-on) to continue to track a player when other players enter the frame between you and your target. You would choose 5 (Responsive) if you wanted to start tracking that new player who entered the frame in front of your original target.
Hope this helps. Enjoy and be safe.