BIRD IN FLIGHT ONLY -- share your BIF photos here

HenryL

EOS R3
CR Pro
Apr 1, 2020
359
983
My friend at the state park this morning, it swooped down into the tall grass but came up empty handed. R5 + 100-500 + 2xTC. FWIW, today was my first time using the R5 with firmware 1.5.0. Eye tracking and focus in general are more R3-like just slower, and more importantly I didn't experience any AF problems with this big bird or the little goldfinches I saw earlier. YMMV.

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Those are some of my BIF tries in Yucatan.
One question to the experts. Which max shutter speed do you use for BIF? Do you pan?
I usually use a max shutter speed of 1/1500, but often forget to switch to the correct mode to have it enabled.
So the royal tern was taken at a shutter speed of 1/640 and there is no blur.
All R5 + RF 100-400

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Jul 29, 2012
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Canada
Beautiful series.
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Well done, Oskar.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,299
22,371
Those are some of my BIF tries in Yucatan.
One question to the experts. Which max shutter speed do you use for BIF? Do you pan?
I usually use a max shutter speed of 1/1500, but often forget to switch to the correct mode to have it enabled.
So the royal tern was taken at a shutter speed of 1/640 and there is no blur.
All R5 + RF 100-400

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You were lucky with 1/640s. The faster the better for difficult BIF shots 1/3200-1/4000s. But, if the bird is moving in a simple straight line and it's not too fast and you can pan at the same speed, 1/1600 should be OK.
 
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Congratulations on the first BIF from an R3 on CR!
Thank you Alan and Click. R3 is more responsive than R5 and changing AF point is much faster. What I also noticed was that using RF 800 in R3 the AF area covers the whole sensor, unlike R5 that only the center area was usable.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,299
22,371
Thank you Alan and Click. R3 is more responsive than R5 and changing AF point is much faster. What I also noticed was that using RF 800 in R3 the AF area covers the whole sensor, unlike R5 that only the center area was usable.
I prefer to use the 100-500 on the R5 for BIF for both the reasons you say. It is very responsive and I like a wide field of view for birds that are fast flying or erratic. Using the 1.4x TC at 700mm doesn't seem to slow it down when I need a longer lens.
 
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I prefer to use the 100-500 on the R5 for BIF for both the reasons you say. It is very responsive and I like a wide field of view for birds that are fast flying or erratic. Using the 1.4x TC at 700mm doesn't seem to slow it down when I need a longer lens.
That is true. When comparing RF100-500 and RF800, my hypothesis was that responsiveness may also be affected by the camera. I can say that yes, everythingelse the same, RF800 is more responsive on R3 compared to R5. Is it significant difference? Perhaps not. So far I haven't find bird photography cases that R3 can do and R5 cannot. That is why I am trying BIF now.
 
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