Shooting Birds?

[ROB123]

I have recently bought a sony alpha 330, what lens would i need on it to shoot pictures like this?



I have a wild bird perch that attracts wild birds and then have the occasional feed ! I am about 20 foot away from the perch without being noticed what zoom would i need to get up this close to them? Also when i shoot with the camera things moving they always seem to blur, even with the shutter speed set to maximum, 1:4000, what am i doing wrong?

Thanks

[ap4a]

Originally Posted by ROB123

I have recently bought a sony alpha 330, what lens would i need on it to shoot pictures like this?

For sea birds like that, depending on where you go to see them, you can probably get away with a 300mm.

I have a wild bird perch that attracts wild birds and then have the occasional feed ! I am about 20 foot away from the perch without being noticed what zoom would i need to get up this close to them?

Depends on the size of the birds. Again, for that size then a 300mm would still be fine. For smaller garden birds then you'll want to be able to go to at least 400mm.

Also when i shoot with the camera things moving they always seem to blur, even with the shutter speed set to maximum, 1:4000, what am i doing wrong?

You need to learn to pan, and also about their behaviour so that you can reliably predict where they're going to move in to.

[ianpinion]

I would get yourself a 400mm lens with some fast glass, i.e. f/2 - f/2.8 so you can achieve the fast shutter speeds. I would also suggest using a tripod and a remote cable release too.

Set the camera up on the tripod zoomed in on the area where the birds will approach to land on the perch and lock the focus. Then watch out for a bird approaching the perch and fire the shutter using a bit of anticipation to capture the moment when it is making it's final approach. Don't try and look through the viewfinder or use the live-view if you have it as you'll miss the action. The other thing you'll need is good light. The light is very weak at this time of year, so you'll definately need a lens capable of a opening to a very wide aperture operating at 1/4000th of a second otherwise you'll really struggle to expose the shots correctly. Best to wait until the late spring/early summer for this type of photography when the light levels have improved.

Best of luck!

[chris-p]

300mm is usually enough if you're that close to the birds.

It's odd that you're getting blur at 1/4000 of a second. The shot below was taken at 300mm, f/11 and 1/1250s. She was about 30 feet away

[Cutter]

Originally Posted by chris-p

300mm is usually enough if you're that close to the birds.

It's odd that you're getting blur at 1/4000 of a second. The shot below was taken at 300mm, f/11 and 1/1250s. She was about 30 feet away

Hi Chris what would be a reasonable shutter speed to stop blur when birds are in flight ? and should you perhaps have your camera set to Tv mode for shutter speed and allow the camera do the rest ?

PS great shot of the bird

Regards

[chris-p]

It's hard to say what the "right" shutter speed is as it depends on how fast the birds are moving! That shot was at 1/1250.

Personally I'd use shutter priority (Tv, S etc) and dial in 1/1000 (if it's not too dark) and see how it comes out. If you're getting motion blur then keep speeding up. I've taken shots as slow as 1/200th and sill got sharp images but they weren't particularly fast birds!

[Cutter]

Thanks chris its nice to know I am on the right road. one more thing if i use a fast shutter speed and a 400 focal length will my DOF be adequate to see all of the bird in focus?

Cheers

[TommoR]

Cutter,

I have the A300, A fairly inexpensive lens might be a 2nd hand Beercan from Ebay or dyxum.com. This is a 70-210 (x1.5 crop) but has a fixed F4 aperture. You can Pick this up for around £100-£150 compared to a 300mm 2.8 which will be a fair whack or the Sony 70 - 300 G 4.5 to 5.6 £500-£600. Have a look on the Dyxum website at lens reviews as this is a brilliant source of info.

Here is one of mine shot with the beer can shot at 150mm (225mm equivalent) 1/1000 f/4

[chris-p]

I can't remember what camera you use off the top of my head (I know it's a Canon thanks to the Tv mode!) but assuming an APS-C sized sensor, a focal length of 400mm and a distance to subject of 20 metres (65 feet) and an aperture of f/11 you'll get a DoF of 1.07 metres which is more than enough for the wingspan of most birds.

Tom has posted a good example as 1/1000s isn't enough to freeze the action on the wings which just goes to show how difficult it can be. You ain't going to get a beercan onto a Canon though!

Perhaps set 1/1500 or 1/2000 and crank the ISO until you're getting a decent exposure.

[TommoR]

Ah yes, good point chris. It was the OP that said they had a sony a330,

Cutter please ignore, ROB123 see my post as may help!