| Joined: | Sun Apr 1st, 2012 |
| Location: | Carthew, Cornwall, United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 6829 |
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On my D500 and 200-500 combo.
I set camera to ....
Aperture priority.
EV compensation - In Spain +1.7 (usually) but occasionally up to +2.3, in UK +1.3 to +1.0 (bright days), or +0.7 in winter.
AF-C
Dynamic tracking
53points
I then do some test tracking of the birds to get my eye in for following the birds. Varies with type of bird, in Spain I am interested in bee eaters which fly/swoop very quickly.
Most of these shots are against the sky hence my high EV compensation valures
Success rate with other cameras was around 5-10% with D3, D800 but with D500 it goes up to 20% or better if there are big groups of bee eaters.
Images are not as good as Jeff's but are useable.
Practice makes perfect, and I have two short sessions each year when they fly north from Africa and when they return.
When I do herons, etc., success rate is 60-80%.
Reed warblers and others in the reeds make for AF false locks on reeds so I move to single point AFS.
I do not bait for birds so everything is as natural which also makes for more difficult shooting. Baiting is contentious and some birders get tetchy if you do it (in my experience).
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Still learning after all these years!
https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none