D300 settings for bird-in-flight autofocus: question for Shun Cheung

<p>Question for Shun Cheung<br>

Hi Shun<br>

Can you summarise all the settings that you use for setting the D300 for bird-in-flight autofocus?<br>

I tried searching a few of your posts, and I gather that you use 21 AF points - and you've commented elsewhere on bird focusing. But can you summarise all the settings that need to be set, e.g. whether focus mode you use etc. and whether your current preferences have changed since any of those older posts, which date back to your first D300 review.<br>

Thanks<br>

Roger</p>

<p>I'm not Shun, nor do I play him on TV, but I use continuous focus, single-point center AF. </p><div></div>

<p>Charles - just out of interest, as someone who occasionally points a lens at a red kite or a seagull, do you avoid dynamic area AF because it's jumping to different bits of the bird? I tend to be in D-AF because I trust the camera to adjust faster than I can track accurately with a VR telephoto (I tend to be using a 150-500 Sigma hand-held; I may do better if anyone wants to give me a 600 f/4 and a Wimberley), but I can imagine that if, unlike me, you're actually good, keeping the focus spot on the eye mightn't be so tricky. I do have to stop and restart sometimes when the AF point has gone AWOL. Nice hawk, btw.</p>

<p>Hi Roger, if you just want to ask me, why don't you send me e-mail?</p>

<p>I use:</p>

<ul>

<li>AF-C continuous, Release + focus priority (custom setting a1)</li>

<li>21 points dynamic AF (a3)</li>

<li>a4: Focus tracking with lock on: I set it to off</li>

</ul>

<p>For a3: I played around with this quite a bit. I definitely don't like using all 51 AF points especially with 3D tracking. 21 seems to work well for me for sports as well as animal action.</p>

<P>

a4 is the one I am not sure about. I have tried different settings and don't have a favorite.

</P>

<p>Andrew, thanks. I use the single-point because that's what seems natural to me, and simplest, too.<br>

However, I will likely try Shun's settings since he likely has had more experience.</p>

<p>Shun, if Roger had sent you an email, the rest of us would have missed out on your expertise. I rarely do such photography, but now I have better idea of how to do it. I live in the Seattle area and occasionally make use of the state ferries, which is a great opportunity to try, because seagulls are omnipresent.</p>

<p>James, you have a good point. However, plenty of people have good experience shooting birds in flight. Typically there are many ways to do the same thing. My way is merely one way to shoot birds in flight. I hope other people will provide their experience as well.</p>

<p>Thanks, Charles - worth knowing why the experts do things as well as what they do!<br>

<br>

Shun - I'll be interested if you can elaborate on why you don't like using 51 AF points - the only reason I could think of for using 21 is to select them faster, but I'd not thought about it for tracking. I've not played very much, though. I can imagine that 51-point would be less prone to gradually wandering off-target?</p>

<p>I use settings similar to Shun Cheung, except that I use 9 points for the dynamic af. I feel that it is snappier for the lenses that I use, and 21pts seems to lock onto the background (e.g. trees) far more often, especially with lock-on set to off.<br>

<br />Regards,<br>

Alvin</p>

<p>There is an extensive discussion here:<a href="http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=159654&hilit=d300+bif">http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=159654&hilit=d300+bif</a><br>

My settings pretty much mirror those recommended at this link. I have found that selecting 9 works better than 21. I like to use the AF On button on the back of the camera to activate focusing even for BIF. I really like Release. Too many shots are missed waiting for Focus. I do not mind getting a few out of focus shots; I just delete them.<br>

Here are EJPieker's:the last phrase is important.<br>

Continuous focus mode<br />Set AF-C priority selection to Release<br />Set Dynamic AF area to 9 (any more like 21 slows focus aquisition and tracking a bit)<br />Set Focus Tracking with Lock on to normal<br />AF point selection to 51<br />Built in AF assist illuminator to off.<br /><br />Now select the middle position on the AF sensor switch on the back of the camera<br>

Joe Smith<br>

<a href="http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=159654&hilit=d300+bif"></a></p>

<p>2 cents worth, I don't shoot bird but do shoot human chasing after balls of different sizes and shapes. If conditions are good, ie: Lens is fast, light is fair and back ground are not too busy, I choose 51 points 3D for less thinking on equipment and more on pictures. After all, I paid for the more expense D300S for better AF. may as well get the money worth. If the condition is not that good, I choose single center focus point. I suppose in some cases, 9, 21 or other setting can be better but then it will take too much brain power to decide which one is best. Stick with the basic and if things go wrong, I could blame myself and not the equipment :-) </p>

<p>I prefer 21 AF points because they cover a larger area so that it is easier to cover the subject initially. I think using 51 points will slow you down a bit. I find 51 points with 3D tracking pretty much useless. It is supposed to lock onto the subject if it has distinct colors different from the background. I first tried the D3 on a tennis player wearing red while the background tennis court was blue. The D3 can lock on for a few seconds but then locks onto something else; once it locks onto something else, you need to start over and locate your subject in the viewfinder again.</p>

<p>Thanks, Shun - I'd seen the same behaviour from my D700, but it hadn't occurred to me that 21 points would be better. I'll give it a go!</p>

<p>There are many scenarios of birds-in-flight (or any moving subjects). Each would require careful consideration and different AF settings in a dslr for *optimal* focus. Some examples:</p>

<p>- Is the critical focus area in center, or off center?<br>

- How far is the critical focus area away from the lens, closest to it, farthest away from it, somewhere in the middle?<br>

- When multiple subjects are in the image, how many and which ones need to be "in focus"?</p>

<p>You may find my comments in this thread relevant.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00L9WG?start=10</p>

<p>Shun, thanks for the details of your bird photography settings. These enabled me - without having had any prior experience in AF focusing of fast-moving objects - to get all my photos spot on in focus at the recent Duxford "Battle of Britain" Airshow here in the UK. See attached sample.<br>

Since I'm in the UK on holiday, and having to travel ultra-light, the only lens I'm carrying is a 16-85 VR, so the photos of Spitfires and Hurricanes had to be cropped from the center of the frame.<br>

Thanks for the tips, and everyone else's comments.</p><div></div>

<p>Roger, glad I could help.</p>

<p>What was the shutter speed you used for the airshow shot? For airplanes that use propellers, most people prefer a slightly slower shutter speed so that there is some blur on the propeller, similar to what us humans typically see in real live. A completely still propeller at 1/4000 sec may give some people the feeling that the plane is about to drop from the sky.</p>

<p>But your taste may be different.</p>