help taking photos of birds

nalla

nalla

nalla

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Joined
1 Jan 2007
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1,196
hi all just need some pointers if possible.

ok firstly now got a tripod and 300mm lense want to try them out, cant go out of house though, gotta wait in for delivery man, so ive set up my tripod in the bedroom window looking down at my bird table, plenty of bread/fat balls for the birds to eat.
first problem im impatient and want to take good pics now, but thats not going to happen anytime soon i think.

secondly i set the camera up on p mode, fast shutter speed ( 1/30 ) as im hoping to get pics of birds, bit of light compensation due to a dull overcast day, more waiting, voila a bird appears and my setting have reset themselves and i get a blurred pic cos the shutter speed is too slow, it seems to reset the settings after 30 seconds have changed to 1min, but that isnt long enough when your playing the waiting game, is there a way to get the camera to a particular setting and keep that setting infinately as i may have to wait a long time for a good photo opportunity.

is 1/30 quick enough or should i go quicker, also even with a tripod at 250-300m the camera is registering substatial shake is this normal for long lenses or is just because i have had to put the tripod onto a chest of drawers that are situated right under the window in my way.
 
1) If you set the camera to P mode and pick a shutter speed then it should retain those settings indefinitely. What camera is it?

2) 1/30 is far too slow. Even on a tripod you'll get image shake due to a combination of mirror slap and the action of pressing the shutter. You'll also get motion blur from the subject at that sort of speed. The normal rule of thumb for hand holding is 1/focal length so 1/300 in your case. You can go slower than this on a tripod but you still need to consider a fast shutter to avoid motion blur.
 
A few problems here. For wildlife photography, you really need to get out of the house, and looking down on your subject does no good tbh. You ideally need to be eye level with your subject. 1/30th generally is far too slow. Aim more for something like 250th. In order to get down to 1/30th you need a very good solid tripod with a very good solid head, and either time the shot perfectly, or have a bird with rigamortis. And what camera do you have? The settings should stay as they are until you tell them otherwise.
 
nalla said:
sony a200 soz probably shouldve said in first post
Click to expand...

Id pop it into Aperture priority (A) and open the aperture right up to the widest it goes (lowest number), which will give you the fastest shutter speed possible. Also what ISO you using? Im not sure about your camera, but on my D300 I tend to stay under ISO800, ideally more like ISO400.
 
yeah im at 400, with window wide open, shooting with a sony a200 with a cosina 70-300mm lense, ill try the a mode instead see if that helps as its currently using f6.5
also the f stop stays at what its set too just the shutter speed keeps changing for some reason. ill keep trying you know what they say practice makes perfect, maybe not in my case but i can try.
 
the shutter speed will change depending on the light level of what you focus on if your apature priority mode. for shooting animals most people would recommend a shutter speed of 1/250-1/350 to reduce blur from movement of the critter.

if your wanting to keep the same shutter and apature values you need to be in manual mode and set both of them. keep the f number as low as possible and put the shutter speed to 1/250 then take a test shot to see the exposure. if its too dark increase the iso value by one step and try again until you get a good exposure.
 
also are you using a remote or timer to take the photo or are you just pressing the shutter button? because that will add a fair bit of blur if your using a zoom lens.
 
It sounds to me as though you are going to struggle to get any decent 300mm shots with that cosina lens unless you have very good light. When I was starting out with my old Sony A100 I bought a really cheap second hand sigma 100mm-300mm zoom which at the 300mm end the maximum aperture was F6.3, I quickly mothballed this lens as it became obvious it simply wasn't up to taking anywhere decent shots in anything but the brightest sunshine. You get what you pay for basically. The A200 is a slightly better ISO camera than the A100, but I would guess its highest usuable ISO is still the 400 mark, same as the A100. You can up the ISO to whatever maximum the A200 will let you and you therefore achieve a higher shutter speed for the same maximum apeture, but you have to live with the noise or deal with it in post processing. One trick you can try though is to set the camera drive mode to take multiple consequtive shots as this sometimes increases the probability of getting a shot with less blur, and you may catch a bird while it is momentarily stationary. A lens you might want to look for on ebay is the legendary Minolta beercan lens. This is a 70-210 zoom with a constant F4 apeture. It doesn't have as much reach obviously but it is a superb lens and you will be able to get faster shutter speeds with it. But even then, light is going to be your best friend.
 
rpstewart said:
1) If you set the camera to P mode and pick a shutter speed then it should retain those settings indefinitely. What camera is it?

2) 1/30 is far too slow. Even on a tripod you'll get image shake due to a combination of mirror slap and the action of pressing the shutter. You'll also get motion blur from the subject at that sort of speed. The normal rule of thumb for hand holding is 1/focal length so 1/300 in your case. You can go slower than this on a tripod but you still need to consider a fast shutter to avoid motion blur.
Click to expand...

I expect Nalla is using a crop sensor so she would need a shutter speed of more like 1/450th.

This is also much better at controlling subject motion
 
nalla said:
secondly i set the camera up on p mode
Click to expand...

I am fairly sure the P or program mode on the A200 which tries to balance both shutter speed and apeture, which is probably why it changed your shutter speed when you half pressed the button to focus the shot. Set it to A mode and dial in the maximum apeture you can, which funnily enough is the lowest F number you can dial in, you will get used to this btw.
 
great tips guys thanks to all of you, i will try and take all this in but i think at the end of the day my cheap lense is always going to be the let down as its lowest f stop is 6.5 i think, so not much light, i did try at f6.5 with a shutter speed of 1/350 but the pic was too dark,raised the iso to 1600 and too much noise/ lowered to iso 800 still a fair bit of noise, iso 400 is best but too dark on a day like today. but at least im learning, might not be getting good pics but finding out what makes poor ones.
 
ok cheers for the info guy just wandering if this lense would make much difference to me than the f6.5 300m i have

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro (Sony A / Konica/Minolta AF)

has an f stop of 4-5.6 i would go for this if it would make much difference.
 
Wouldn't make much difference, 5.6 is still pretty slow and only half a stop faster.

The bottom line you don't have enough light to work with.

Your options are:
Faster lens, ideally 2.8. A 300mm f2.8 lens will cost...., well it costs a lot. The alternative is to get a 70-200mm 2.8.

A camera body that behaves better with high ISO. Something like a Nikon D90 or D700.

Wait for a sunny day.



I recommend the latter option while you save up for faster glass.
I also recommend not to set your heart on bird photography unless you are rich. Concentrate on landscapes or portraits etc.
 
oh no m8 thats not what i set my heart on, i was simply at home bored, couldnt go out waiting for a delivery man, nothing better to do, so attempting to photo something other than a shelf on the wall or yet another picture of the dog, i am hoping to photo everything and anything big or small, quick or fast that probably my only option at the time, i have just ordered a set of macro lenses so i can have a go at that too,
 
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