[robski]

I thought I would donate a couple of my duff shots to illustrate camera settings.

Lens 300mm
camera to subject distance approx 10 feet.
ISO 400
Aperture f8
Shutter speed 1/50 sec
Av mode - Aperture Priority
Tripod


The light was fair for a Late December afternoon (3pm ).

The camera was set to Av mode @ f8 to preserve the inch or so DOF which is very limited with a camera to subject distance of 10 feet using this focal lenght lens. The ISO 400 and F8 setting gave me a shutter speed of 1/50 sec. Ideally a higher shutter speed would of been desirable to freeze the action. I could of increased to ISO to get a higher shutter speed but I wanted to keep the noise level ( grain effect ) as low as possible. I knew with care I may get some good shots of these fast twitchy birds at this shutter speed.

If you look along the top of the fence you can see the range that is in focus. In the first shot you can see how quickly a Blue tit can move in 1/50 sec.

The bird was facing me when I fired the shutter. There is a short delay between pressing the shutter button and the shutter opening. The second shot is 1/5 sec later. A burst of 2 shots in Continuous shooting mode. As you can see this mode can be very handy for subjects that move quickly or flight shots.