 |
| Hovering birds like this kestrel are reasonably easy to photograph |
The Sony RX10Mk4 is the best camera I have yet used for capturing birds in flight. It is fast and responsive with the ability to follow focus on a moving subject at 24 frames per second for stills. In other words it can shoot stills at video speed with each frame separately focussed.
That gives it the fastest AFC performance of any camera at the time of writing this post.
Some contributors to user groups have opined that the RX10Mk4 is “too expensive”.
Forgive them for they know not that of which they speak. Where else can you get a 24-600mm (equivalent) lens with very high quality right across the focal length and aperture range ?
Right now you can buy an RX10Mk4 from a large Sydney camera retailer for AUD2123.
From the same source, Sony’s pro level full frame sport/action camera, the A9 with 100-400mm and 24-105mm lenses will set you back AUD9907.
I think the RX10Mk4 is one of the great camera bargains of the 21st Century with a level of capability and performance way beyond that of any previous bridge camera.
Many contributors to Cybershot user forums have reported very favourably about the high level of follow focus capability offered by the RX10Mk4.
Would the A9 with the heavy artillery lens kit be better ? I don’t know and am never going to spend ten thousand bucks to find out.
I do know however that the RX10Mk4 is pretty darn good and certainly good enough for BIF which is one of the most difficult challenges you can present to a camera.
 |
| Large birds like this pelican are also reasonably easy to photograph. The fly straight and are big enough that you don't have to be very close. |
Expectations
In general photography one expects most photos to be at least technically acceptable.
Nothing like that is possible with BIF.
My experience is that depending on the species of bird as many as 50% of frames miss the bird altogether. It is VERY difficult to keep flying birds in the frame. So you need to give the bird lots of space in the viewfinder and expect to crop a lot later.
Expect a low percentage of keepers with BIF even with the best possible equipment and technique.
At first you will probably call any bird reasonably sharp and with both wings in the frame a keeper.
But after some practice you will get more picky and want to keep only the really good shots.
As a general guide I rate about 2% of frames as keepers.
Don’t be discouraged by this. At 10fps it only takes 10 seconds to make 100 frames. In a BIF session
I not uncommonly shoot 500+ frames. If I get 10 decent BIF shots in a session I regard that as a very good result.
Trying to do BIFs in low light is an exercise in frustration. I find it is not often successful.
Camera settings
As a general principle I want the camera running automatically. BIF places heavy demands on both camera and photographer so the more things operate automatically the better. There is no opportunity for the user to check camera settings in the middle of a shooting sequence.
Here is a list of the settings which I use and the button to which I allocate the function. Other users have different ideas about the best settings and button assignments. The permutations and combinations are almost limitless.
* Lens focal length. I find 300-400mm (equivalent) often useful. 600mm is usable but requires a lot of practice just to keep the bird in the frame. Any longer will not be useful for most birds in flight.
* ISO (C1) Auto.
* ISO AUTO MIN SS (C2) Faster.
* P Mode.
* Focus Area (C3) for bird-against-sky I use Wide. This is to allow the camera to focus on the bird anywhere in the frame.
For bird-against-background I use Flexible Spot L in the center of the frame. This is because [Wide] will focus on background trees, foliage and similar.
* Function Button items: AWB, DRO Auto, Center Lock-on AF OFF, Shutter type Auto, Creative Style -2, 0, 0, Metering Mode Multi, Grid lines OFF.
* Steady shot (cross keys left) ON.
* Drive Mode (cross keys right) Continuous Mid (10fps). Why not continuous High (24 fps) ? This after all is the RX10Mk4’s party trick which no other camera can do.
There are two reasons I stay with the 10fps speed.
First, 24 fps generates so many frames so quickly they become a burden when time comes to review them in post.
Second, I get a slightly higher keeper rate at 10fps.
* Quality (cross keys down), I have tried both RAW and JPG X-Fine. JPG allows you to shoot more frames in a burst but RAW allows more control of highlight and shadow detail, sharpness…etc in post processing.
* Disp (cross keys up) Clear the screen. Level gauge off, on-screen data OFF, grid lines OFF.
* I activate AF with the shutter button. I do not use back button focus. Others like to use the AEL button to initiate focus. But I find that the process of capturing BIF is demanding enough without having to remember to press two buttons.
* Focus Mode rotary controller. That is the sneaky little dial bottom left on the front of the camera which I frequently forget to change because it is out of sight and therefore out of mind. Turn it to C.
MR Mode on the Mode Dial
When you have all the settings in place go to Menu>Camera1> Camera1/Camera2 Memory and assign the settings to position 1, 2 or 3 at MR on the Mode Dial.
This enables you to make most of the required settings in one move.
* Use a big, fast memory card and a spare and have a couple of spare batteries ready.
The user experience
At first the process of trying to photograph BIF can feel incredibly frustrating.
Medium sized birds operate on a time scale about 10x faster than humans. They will often be in and out of the viewfinder in about 0.1 seconds.
If you are accustomed to photographing static, co-operative subjects you will have to develop an entirely different approach. This is sometimes unkindly referred to a “spray and pray”.
There is in fact a good deal more to it than prayer. The essence of the technique is to start pressing the shutter button down beforeyou have the shot lined up. If you wait until the bird is framed up nicely you will never do BIF.
Always view through the EVF. This allows you to hold the camera securely and gives the best view of the subject. If you have your right eye at the EVF you can use your left eye to simultaneously scope a wider view of the scene ahead.
This is a brief summary of a few tips I have picked up over the years.
* Learn about the habits and behaviour of birds, where and when to find them.
At many locations birds often have a circuit. If you stand still for a while and observe this will become evident.
* Birds like to launch themselves into flight upwind. If you can get up-wind and up-sun of the bird(s) photo ops can arise.
* Don’t chase birds around. Stay still. They will come back in a while. The carpark adjacent to a known bird area is often the best place for bird observation believe it or not.
* Start with birds perched to get accustomed to the idea of shooting fast.
* Graduate to water birds at your local park. The ducks will come up looking for a feed and are easy to photograph as they swim along.
* If you live near the sea move on to gulls. These are often numerous, fairly large as birds go, they will come in close to humans and their flight patterns are somewhat predictable.
* Birds which hover are reasonably easy to photograph. Some will come down quite close if you are in the right spot.
* Practice………………….a lot………………..