Photographing Birds in Flight

[DMurray407]

OK, I have a question that I've been wanting to ask someone. I'm planning a weekend trip this winter to photograph eagles and other raptors that congregate on the Mississippi River during the winter months here in Minnesota. I have a DRebel XT, I'm plannning on using my Canon 70-200 f4 lens. If I see a bird flying across the sky-say the sun is behind me (I'll probably be facing East) what do I meter off of? I'm assuming the safest bet would be to use manual mode. Should I meter off of a grey card facing the approximate direction of the birds (or my hand would work as well, right?). Would there be a difference if it were cloudy as opposed to sunny? I'm not very fast at making adjustments, so I want to make this as easy as possible. I want to have as much DOF as I can to eliminate the need for constant focus adjustments-I know my camera has the A1 servo mode, but I have never used it-would this be a good situation to use it? I love to take bird photos, but I always get confused about this and end up with a nice sky and a too dark subject.
Well, that is actually more than one question . . .
Thanks!

Oh, one more thing, would it be a good thing to use any type of filter? I have several different ones including a Moose Peterson Warm Polarizer (81A)-and I have time to get a different one before I go.

[lexcell]

Hi DMurray,
I do allot of birds in flight and I ALWAYS use aperture priority and then use expsoure compensation if I need to lighten or darken the image to my liking. Birds in flight happen very fast and they fly across the sky through varying light and backgrounds. Aperture priority allows the camera to change the exposure based on the light. What I do is to set up and take a photograph before the action happens to see how my reading is. Then when a bird (bald eagle in your case flies by, I will take another shot and look at the highlight warnings to see if the head and tail are blown out. If they are, I will dial in exposure compensation accordingly and I'm set. All I have to do is fire away when the eagle flies by.
You have to be careful of too small of an aperture or you will get a blurry image if the light is not bright. Also, bright light is not really your friend when photographing any subject, especially bald eagles with thier bright heads and dark bodies.
AI Servo allows the camera to keep focusing on the eagle as it moves closer to you keeping it in focus...as long as you keep it in the fviewfinder and pan smoothly. It takes practice to master this but the effort is worthwhile when you capture an outstanding image!
I would not use any filters...they will slow your exposure down and you will likely need all the speed you can muster.
Good luck and have fun!

[DMurray407]

Thanks, Laurie! I have time to practice a bit so I will work with the servo.

[DMurray407]

I like my 70-200mm lens but it is on the slower side (f4)-I also have a Canon 100mm f 2.8 that takes great photos (It's actually a macro lens, but takes very nice photos at distances, too), do you think I would be better off using the 100mm lens to get the extra speed? I would lose the zoom but could always crop in PS later-probably not the best practise but I won't be buying a better lens before I do this.

[Chuck S.]

Deb - The difference between f 2.8 and f 4 is only one stop, so in my opinion it will make very little difference, particularly in strong daylight conditions. For that one stop, you'll be winding up with a half-size image of the bird and a crop that has a lot fewer pixels. If you plan to print, you should stick with the longer lens.

I also have the 70-200 f4, and I've added a 1.4x converter to it to give it more reach. Believe it or not, it's still not long enough for birds at any distance. But I'm not going to invest big $$ in a 1000 mm lens!

[DMurray407]

Thanks, Chuck! I just can't believe how expensive some lenses are-but I have found that you do get what you pay for in most cases. I've seen a number of lens rental places popping up online-and have even rented a few like my 100mm to see if I liked before I bought it. That might be an option to get a longer lens for my trip.

[Chuck S.]

Deb, I think rental is an excellent idea. If only I had done that with a boat I had a number of years ago.....

[DMurray407]

Would that be like the boat we have sitting in our driveway that didn't even go into the water once last summer?

[Chuck S.]

Originally Posted by DMurray407

Would that be like the boat we have sitting in our driveway that didn't even go into the water once last summer?

Hmmm......sounds vaguely familiar.....!

[lexcell]

Hi Deb,
I'm with Chuck on the 2.8 vs F4 issue. You will be far better off with the 70-200mm and not cropping if possible. You can add a 1.4X teleconverter and get to 280mm and still have AF or, you can add the 2X teleconverter and get to 400mm but you will loose AF. Renting is a definite option...just make sure you have a tripod sturdy enough to hold the lens if you go that route.
Lot's of great suggestions. Thanks, chuck, for all your helpful advice.