Hi Jan and Glenn. One of your best sessions ever. My longest lens is the RF 100-500 mm, but It's so useful to listen closely to your advices. Good points concerning keeping IS on and settings of focusing. Wonderful shots of these beautiful swallows! Regarding the book I unfortunately live in Denmark 🙃, but to answer your question, I don't have any favourite bird to photograp. I enjoy sparrows as well as birds of prey. They call for different techniques. Thanks for your chat and advices. Regards from Jan, DK
Another great episode, I leave the IS on as I would always forget to turn it on if it was off. I remember using the focus limiter for the first time years ago and I forgot to switch it back. Next session with waders I thought my camera/lens was broken as it wouldn't focus :-) Cheers, Duade
A couple of points on IS: - If you are using a red-dot site turn IS off or the bore-sight vs sensor alignment can skew by a large fraction of the frame when panning - something like 1/4 to 1/3 on my G9. - When panning rapidly, the IS can't possibly help in the direction you are panning, but it can hit the end stop and keep trying to reset unless the camera is smart enough to turn it off automatically. My G9 induced small "microblurs" if I left it on
Excellent tutelage on this most difficult photography challenge. My quick tip, choose large raptors gliding, or big water birds flying sluggishly in a straight line. If you must go for something smaller, a Nankeen Kestrel hovering is a good bet. I live on Wurrundjeri and Boonwurrung lands of the Kulin Nation and my favourite bird to photograph is the little jewel, the pardelote.
Great advice and nothing to add. Here in the Northeast of the U.S. I have a lot of fun with Terns in the summer but also like photographing other shorebirds, sea ducks and raptors in flight. As for IS, if the shutter speed is very high, I sometimes turn it off for BIF, but leave it on most of the time. I don't use a tripod for flying birds, I would lose the flexibility to make quick changes if necessary.
I live in Washington. The great northwest has so many birds to choose from because of the large migrations going South to North and back. I love them all. But, I would say my local bird favorites would be the Eagle and Ospreys. I'm still new, and just started photographing birds in flight. I keep IS on my one and only 600 Lens. Never saw any problems that would bring me to turn it off. Swallows are on my list to try and photograph. I've seen 4 types of swallows here this summer. You have got me hyped now on swallows!! I have learned so much from Jan's videos and I have shared them with my friends. Sorry Glenn, I've been watching Jan for about a year and half and I haven't seen you before. But, I will definitely check your videos out now! This was an excellent tutorial from both of you. Thanks for setting up the Time stamps so I could go back to certain sections and watch them again and again!
Great tips once again. I always have IS on as it's easier to track the birds. I shoot with an Olympus EM1-X and it has an in camera AF limiter that you can set to whatever you wish, which is normally 20-80 metres for BIF. Tracking birds is the hardest part IMHO, so I've just got an Olympus dot sight to try out. I live in Maroochydore, QLD, Australia and my favourite bird to photograph would be the Forest Kingfisher in flight. They're a real challenge to get.
This is one of the best explanations of this topic that I have ever seen. Thank you. Also, it’s nice that you represent both hemispheres. (I am looking at Victoria from across the Strait - in Port Angeles.). Thanks again for the great content.
Thanks, very interesting and nicely done, especially the virtual dual desk. With my Olympus camera I don’t use the highest framerates, because that just shuffles way too many files to the SD card. For me, 20 or sometimes 30 fps seems to be enough, even for starting song birds. By the way, Olympus‘ pre-buffering function (ProCapture) is very handy to not miss the right moment. Maybe Canon‘s or Sony‘s recent models have something similar, I don’t know.
@@jan_wegener I also shoot an Olympus OMD MK3 in addition to the Canon R6, and one of the most valuable features is the focus limiting at the distant end. You can set the camera to only focus between 100 and 300 feet. That's on top of the usual lens focus limiting switches. It helps greatly with avoiding background focusing while a bird flies through your frame.
@@ikoknyphausen198 That's not on top, the limitter only works when the lens is not limitted from the switches. It's one way, or the other, but not both.
I am living in Auckland, New Zealand. I have been not using my film camera for not less than 20 years, because of the increasing photographers using digital camera and photoshop because of this reasons i give up my hobby, until I have watching your episode it renewed my interest. In the meantime I have preparing to buy a digital camera. In my country we have a lot of species birds and they are very friendly to people.
My longest lens is a 70-200 zoom, but that doesn't stop me from getting some really nice shots. My favorite bird to photograph is the Song Sparrow. I am able to call them into my back yard (which is really quite fun in itself). Then they come in really close to me for some beautiful poses. I live in Oregon, USA.
Thanks for a great show. I love Mountain Blue Birds Osprey and a soft spot for female mallards. I leave my IS on. Still a beginner but love learning. Calgary Alberta Canada.
Great advice on taking bird pictures. I am very new to it and and it very fun. My favorite bird to photograph is the Belted Kingfisher. I live in Milton, Washington, USA.
I very rarely turn my IS off for birds or any other photography I do. Great information and I enjoy your videos very much! My favorite birds to photograph are bald eagles. I live in Lee's Summit, MO in the US.
Fabulous, i just purchased the canon r5 and really appreciate the info on set up for taking photos of birds in flight...thankyou so much, i have learned a lot just watching and i have loved to take photos of birds. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and i love going to the local park, photgraph ducks, seagulls, chickadees, and squirrels...and everything else. Most fav...chickadees! Thankyou so much for posting this utube...I very much appreciate all the tips you have given and using the R5 focusing system. Thankyou!!
I’m in Victoria, Australia. I quite enjoy photographing rainbow bee-eaters. They have beautiful colours and an impressive ability to dive and catch bees in mid air. Quite amazing to watch and always an enjoyable challenge to capture!
Great episode on flight photography. My favorite bird to photograph is the Great Horned Owl although I normal get him stationary and have got no good flight shots. I live in Dubuque, IA along the mighty Mississippi River.
Thanks for the tips and lovely shots. I live in Raleigh NC, and my favorite flying birds around here are bald eagles and great blue herons,. To the east, we get snow geese, tundra swans, and a variety of ducks.
As always a great video, greatly enjoyed. My favorite bird to photograph in coastal North Carolina has to be the Painted Bunting a truly beautiful bird. It looks like a artists palette of colors.
This is my first time and I really enjoyed the video. I love photographing Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and they are generally slower than the birds you mentioned in your video. I live in Adelaide, South Australia.
Great episode! I leave IS on always. I love shooting Osprey and bald Eagles from my boat but have been unsuccessful in a dive shot as of yet. I live in Alberta and spend allot of time in BC camping and fishing.
Hi guys, my favorite bird to capture in flight is the Osprey. Enjoying the R5 with the 800mm. So fun to shoot with. Thank you for all the tips. I’m in Tennessee. Hope to win a book.
My question: which IS mode for BIF? Many telephoto lenses now have Mode 1 (all directions), Mode 2 (Y axis only), and Mode 3 (IS during exposure only). Common advice is to use Mode 2, but if the bird is approaching you or flying overhead from in front, I'm not sure it will work well. Another observation: you guys both shoot with R5s. 45 MP leaves lots of crop room for distant flying birds. That swallow photo looks like it was cropped to about 10 MP and it still retains lots of detail. If you're starting with only 20-24 MP you need to get a lot closer, or use a longer lens, or both to achieve similar results. I live in New York City and my favorite birds are yellow warblers and any kind of raptor. Thanks.
I always use Mode 1. Especially when you are handholding you'd still have a lot of vertical movement, too. And even on a tripod, birds still go up and down. I envision mode 2 to be more for something like cars driving past you with the same speed and distance all the time.
@@jan_wegener Thanks, I had the very same question. I also keep IS always on, and always on mode 1. But I kept this mode basically due to lack of experimenting. Nice to learn I should rather focus on other tricks I can pick up from your videos ! My favorite bird would be the red wing (plus the jays and great spotted woodpeckers who both frequent my garden). Sadly I live somewhere where an R5 costs about 1000 Euros more than the places where you're able to win a book with a picture made by Glenn on the cover :-P
I live in Poulsbo, Washington State, USA. Wow, 'Favorite Bird'? THAT's a moving target for sure, but at the moment it would be an Elegant Trogon. A beautiful and somewhat difficult bird for me to get a photograph of. It took a few years of going back to the same spot (a specific tree with berries on it that the bird was fond of) in Madera Canyon, Arizona. My favorite due to the effort it took over time for the most part. I enjoy both of your channels. Cheers, Wally...
I did get some nice shots Jan, thanks for asking. My favorite was inflight, with a berry in it’s beak and branches of the tree / bush above it. I was lucky… but prepared.
My favourite bird in flight is the Great Gray Owl, White Rock, B.C., Canada. Practice is mandatory, I shoot gulls and crows from my balcony to keep my skills up.
Great video. What I learned is to try to adjust the focus mode (more to the left?). My X-T3 with the 70-300 is slow already but here in Phoenix, Arizona; the Lucifer hummingbirds (purple throated) like to "buzz" my face then hover for one to two seconds to taunt me to get the right shot. I could swear i hear them laughing at me as they fly away knowing I missed the ultimate shot. 🤬 Maybe playing with those AF modes will solve this. I'm sure that winning that book will inspire me to be more motivated to get better at my birds in flight technique. 😉
haha! It can be like that sometimes. Makes you wonder if the birds in fact know what we're up to. The Af settings will vary between camera brands, but I guess the general idea is that we don't want an AF that's hectic and searching all the time.
Enjoyed the vid guys. This image stabiliser on or off thing really infuriates me. The way these photographers don't have a basic grasp of the physics involved. Its exactly how you said, Jan. At such high shutter speeds the amount of incorrect motion capable of causing blur would have to be MASSIVE to render any softness, and you're looking at a more stabilised, not less, image in the viewfinder! So it just can't be happening!. Quite the opposite! I've never been stupid enough to turn off the stabiliser - ever. And I have no issues with my results. A mate has the old Canon 400mm f5.6, a very sharp, but unstabilised, lens , and when we go shooting he is clearly up against it compared to the results my stabilised 100-400 gets. So yep agree with you 100% , and really, there's no argument about it. As always, we have to be really careful on the net when it comes to others so called advice.
Thanks for sharing this insight Mark :) It just make no sense that hand shake would be negated by shutter speed, but the sensor/IS movement wouldn't. Since this is a very old argument, one can't even argue that potentially rolling shutter and read out speed plays a role, since the DSLRs didn't really have that. Cause I suppose on a mirrorless cam, that can cause some effects on the image
Thanks guys, great tips 👍🏻 I’m in New York City and I love when the Ospreys come back north to breed… These raptors are my personal favorite because they are just so busy & committed to snatching that fish it can see. They work hard for their food!! Also I think best to leave IS on
This has been the best video I have seen for bird in flight. The first that I have seen that explains why you want settings or conditions. I live in Wilmington, Delaware US. My favorite birds to photograph in flight really depends on the season, in late winter it would be ducks, early spring the Tree Swallow are great fun, in the summer the Peregrine Falcons in the city start training the young and in the late fall early winter the Bald Eagles usually become very active.
Hey guys, awesome video. I live in North Carolina, USA and enjoy taking images of Cardinals, Blue Jays and have recently started practicing BIF photography. Thanks for the video and for the opportunity to win a book. Cheers! 🍺
Great video and helpful! My favorite bird in flight in the Bald Eagle. My second favorite is the Snow Geese. I've never been able to get a Pileated Woodpecker in flight but I love the pair that hang around my suet feeder. I'm from Pennsylvania in the United States.
Great video. I always leave IS on. But if I need to do long exposure like several seconds, I will turn off IS. I live in California, USA. I like flight shots of male hummingbird.
Excellent discussion. I leave the lens IS on at all times because I too sometimes forget to turn it back on--and I don't notice any problem with image quality. I very recently started photographing hummingbirds--talk about erratic flight! Thank goodness for bird AF. I'm not very good at birds in flight, but I like to practice on the ubiquitous Canada geese in my Maryland neighborhood.
I live in Kansas and my favorite bird to photograph is the resplendent cancel.Once again, really enjoyed your show and I always enjoy hearing your tips on photography. Thanks so much!
I always leave IS on. Never had any problems and I asked the Reps from Olympus this question and their answer is the same as mine. My favourite bird is the Rainbow Lorikeet. They are readily accessible along the Yarra River near my home in Kew in Melbourne's inner east.
Another great show guys l mainly shoot shorebirds here in Victoria but my favorite bird which l rarely get the chance to shoot is the Kingfisher, any variety except the common Kookaburra [sorry Kookaburra], by the way well done on getting the cover shot Glen sure it will be a great pictorial book.
I’ve really enjoyed both of your channels, and was thrilled to see the Bird Show collaboration from two of my favorite bird gurus! I live in Port Orchard WA, USA, and have been practicing my BIF skills for 8 years now. I wish I could say I was better than I am but still have my issues. Once in a while I pull off some great shots. Glenn, your swallow shots are most excellent. I recently upgraded to a R5 with a 600 f4 hanging off it and although I can swing it pretty well, struggle like crazy trying to get decent swallow shots. Your suggestion to shoot at 3200 to 5000 shutter speed caught me by surprise. I rarely shoot above 2000. Perhaps thats my problem. Thanks! I’d love to meet you some time and perhaps attend one of your more local workshops. Cheers!
1/2000 at 600mm and you moving is not enough most of the time. I think you might see things improve if you aim for higher speeds. Other than that, swallows with a 600 is always a tough task and I bet even Glenn had thousands of missed shots
Always worth watching and learning about bird photography. I'm in Melbourne, Australia and I think my favourite bird to photograph has to be the Black Shouldered Kite. I certainly struggle with birds in flight.
This video is excellent. I like the emphasis on set up, technique skills training, and practice. The Swallow images are testament to this diligent approach. Good set of tips at the end. Highly recommended.
Such great information. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. My favourite bird at the moment is the Pardalote. They are nesting in the slopes around my garden here in Kooralbyn Queensland. I have taken lots of notes from your video and will go out and practice. So relieved about the IS setting, Thanks again
This is the best episode yet with really good info for both novice and very experienced BIF photographers. Also, you guys are now very comfortable talking interactively across thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean waves. I live on Cape Cod, Massachusetts that is great for BIF during spring and fall migrations. My favorite birds to photograph are raptors with Ospreys and Bald Eagles being the most dramatic, but there are many resident RedTails, Coopers, Sharp-shinned hawks as well. For falcons, we have more Merlins that Peregrines passing through. I have been lucky enough to win the best nature print of the year (Eagles fighting over Salmon) and best nature image of the year (Prairie Falcon Strikes Prey) from two of the annual competitions held by New England Camera Club Association (62 clubs competing). Recently, after a nine month wait, I received an Olympus 150-400mm with 1.25X f/4.5 to mount on my Olympus M1X and. M1Mark iii. It is stabilized to 7+ stops and I always leave IS-Auto on. I am truly impressed with what Canon has achieved with its Bird AI tracking on the R5 and R6. Bravo Canon! Now Olympus needs to up its game with its M1X Bird AI tracking which works but lags.
Really good video. I’m probably late on the contest but I live in North America and my favorite little bird is the prothonotary warbler. Oh, IS on always.
Great video Jan & Glenn. I really like this approach to your videos. My favorite birds to photograph are owls. Any owl, just love these birds! I live in California.
Great info once again!! Thank you Jan and Glen. IS on at all times for me. I need all the help I can get. My favorite birds to capture is the one in front of me since i'm so new at wildlife. My best accomplishment with BIF is the Tree Swallow. Fast skittish erratic in flight these birds are but I've managed (with luck) to get a few focused shots due to my determination. I'm using the R6 w/ Sigma 150-600mm . As you know this lens is not an RF lens so it makes tracking and focusing very difficult. Cheers from Southern California!!!
I really enjoy these videos and there are great tips in this one. My favorite birds to photograph - too many, but Bald Eagles along the Iowa River in winter, Trumpeter Swans in the fall, and this summer I spent many wonderful hours with a relative rarity in Iowa - Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. Yes, I live in Iowa.
Great tips living in central Florida it’s difficult to choose a favorite bird to photograph because there’s so many species, I’d have to say any raptor, eagles or kites.
Thanks for a great show. Right up my alley as I do a lot of BIF and swallow IF shooting in the Victoria BC area. I do agree with all the points Jan brought up about leaving IS/OSS/VR On. That said, over the past couple years I have started to leave mine OFF once at 1/2500 or faster. Especially for more erratic birds like our VG swallows. I certainly can't prove that it helps, but I just feel there is less micro blur in the catchlight with it OFF. Still, I shot with it On all the time with Canon DSLRs and Nikon DSLRs. And have shot with it ON on the R5, A9, A1 and still have success. So probably in the end it doesn't matter all that much which way one chooses. Question for Glenn....wondering if you are willing to share that VG swallow location you were at this spring? I've done most of my VG shots at the Swan Lake bridge "D" section. But that spot you showed in the video looked promising. I'm always looking for new locations and have only been in the Victoria area for 3 years. For the giveaway, I'm in North Saanich, BC, Canada. Hard to pick a favourite but these days I'd actually say Violet-green Swallows in flight are my favourite subject to photograph because of the challenge and the rewarding feeling when you get one banking in good light and the green/violet is on full display. 2nd place would have to go to Short-Eared Owls on the mainland in November.
@@GlennBartley Thanks for the reply. That is strange I didn’t recognize it. I shoot there a lot and have shot swallows there sometimes. Now I look back on the video and know exactly where you were standing. DOH.
Really useful video thanks guys! It was interesting to hear your thoughts on IS. I was curious as to whether you use mode 2 (Canon) when panning? I was shooting BIF at 1/3200s and I found that sharpness improved after I switched from mode 1 to 2. I'm wondering if the all-direction stabilisation affects stability when panning. There doesn't seem to be much discussion on this area.
Another great video with super tips.. thank you both... looking forward to the next one!!!! My favorite bird - Painted Bunting and I live in Dallas, TX, USA
Thanks Jan & Glen for a great video on flight photography and I personally really did appreciate all the splendid tips you both gave, and I always leave my IS on!
Great tutorial on birds in flight photography. The best I’ve viewed yet and especially relevant since i have moved from Canon 5D III to R5 at the beginning of this year. The swallows are astounding. My favorite birds to photo are raptors in particular ospreys with waterfowl being a close second. Thank you for the great instruction. Two thumbs up for sure.
Am just starting out in bird photography, so your effort in detailing the 'how to' and giving tips is much appreciated. It's really an amazing subspecialty. We have raptures here that seem to have a set time of day for circling over our fields. Am aiming my camera walks to try to catch them gliding over head. Alot harder than I originally imagined! So your series had been great.
Hi Jan & Glenn, been following your videos for quite a while and have learned many tips & skills from both of you on birds in flight. So glad that the latest mirrorless cameras are making birds in flight easier. My favourite bird in flight is the Bee Eater where they do their area hunt for insects in flight. Keep up the great work. Thanks!
Just new to it all. Pelicans are big beautiful and slow.
Yes, they can be great subjects to learn the techniques
Definitely good ones to practice on!
Hi Jan and Glenn.
One of your best sessions ever. My longest lens is the RF 100-500 mm, but It's so useful to listen closely to your advices. Good points concerning keeping IS on and settings of focusing.
Wonderful shots of these beautiful swallows!
Regarding the book I unfortunately live in Denmark 🙃, but to answer your question, I don't have any favourite bird to photograp. I enjoy sparrows as well as birds of prey. They call for different techniques.
Thanks for your chat and advices.
Regards from Jan, DK
Cheers! Thanks for watching.
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the show
Another great episode, I leave the IS on as I would always forget to turn it on if it was off. I remember using the focus limiter for the first time years ago and I forgot to switch it back. Next session with waders I thought my camera/lens was broken as it wouldn't focus :-) Cheers, Duade
Cheers Duade. Thanks so much for watching.
Yes, that’s always the danger of changing things you normally don’t touch. Thanks mate
When that happens it makes one's mood more unstable......
Watch your channel as well Duade, keep up the good work. Been there done that with my focus limiter too!
@@BIGNatureBoy Thanks Bruce, yes, did it a few times :-)
Thanks guys, great tips as always. Common nighthawk. Great Basin Desert, Nevada.
Our pleasure!
My favorite bird to photograph is the Belted Kingfisher. I live in Toronto. Thanks for a great upload gentlemen!
Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wonderful wonderful video
Thank you! Cheers!
A couple of points on IS:
- If you are using a red-dot site turn IS off or the bore-sight vs sensor alignment can skew by a large fraction of the frame when panning - something like 1/4 to 1/3 on my G9.
- When panning rapidly, the IS can't possibly help in the direction you are panning, but it can hit the end stop and keep trying to reset unless the camera is smart enough to turn it off automatically. My G9 induced small "microblurs" if I left it on
Very good gentlemen. My favorites are Cedar Waxwings and Northern Harriers. I live in Oregon.
Was just watching some waxwings this afternoon. Beauties!
Thanks for sharing, much appreciated
Excellent tutelage on this most difficult photography challenge. My quick tip, choose large raptors gliding, or big water birds flying sluggishly in a straight line. If you must go for something smaller, a Nankeen Kestrel hovering is a good bet. I live on Wurrundjeri and Boonwurrung lands of the Kulin Nation and my favourite bird to photograph is the little jewel, the pardelote.
Yes, slower birds help creating the necessary skills for sure
Great birds to start on for sure. And gulls!
Great advice and nothing to add. Here in the Northeast of the U.S. I have a lot of fun with Terns in the summer but also like photographing other shorebirds, sea ducks and raptors in flight. As for IS, if the shutter speed is very high, I sometimes turn it off for BIF, but leave it on most of the time. I don't use a tripod for flying birds, I would lose the flexibility to make quick changes if necessary.
Cheers Axel!
Thanks for sharing! :)
I enjoy photographing most birds, but primarily birds of prey. Southern Alberta, Canada.
Awesome Shauna!
Nice!
You NAILED IT, Glen! Like with NIN nailed! Jaw-dropping!
Eastern Osprey, Such majestic and finely tuned killing machines .Perth ,Western Australia
Great birds for sure
@@jan_wegener Really enjoy your videos, I'd be lost without them, cameras are so complex these days!
@@godfreytanner1557 Great to hear and happy I can help
One more for team Osprey!
Bird Track is for beginners thats why I use it.
You are a rock star in the world photography
My camera has a huge buffer
IS always on 😎🔥
same :)
I live in Washington. The great northwest has so many birds to choose from because of the large migrations going South to North and back. I love them all. But, I would say my local bird favorites would be the Eagle and Ospreys. I'm still new, and just started photographing birds in flight. I keep IS on my one and only 600 Lens. Never saw any problems that would bring me to turn it off. Swallows are on my list to try and photograph. I've seen 4 types of swallows here this summer. You have got me hyped now on swallows!! I have learned so much from Jan's videos and I have shared them with my friends. Sorry Glenn, I've been watching Jan for about a year and half and I haven't seen you before. But, I will definitely check your videos out now! This was an excellent tutorial from both of you. Thanks for setting up the Time stamps so I could go back to certain sections and watch them again and again!
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment.
Everyone loves an Osprey :)
Glad you like our content :)
Great tips once again. I always have IS on as it's easier to track the birds. I shoot with an Olympus EM1-X and it has an in camera AF limiter that you can set to whatever you wish, which is normally 20-80 metres for BIF. Tracking birds is the hardest part IMHO, so I've just got an Olympus dot sight to try out. I live in Maroochydore, QLD, Australia and my favourite bird to photograph would be the Forest Kingfisher in flight. They're a real challenge to get.
Thanks for sharing, I find it easier to track with IS as well. Forest KFs are awesome!
Olympus definitely has some cool features!
Alot of great information - thank you. Fav bird to photograph - The Cardinal in Vestal NY
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is one of the best explanations of this topic that I have ever seen. Thank you. Also, it’s nice that you represent both hemispheres. (I am looking at Victoria from across the Strait - in Port Angeles.). Thanks again for the great content.
You are welcome Sandra!
Great to hear that Sandra
Favorite Bird - Rainbow Lorikeet in 1 Smith Lane, Toowoomba 4350 Australia
That is a real beauty!
awesome birds, got some here as well!
Thanks, very interesting and nicely done, especially the virtual dual desk. With my Olympus camera I don’t use the highest framerates, because that just shuffles way too many files to the SD card. For me, 20 or sometimes 30 fps seems to be enough, even for starting song birds. By the way, Olympus‘ pre-buffering function (ProCapture) is very handy to not miss the right moment. Maybe Canon‘s or Sony‘s recent models have something similar, I don’t know.
They don't have it, but it would be a great addition!
@@jan_wegener I also shoot an Olympus OMD MK3 in addition to the Canon R6, and one of the most valuable features is the focus limiting at the distant end. You can set the camera to only focus between 100 and 300 feet. That's on top of the usual lens focus limiting switches. It helps greatly with avoiding background focusing while a bird flies through your frame.
@@ikoknyphausen198 That's not on top, the limitter only works when the lens is not limitted from the switches. It's one way, or the other, but not both.
superb discussion.. continue these discussions
that's the plan, thank you!
soooooo useful...thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Great tips guys, I love taking photos of small birds, swallows and robins..i live in qld, australia.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for all the great info. Love photographing the Redish Egrets! The are so animated when they hunt for fish in the shallow waters. Florida here.
Yes! They're amazing when they fish!
Good pick!
Great episode guys! I live in Nova Scotia Canada. My Fav bird to photograph would be Canada Warbler or Kingfisher!
Good pick. I love Canada Warblers!
Those are nice birds for sure
Fanrastic episode...you nailed it man c
Cheers!
Thanks!
Leave IS on - always. My favorite bird is the Red Billed Tropicbird, found along the east coast of Oahu, Hawaii, USA
Ya those guys are stunners! I photographed them on Tobago many years ago :-)
Nice! Thanks for sharing
Lot's of good advice here! I never turn my IS off - Olympus user.
Glad you liked it!
Awesome episode... I always leave IS on for the second reason that Jan mentioned, I often forget to turn it on again!
That is indeed logical!
hehe! Better safe than sorry :D
One of the best informative blogs on flight Photography I've seen.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you! Glad you liked it
Very Many thanx for the wonderful Tips. .....Warm greetings from India...
Glad you liked them :)
I am living in Auckland, New Zealand. I have been not using my film camera for not less than 20 years, because of the
increasing photographers using digital camera and photoshop because of this reasons i give up my hobby, until I have
watching your episode it renewed my interest. In the meantime I have preparing to buy a digital camera. In my country
we have a lot of species birds and they are very friendly to people.
Great to hear :)
Great episode. My favorite bird to photograph is the Eastern Bluebird. I live in Georgia, USA.
A beauty. I have yet to get great shots of them.
Thanks! That’s such a cool little bird
My longest lens is a 70-200 zoom, but that doesn't stop me from getting some really nice shots.
My favorite bird to photograph is the Song Sparrow. I am able to call them into my back yard (which is really quite fun in itself). Then they come in really close to me for some beautiful poses.
I live in Oregon, USA.
That's awesome and a great example that you don't need a crazy lens when using the right techniques
Lot of good information! I live in Washington State and my favorite bird to photograph is the Pileated Woodpecker.
Nice. I love Pileated's too.
Thanks! That’s an awesome bird
Thanks for a great show. I love Mountain Blue Birds Osprey and a soft spot for female mallards. I leave my IS on. Still a beginner but love learning. Calgary Alberta Canada.
Thanks Heather!
Our pleasure!
Outstanding as always-I live in Whistler, BC and the Osprey is my favourite bird.
Thanks for sharing Liz
Thanks for letting us know Liz.
Great advice on taking bird pictures. I am very new to it and and it very fun. My favorite bird to photograph is the Belted Kingfisher. I live in Milton, Washington, USA.
The ol' Kingfisher. Always challenge!
That’s nice birds! Glad we could help you with the video
Favorite bird is sparrows, I live in Michigan thanks for great video.
Nice, thanks for watching
I very rarely turn my IS off for birds or any other photography I do. Great information and I enjoy your videos very much! My favorite birds to photograph are bald eagles. I live in Lee's Summit, MO in the US.
Cheers Art!
Thanks! Same here
Man both the geniuses together... awesome to watch this from India... Glenn and Jan we love you guys here and are big fans of your photography..
Thanks man!
Great! video again....some great tips ill bring in the field....Thanks...
Cheers Rene!
Great to hear!
Fabulous, i just purchased the canon r5 and really appreciate the info on set up for taking photos of birds in flight...thankyou so much, i have learned a lot just watching and i have loved to take photos of birds. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and i love going to the local park, photgraph ducks, seagulls, chickadees, and squirrels...and everything else. Most fav...chickadees! Thankyou so much for posting this utube...I very much appreciate all the tips you have given and using the R5 focusing system. Thankyou!!
I’m in Victoria, Australia. I quite enjoy photographing rainbow bee-eaters. They have beautiful colours and an impressive ability to dive and catch bees in mid air. Quite amazing to watch and always an enjoyable challenge to capture!
Ya those guys are stunners!!
Yep, bee-eaters are awesome!
Great video, guys. Recently discovered the Australasian Darter at a local lake. Beautiful bird. Berwick, Victoria, Australia.
Ha, I have photographed them in Berwick before myself :)
@@jan_wegener Berwick Springs Lake
@@johnbyrne444 exactly
Cheers John!
Great episode on flight photography. My favorite bird to photograph is the Great Horned Owl although I normal get him stationary and have got no good flight shots. I live in Dubuque, IA along the mighty Mississippi River.
Thanks for sharing Kenneth.
Glad you enjoyed it. That's a cool owl for sure
Great episode. My fav bird to photographe is great blue heron and i am from Toronto, Canada.
Thanks for watching 😀
Thanks for the tips and lovely shots. I live in Raleigh NC, and my favorite flying birds around here are bald eagles and great blue herons,. To the east, we get snow geese, tundra swans, and a variety of ducks.
Very informative information
Glad you think so!
Glad you enjoyed it!
As always a great video, greatly enjoyed. My favorite bird to photograph in coastal North Carolina has to be the Painted Bunting a truly beautiful bird. It looks like a artists palette of colors.
Ya that's a beauty for sure!
Yes, that's one awesome bird. I fell lucky I got some shots in texas many years ago
Great tips on importance of prefocusing and use of image stabilization at high shutter speeds
Glad you enjoyed the episode!
Thank you 😊
This is my first time and I really enjoyed the video. I love photographing Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and they are generally slower than the birds you mentioned in your video. I live in Adelaide, South Australia.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Glad you enjoyed the show!
Great episode! I leave IS on always. I love shooting Osprey and bald Eagles from my boat but have been unsuccessful in a dive shot as of yet. I live in Alberta and spend allot of time in BC camping and fishing.
Awesome Monte!
I hope you will get the shot you're after soon! A diving Osprey is pretty fast!
What an amazing show
Thank you!
Cheers!
Hi guys, my favorite bird to capture in flight is the Osprey. Enjoying the R5 with the 800mm. So fun to shoot with. Thank you for all the tips. I’m in Tennessee. Hope to win a book.
Ospreys are definitely the fan favourite!
@@GlennBartley trying to make a good capture of a hummingbird, any tips?
Nice combo! Lots of love for Ospreys in the comments
Very good as ever guys, keep it up!
Thank you! Will do!
My question: which IS mode for BIF? Many telephoto lenses now have Mode 1 (all directions), Mode 2 (Y axis only), and Mode 3 (IS during exposure only). Common advice is to use Mode 2, but if the bird is approaching you or flying overhead from in front, I'm not sure it will work well.
Another observation: you guys both shoot with R5s. 45 MP leaves lots of crop room for distant flying birds. That swallow photo looks like it was cropped to about 10 MP and it still retains lots of detail. If you're starting with only 20-24 MP you need to get a lot closer, or use a longer lens, or both to achieve similar results.
I live in New York City and my favorite birds are yellow warblers and any kind of raptor. Thanks.
I always use Mode 1. Especially when you are handholding you'd still have a lot of vertical movement, too. And even on a tripod, birds still go up and down. I envision mode 2 to be more for something like cars driving past you with the same speed and distance all the time.
I use mode 1 all the time.
Definitely a high megapixel full frame body was ideal for this shoot!
Yes, hard to beat the higher mpix for this kind of stuff
@@jan_wegener Thanks, I had the very same question. I also keep IS always on, and always on mode 1. But I kept this mode basically due to lack of experimenting. Nice to learn I should rather focus on other tricks I can pick up from your videos !
My favorite bird would be the red wing (plus the jays and great spotted woodpeckers who both frequent my garden). Sadly I live somewhere where an R5 costs about 1000 Euros more than the places where you're able to win a book with a picture made by Glenn on the cover :-P
@@WernerBirdNature haha! :D
I live in Poulsbo, Washington State, USA. Wow, 'Favorite Bird'? THAT's a moving target for sure, but at the moment it would be an Elegant Trogon. A beautiful and somewhat difficult bird for me to get a photograph of. It took a few years of going back to the same spot (a specific tree with berries on it that the bird was fond of) in Madera Canyon, Arizona. My favorite due to the effort it took over time for the most part. I enjoy both of your channels. Cheers, Wally...
Great persistence Wally!
That's a lot of dedication! Did you end up getting some nice shots?
I did get some nice shots Jan, thanks for asking. My favorite was inflight, with a berry in it’s beak and branches of the tree / bush above it. I was lucky… but prepared.
@@hamptonblues nice!
My favourite bird in flight is the Great Gray Owl, White Rock, B.C., Canada. Practice is mandatory, I shoot gulls and crows from my balcony to keep my skills up.
Good idea to keep the skills sharp!
Good practice will help in those critical situations
Great video. What I learned is to try to adjust the focus mode (more to the left?). My X-T3 with the 70-300 is slow already but here in Phoenix, Arizona; the Lucifer hummingbirds (purple throated) like to "buzz" my face then hover for one to two seconds to taunt me to get the right shot. I could swear i hear them laughing at me as they fly away knowing I missed the ultimate shot. 🤬 Maybe playing with those AF modes will solve this. I'm sure that winning that book will inspire me to be more motivated to get better at my birds in flight technique. 😉
Cheers and thanks for the comments!
haha! It can be like that sometimes. Makes you wonder if the birds in fact know what we're up to. The Af settings will vary between camera brands, but I guess the general idea is that we don't want an AF that's hectic and searching all the time.
I love ALL birds. I follow a lot of your tips already, but I loved seeing how you chose shutter speed as the most important. I totally agree!!!! Thx!
Awesome, thank you!
Enjoyed the vid guys. This image stabiliser on or off thing really infuriates me. The way these photographers don't have a basic grasp of the physics involved. Its exactly how you said, Jan. At such high shutter speeds the amount of incorrect motion capable of causing blur would have to be MASSIVE to render any softness, and you're looking at a more stabilised, not less, image in the viewfinder! So it just can't be happening!. Quite the opposite! I've never been stupid enough to turn off the stabiliser - ever. And I have no issues with my results. A mate has the old Canon 400mm f5.6, a very sharp, but unstabilised, lens , and when we go shooting he is clearly up against it compared to the results my stabilised 100-400 gets. So yep agree with you 100% , and really, there's no argument about it. As always, we have to be really careful on the net when it comes to others so called advice.
Thanks for sharing this insight Mark :)
It just make no sense that hand shake would be negated by shutter speed, but the sensor/IS movement wouldn't. Since this is a very old argument, one can't even argue that potentially rolling shutter and read out speed plays a role, since the DSLRs didn't really have that. Cause I suppose on a mirrorless cam, that can cause some effects on the image
Thanks guys, great tips 👍🏻 I’m in New York City and I love when the Ospreys come back north to breed… These raptors are my personal favorite because they are just so busy & committed to snatching that fish it can see. They work hard for their food!! Also I think best to leave IS on
Yes, they’re awesome birds!
Thanks John!
This has been the best video I have seen for bird in flight. The first that I have seen that explains why you want settings or conditions. I live in Wilmington, Delaware US. My favorite birds to photograph in flight really depends on the season, in late winter it would be ducks, early spring the Tree Swallow are great fun, in the summer the Peregrine Falcons in the city start training the young and in the late fall early winter the Bald Eagles usually become very active.
Thanks David. Some great birdlife in your area!
Excellent, never had anyone mention about pumping the back button focus until now
You missed out then :D Thanks!
Hey guys, awesome video. I live in North Carolina, USA and enjoy taking images of Cardinals, Blue Jays and have recently started practicing BIF photography. Thanks for the video and for the opportunity to win a book. Cheers! 🍺
Thanks for sharing Jim
Thanks for tuning in!
Great video and helpful! My favorite bird in flight in the Bald Eagle. My second favorite is the Snow Geese. I've never been able to get a Pileated Woodpecker in flight but I love the pair that hang around my suet feeder. I'm from Pennsylvania in the United States.
Thank you! Some awesome birds in your area!
Awesome video. You have addressed all of the most burning issues in my mind with the R5 and 600mm lens. Thank you gentlemen.
Our pleasure!
Great video. I always leave IS on. But if I need to do long exposure like several seconds, I will turn off IS. I live in California, USA. I like flight shots of male hummingbird.
That's a great point about long exposures. A rare scenario for birds. But yes you would definitely want it off for those!
@@GlennBartley I do long exposure for landscape only.
Yes, for long exposure on a tripod it needs to be off
Excellent discussion. I leave the lens IS on at all times because I too sometimes forget to turn it back on--and I don't notice any problem with image quality. I very recently started photographing hummingbirds--talk about erratic flight! Thank goodness for bird AF. I'm not very good at birds in flight, but I like to practice on the ubiquitous Canada geese in my Maryland neighborhood.
Most hummingbird shots are from near feeders where they stay in one spot for a second or two :D
Nice vid, thanks.
Glad you liked it!
Cheers!
Very informative and useful video. Thank you! :)
Cheers!
Thanks :)
I live in Kansas and my favorite bird to photograph is the resplendent cancel.Once again, really enjoyed your show and I always enjoy hearing your tips on photography. Thanks so much!
Thank you very much!
I always leave IS on. Never had any problems and I asked the Reps from Olympus this question and their answer is the same as mine. My favourite bird is the Rainbow Lorikeet. They are readily accessible along the Yarra River near my home in Kew in Melbourne's inner east.
Yes, I got some in my tiny yard as well, awesome birds!
Good to hear!
Another great show guys l mainly shoot shorebirds here in Victoria but my favorite bird which l rarely get the chance to shoot is the Kingfisher, any variety except the common Kookaburra [sorry Kookaburra], by the way well done on getting the cover shot Glen sure it will be a great pictorial book.
It's a really nice book!
Haha! Poor kookaburra. Thanks for sharing Scott
I’ve really enjoyed both of your channels, and was thrilled to see the Bird Show collaboration from two of my favorite bird gurus! I live in Port Orchard WA, USA, and have been practicing my BIF skills for 8 years now. I wish I could say I was better than I am but still have my issues. Once in a while I pull off some great shots. Glenn, your swallow shots are most excellent. I recently upgraded to a R5 with a 600 f4 hanging off it and although I can swing it pretty well, struggle like crazy trying to get decent swallow shots. Your suggestion to shoot at 3200 to 5000 shutter speed caught me by surprise. I rarely shoot above 2000. Perhaps thats my problem. Thanks! I’d love to meet you some time and perhaps attend one of your more local workshops. Cheers!
Would be great to have you up to Victoria some time for a shoot. Cheers!
1/2000 at 600mm and you moving is not enough most of the time. I think you might see things improve if you aim for higher speeds. Other than that, swallows with a 600 is always a tough task and I bet even Glenn had thousands of missed shots
Always worth watching and learning about bird photography. I'm in Melbourne, Australia and I think my favourite bird to photograph has to be the Black Shouldered Kite. I certainly struggle with birds in flight.
Thanks for sharing Allan!
Nice pick, thanks for watching Allan
This video is excellent. I like the emphasis on set up, technique skills training, and practice. The Swallow images are testament to this diligent approach. Good set of tips at the end. Highly recommended.
Thank you very much!
ON!
:)
Such great information. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. My favourite bird at the moment is the Pardalote. They are nesting in the slopes around my garden here in Kooralbyn Queensland. I have taken lots of notes from your video and will go out and practice. So relieved about the IS setting, Thanks again
Yes, Pardalotes are awesome. Glad you liked the video
This is the best episode yet with really good info for both novice and very experienced BIF photographers. Also, you guys are now very comfortable talking interactively across thousands of miles of the Pacific Ocean waves. I live on Cape Cod, Massachusetts that is great for BIF during spring and fall migrations. My favorite birds to photograph are raptors with Ospreys and Bald Eagles being the most dramatic, but there are many resident RedTails, Coopers, Sharp-shinned hawks as well. For falcons, we have more Merlins that Peregrines passing through. I have been lucky enough to win the best nature print of the year (Eagles fighting over Salmon) and best nature image of the year (Prairie Falcon Strikes Prey) from two of the annual competitions held by New England Camera Club Association (62 clubs competing). Recently, after a nine month wait, I received an Olympus 150-400mm with 1.25X f/4.5 to mount on my Olympus M1X and. M1Mark iii. It is stabilized to 7+ stops and I always leave IS-Auto on. I am truly impressed with what Canon has achieved with its Bird AI tracking on the R5 and R6. Bravo Canon! Now Olympus needs to up its game with its M1X Bird AI tracking which works but lags.
Thank you!
That Olympus lens looks very nice!
Cheers Jon!
Really good video. I’m probably late on the contest but I live in North America and my favorite little bird is the prothonotary warbler. Oh, IS on always.
Great video Jan & Glenn. I really like this approach to your videos.
My favorite birds to photograph are owls. Any owl, just love these birds!
I live in California.
Thanks Mark!
Thanks Mark! Owls are awesome
From Australia. Loving bird photography. Learning too.
Really interesting.
Awesome, thank you!
Hey dude, i enjoy watching your videos while sipping my coffee and taking notes. Thanks.
Glad you like them!
Coffee and The Bird Photography Show = A Good Combo!
Great info once again!! Thank you Jan and Glen. IS on at all times for me. I need all the help I can get. My favorite birds to capture is the one in front of me since i'm so new at wildlife. My best accomplishment with BIF is the Tree Swallow. Fast skittish erratic in flight these birds are but I've managed (with luck) to get a few focused shots due to my determination. I'm using the R6 w/ Sigma 150-600mm . As you know this lens is not an RF lens so it makes tracking and focusing very difficult. Cheers from Southern California!!!
I really enjoy these videos and there are great tips in this one. My favorite birds to photograph - too many, but Bald Eagles along the Iowa River in winter, Trumpeter Swans in the fall, and this summer I spent many wonderful hours with a relative rarity in Iowa - Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. Yes, I live in Iowa.
Thanks for watching Diane!
Glad to hear you are liking the show.
Great tips living in central Florida it’s difficult to choose a favorite bird to photograph because there’s so many species, I’d have to say any raptor, eagles or kites.
My favorite bird has to be the Many-colored Rush Tyrant - probably because I never could get a decent shot of it. Michigan
That would indeed be a rarity in Michigan :-)
such a cool bird!
Thanks for a great show. Right up my alley as I do a lot of BIF and swallow IF shooting in the Victoria BC area. I do agree with all the points Jan brought up about leaving IS/OSS/VR On. That said, over the past couple years I have started to leave mine OFF once at 1/2500 or faster. Especially for more erratic birds like our VG swallows. I certainly can't prove that it helps, but I just feel there is less micro blur in the catchlight with it OFF. Still, I shot with it On all the time with Canon DSLRs and Nikon DSLRs. And have shot with it ON on the R5, A9, A1 and still have success. So probably in the end it doesn't matter all that much which way one chooses.
Question for Glenn....wondering if you are willing to share that VG swallow location you were at this spring? I've done most of my VG shots at the Swan Lake bridge "D" section. But that spot you showed in the video looked promising. I'm always looking for new locations and have only been in the Victoria area for 3 years.
For the giveaway, I'm in North Saanich, BC, Canada. Hard to pick a favourite but these days I'd actually say Violet-green Swallows in flight are my favourite subject to photograph because of the challenge and the rewarding feeling when you get one banking in good light and the green/violet is on full display. 2nd place would have to go to Short-Eared Owls on the mainland in November.
Yes, it might be one of those "whichever settings makes you feel better" cases. Since there are so many factors that affect flight shots.
Thanks for the thoughts Geoff. That spot was Panama Flats.
@@GlennBartley Thanks for the reply. That is strange I didn’t recognize it. I shoot there a lot and have shot swallows there sometimes. Now I look back on the video and know exactly where you were standing. DOH.
The type of photography i like but need more pics
Thanks for the video
Nice. Go get some more then :D
What a fantastic video. Thank you for having this conversation and handing out all of this advice!
You are welcome!
Our pleasure!
love the show I have learned lots . I live in New Mexico when I can catch them it would be the sandhill crane thanks again!
Really useful video thanks guys! It was interesting to hear your thoughts on IS. I was curious as to whether you use mode 2 (Canon) when panning? I was shooting BIF at 1/3200s and I found that sharpness improved after I switched from mode 1 to 2. I'm wondering if the all-direction stabilisation affects stability when panning. There doesn't seem to be much discussion on this area.
Another great video with super tips.. thank you both... looking forward to the next one!!!! My favorite bird - Painted Bunting and I live in Dallas, TX, USA
Our pleasure! Thank you
Vineeth, I have seen your images of painted bunting in facebook and Instagram..they are gorgeous 👌
@@santoshmahalik thank you!
Thanks Jan & Glen for a great video on flight photography and I personally really did appreciate all the splendid tips you both gave, and I always leave my IS on!
Thanks Dennis :)
Cheers Dennis!
Great tutorial on birds in flight photography. The best I’ve viewed yet and especially relevant since i have moved from Canon 5D III to R5 at the beginning of this year. The swallows are astounding. My favorite birds to photo are raptors in particular ospreys with waterfowl being a close second. Thank you for the great instruction. Two thumbs up for sure.
Cheers Bill!
Almost forgot. I always leave IS on.
Thanks Bill! :)
Am just starting out in bird photography, so your effort in detailing the 'how to' and giving tips is much appreciated. It's really an amazing subspecialty. We have raptures here that seem to have a set time of day for circling over our fields. Am aiming my camera walks to try to catch them gliding over head. Alot harder than I originally imagined! So your series had been great.
Awesome, thank you!
Hi Jan & Glenn, been following your videos for quite a while and have learned many tips & skills from both of you on birds in flight. So glad that the latest mirrorless cameras are making birds in flight easier. My favourite bird in flight is the Bee Eater where they do their area hunt for insects in flight. Keep up the great work. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing Richard
Awesome Richard!