Greetings from East TN

[grandjohn]

It has been some time since I have posted anything. My camera is the Canon T1i and my 2 lenses are the Tamron 18-270mm and the Tamron 90mm Macro. My main interests are nature, birds and Macro. The latter is getting somewhat difficult since it is very easy for an octogenarian to get down but difficult to get up. I am currently trying to define the uses of ALFocus vs AL Servo in bird shots. Anyone care to give examples for using these settings and which would be best.
Needless to say I am a great admirer of DPNow
Grandjohn

[Ian]

Re: Greetings from East TN

It has been some time since I have posted anything. My camera is the Canon T1i and my 2 lenses are the Tamron 18-270mm and the Tamron 90mm Macro. My main interests are nature, birds and Macro. The latter is getting somewhat difficult since it is very easy for an octogenarian to get down but difficult to get up. I am currently trying to define the uses of ALFocus vs AL Servo in bird shots. Anyone care to give examples for using these settings and which would be best.
Needless to say I am a great admirer of DPNow
Grandjohn

Hi Grandjohn and welcome to DPNow - and how is the weather out in (I believe) Tennessee?

The Rebel T1i is known on our side of the pond as the EOS-500D. I think you mean Ai focus and Ai Servo. Presumably you are wishing to photograph birds in flight, perhaps panning?

Ian

[grandjohn]

Re: Greetings from East TN

Hi Ian,
Yes, sorry for the mistype. Birds are a passion of mine. As for the weather, my azaleas are in full bloom, the dogwood about gone as are the redbud. Wild flowers have been quite a show for the last couple of weeks, on a short hike this week, there were trillium, phlox,Jack in the Pulpit, mandarin, and iris to name a few. Of course I have lived here for 60 years and think it is one of the beauty spots on this earth. As for flowers, ranks right up there with Britain in the spring.
grandjohn
Oh yes, which focus do you think best for birds?

[Ian]

Re: Greetings from East TN

Hi Ian,
Yes, sorry for the mistype. Birds are a passion of mine. As for the weather, my azaleas are in full bloom, the dogwood about gone as are the redbud. Wild flowers have been quite a show for the last couple of weeks, on a short hike this week, there were trillium, phlox,Jack in the Pulpit, mandarin, and iris to name a few. Of course I have lived here for 60 years and think it is one of the beauty spots on this earth. As for flowers, ranks right up there with Britain in the spring.
grandjohn
Oh yes, which focus do you think best for birds?

Some great names there

If you are photographing birds that are not moving around too much, on a feeder or perched on a branch, for example, standard single shot AF would be recommended. I might even suggest manual focus if you are using a tripod and the target is a feeder, where the subject distance won't change.

If you are tracking a bird in flight, it's worth considering the use of AI Servo mode as this continuously focuses and if the subject distance changes consistently it will try to predict the focus distance, which should improve accuracy.

AI Focus mode is a combination of single shot and Servo mode. When first focusing on the subject the system behaves like a single shot, but if the subject moves the system will switch to Servo mode.

I would highly recommend trying all the options for yourself. AI Focus mode sounds good on paper, but I see a lot of feedback that is negative about this mode, with the opinion that if you need Servo mode, just use Servo mode

Ian

[grandjohn]

Re: Greetings from East TN

THanks for the info Ian.
grandjohn

[Ian]

Re: Greetings from East TN

THanks for the info Ian.
grandjohn

It's my pleasure - please let us know how you get on with your bird photography and maybe post some results here and maybe in your free gallery space

Ian

[Jimindenver]

Re: Greetings from East TN

Welcome to the forum GrandJohn. It's great to see another macro shooter in our midst.

I understand fully about getting down but not back up, especially in macro where I may be down in one position for long periods trying to get close enough for a shot. Many times my mono pod has been needed to return to a standing position.

I look forward to seeing your shots.