Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

[Tordan58]

Yesterday afternoon I was fortunate to be at the right place as a meadow located in a natural reserve was mowed by the land owner. (Usually mowing is done early June, however as the site is a breeding area for waders they will wait until after the season is over.) Mowing always attracts Red Kites and Storks, I managed to get some close shots.

Sharing a sequence taken at 10 fps to demonstrate how much better the CAF version 3 is at maintaining focus. These pictures are cropped to 90% of the original full frames, distance to subject should be around 25 meters when as closest if I got the maths right. (Just to give you an idea). The conditions with evening sun in the back while Eastern wind were prevailing unfortunately meant tail wind so the birds are passing by at fast speed, more than I would have liked, at least 10 meters/second meaning even more challenging for the AF to keep track.

A close inspection of the photos at 100% shows that one is absolutely spot on, six have slight OOF however clearly acceptable for rendering on computer or web and two have visible OOF issues.

Thanks for looking
Tord

[Ian]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Which lens did you use? You're inspiring me to track down our local Red Kites; we see (and hear) them most days

No Storks though; we have to make do with grey herons and the occasional egret. Some of the herons are surprisingly tolerant of modern town 'hubub'. I also saw a cormorant fly past when I was walking along the Grand Union Canal a few days ago. There are plenty of fish (Chubb) and even American Signal Crayfish in the canal.

Ian

[Tordan58]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi Ian

I used the 300 F/4 lens.

Cheers
Tord

[Thomas Westhead]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi Tord,


Super images in every way Very well done to you!!



Please could you list camera settings etc if not to much trouble also do you use IS? and at what setting also Back Button focusing and release. Any settings info would be greatfully received and how you set the camera up also things like AF sensitivity.



Thanks again Tord and also for posting the nice bird images that you capture

[Tordan58]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi Thomas

Settings used for this photo session:

A priority
+1/3EV as blue sky. If it had been overcast I would have overexposed 1 to 2 steps
CAF (not CAF-TR)
Auto ISO, shutter speed limit 1/1600. In this sequence it resulted in 1/1600s and ISO 200.
F/4, depth of field should be enough at a distance of 25 meters.
Electronic shutter, since sky as background will not result in visible "slanting background". If shooting against solid background I would think twice before using the electronic shutter.
L fps
10 fps
Central 9 AF points
CAF sensitivity -2 as there were quite a few Kites around the mower and I did not want the AF to lock on other target, should another Kite come across (it did not happen).
AF limiter 50 meters as I knew the action was going to take place close to me. I deemed any subject further away as of less interest.
I don't like the back button focusing, always use the shutter release button only. The button is programmed for AE lock; when I take a sequence like this one I start by aiming against the background (the sky in this case) at the angle where I anticipate the most interesting action to take place, lock the exposure with the back button, aim at the target, track while shooting.

Hope this is useful information.

Cheers
Tord

[Melaka]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Those are so impressive, you're tempting me to upgrade to an EM1ii.

[Thomas Westhead]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi Tord,


Many Thanks for the info would you recommend not using silent shutter with the heart symbol set at L frames ? When shooting birds or any flying subject.

[Ian]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi Tord,


Many Thanks for the info would you recommend not using silent shutter with the heart symbol set at L frames ? When shooting birds or any flying subject.

You run the risk of some lateral sheering because the silent shutter is not 'global' (data is read off the sensor line by line and very fast moving action will be distorted).

Ian

[Thomas Westhead]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi Ian,


That is very good information and answers somthing I had noticed on some recent aviation images I have taken.

[Tordan58]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi

I could share some photos showing the effect of rolling shutter if anyone interested.

[drmarkf]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Hi

I could share some photos showing the effect of rolling shutter if anyone interested.

Me too. I've actually only seen it twice, once in the Careenage harbour in Grenada when panning extremely fast following frigate birds (sloping buildings in the background), and once of skimmers silhouetted against a low sun (the sun looked like a big pink banana!).

I must say I generally don't worry about it - even hummingbird wings don't show any artefacts - and it's such a relief not to get that DSLR death-rattle in birding hides!

[Bikie John]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Thanks Tord, Mark, for the offer. I would certainly be interested to see what it looks like even though I am unlikely to encounter it in the sort of stuff I do.

John

[drmarkf]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Here's the Frigatebird image: they were going after scraps thrown from on old steamer to my left, and they were really motoring. This was with the 12-100 at full aperture.



I must have binned the banana sun shot, but this is a quick and dirtily-processed example showing slight solar distortion taken during the same evening. African skimmers also wheel and stunt at great speed.

[Walti]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Fairly funky effect!

[drmarkf]

Re: Red Kite with E-M1 M2 3.0FW CAF

Blimey! Is that the whole frame? I guess it'll be more sensitive to the effect as the amount of sensor covered increases.