John Gerlach Loc: Island Park, Idaho

Using both ambient light at times, and multi-flash, it is so much fun to photograph the swarming flocks of hummingbirds at the Bull River Guest Ranch. For the flash stations, I use the Canon 1DX Mark II with the Canon 200-400mm lens and a 25 mm extension tube to allow closer focus. For my natural light shots, I prefer the 1DX Mark II because it shoots so many images per second on my new Canon 600mm with a new 1.4x extender and a 25mm tube to make it focus closer. No matter the lens and accessories used, all have been AF microadjusted for sharp results. Having test some 30 lenses now for AF microadjustment, I have yet to find one that did not benefit from some value, though, my new 600mm came close to the factory default with needing only a -1 correction - and that isn't much.

I realize there is some discussion on whether AF microadjusting is really necessary, and some find their results are not consistent. Here are my findings. All lenses I have tested did better with a setting other than the factory default. I have never seen the results vary much at all. And from teaching students how to do it, most have to try is a few times before they finally do everything right. There are so many factors that can throw your results off - like bumping the tripod slightly part way through the process, using a ballhead that is not tight and wiggles a little, trying to do it in a breeze, ........ and so much more.

Rufous hummingbird

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Male and female Rufous Hummingbird

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Female rufous hummingbird

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Male rufous hummingbird

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Male rufous hummingbird

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female rufous

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Male calliope - I set my four flashes to allow the wings to blur in this one

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Calliope hummingbird with all natural light

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female calliope hummingbird

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Male black-chinned hummingbird with 4 flashes set to produce some wing blur

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Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

Excellent set of images John.

sergiohm

Great set! Have you tried the EOS R or RP? The burst shooting is slow but the buffer in the RP is infinite.

PhotoNat Loc: Santa Maria, CA

Wow! Amazing photos! Hope I can take photos like that some day!
Beautifully done!
PhotoNata

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

Awesome shots.
Bob

John Gerlach Loc: Island Park, Idaho

I have not tried a mirrorless camera yet, but I will within the year. I have a couple friends who are doing super well with an Olympus mirrorless. I feel like Canon is new at mirrorless, so may go with another brand.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Very nice set. Good work.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Wonderful captures.

Sylvias Loc: North Yorkshire England

Wonderful downloads John.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Excellent work, John!

vonzip Loc: cape cod

I like them all and especially the 2fer shot. vz

d3200prime

John Gerlach Loc: Island Park, Idaho

I just helped a hummingbird client AF microadjust his Canon 100-400mm lens. We shot a series of three shots at -20, -15, -10, -5, 0, +5, +10, +15, and +20. We selected the four sharpest shots and got one at -5, two at zero, and 1 at +5. But, upon careful inspection, we decided 0 were a tiny bit sharper than +5 and -5, so we figure the best setting is zero or very close to that as the shots at -5 and +5 look similar in sharpness, but don't quite measure up the zero setting. So we are leaving that one at the factory default zero settings - the first time that has happened for me.

Annie-Get-Your-Gun Loc: Byron Center, Mi

WOW, JOHN!!!! Perfect images. I love the pair - I'd say it's a seldom seen image.