birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

I always use high speed shutter. I do not own that lens and have never worked with it so anything I offer is just from general knowledge. Ken Rockwell says that the auto focus on that lens is "Leisurely". So you may be right that the lens may be part of the problem. However, once focus is achieved on a bird that is flying steadily parallel to your position, you should not have any major problems with focus tracking. It is only when the bird is getting nearer or farther away that major changes in focus distance come into play. Autofocus systems have their biggest problems with subjects that are moving towards or away from your position and the faster they are the worse the problem is.

Some lenses have a focus limit switch so that you can restrict the lens to a certain range of distances. That can keep the lens from hunting through its entire focus range before achieving focus and thus speeding things up. Make sure you are not zooming while trying to focus as focus changes with zoom level. You would, in effect, be fighting the Af system.

Your 70-200 f/2.8 should work fabulously with the 7D Mk II. It is one of Canon's fastest focusing lenses. You could shoot with either the 1.4 or 2.0 Tele-converter and probably have a faster focusing system than with the Sigma. With the 2.0 the effective max aperture will still be f/5.6 and with the Canon TC-III, you will have relatively little image degradation.

Beyond all these technical considerations, the most important thing is to practice as much as possible. Panning with birds in flight is a skill that has to be mastered. If anyone thinks that they can depend solely on the equipment they are sadly mistaken. You wouldn't go out and buy a professional stove and pots and expect to automatically be a gourmet chef, would you? See my sticky post above on basic techniques for shooting BIF.

Yes the bird was very close to me. I was with a party that was banding his chicks so he was swooping us trying to scare us away from the nest box. I don't think he was more than 15 feet from me.

jteee Loc: Montana

Thanks again. In the past I have had "some" BIF success with the 6D, and I think my expectations were that the 7II would translate to a higher hit rate of success not less (which is the current situation). I willingly admit that my technique needs vast improvement, and I think that I need to continue to fiddle around with the AF system to find what works best for me. Sometimes patience isn't one of my greatest virtures.

:D As a side note, ironically (or not) the best BIF photos I have taken were with the 70-200 (along with not necessarily being patient, seems I may be a bit of a slow learner as well).

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

One thing most of us seem to forget, is that new equipment takes time to get used to, time to get in-synch with! Really long lenses, take a really long time to learn to work to their highest abilities. I often find it's not my equipment, it's me! Practice, practice and practice some more. By the way, this goes for subject as well. I consider myself a decent sports guy, but I have a long way to go with BIF, and I've been at this for almost 50 years. Takes my brain a while to figure it all out. YMMV.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Thanks for the Case 2 information. I'll give it a try. You were definitely close to the falcon, which is important. I am attaching a shot I took the other day with the 7DII and 400mm DOII. I had read somewhere that for small erratic birds, like swallows, case 6 could help. At our local irrigation pond, I had case 6 selected to practice on the local swallows when a pair of Ibis came in. Got the image posted here, which is an somewhat of an improvement for me, but this morning noticed in photoshop in the lens correction window, the bird was some 44 meters away (146 ft.) To get this image, I had to crop quite a bit, notice the noise when enlarged. Bottom line, I guess we can't expect much if we are too far away. I think this image is in focus, but with the crop sensor in the 7DII, you need to fill more of the frame with the subject if you are going to be successful. Its about technique in addition to learning about the equipment. As I said, this was taken in the factor setting case 6, 65 point setting, AI Servo, back AF button active, IS 3, tripod mounted w/ gimbal head, 1/1600,f/8, ISO 640. All that has been said in recent posts re IS, think I going to try turning it off at higher shutter speeds, even though Canon says its not necessary when on a tripod. And, I have not as yes gotten into microfine focus adjustments on this lens.

(Download)

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Yes, the Ibis is in focus and, yes, distance really matters when you are trying to get great detail.

As I have noted above, I too use case 6 when I have small erratic birds in the viewfinder. It moves from focus point to focus point much more quickly and, when used with all 65 points active, makes it a little easier to keep the focus from shifting off to the background.

One technical note: On my older 7d Mk I, I found ISO 640 to be noisier than ISO 800. I read somewhere that multiples of the native ISO were better noisewise than the in between ISO. Meaning ISO 200 is the Mk II's native ISO so 400, 800, 1600 should be better than 640, 1200, 2400 etc. I haven't really tried to test that and I do have the Mk II set to use only full ISO steps. I'll have to do some testing to see if this is really true.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Interesting about the ISO. Thanks for the info.

MarkintheHV Loc: Hudson Valley

I use the 7d mk ii with a Tamron 150-600 for BIF. In the beginning I too had marginal photos with once in a while a great keeper would make it through (by accident I think). The turning point for me was to microadjust my 150-600. I found that my lens was front focusing on me. Once I made these corrections, my sharpness really went through the ceiling.

I use 1/1600, f/7.1-F/9 and auto ISO. I turn off the VC on the lens because at 1/1600 its not really an issue. I also set the lens to only focus beyond 15 meters (this helps speed things up a bit). This seems to be my sweet spot. The other thing to look at would be the auto focus settings. What are you using? I use case 1 or 2, and expanded center points. I really have not had very good luck using more focus points as I can never get the focus where I wanted it.

Here is one of my BIF shots with the settings that I normally use. Once I microadjusted my lens, shots like this are pretty much the norm now

(Download)

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

From what I have read, microfocus issues are pretty common with both the Tamron and the Sigma Zooms so it is well worth the time to dial it in! Nice job!

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

Nikon Shooter here, with some experience with canon as well, but will keep that to myself as I'm more experienced with nikon. One of the most important aspects has yet to be mentioned at least from my point of view. I only shoot in a small window of daylight to achieve the best possible light available to get the sharpness we hope when shooting these BIF. Here in Florida at about 9:30 am the sun is almost at a perfect 33 degree angle to the birds. An hour earlier and sun to low which means higher ISO and or slower shutter speeds, An hour later getting too high which is great for faster shutter speeds and lower ISO but you start getting more shadows which reduce the details in feathers. I hope you consider this as well as it's an important part of the whole process. Of coarse your back is to the sun and the bird directly in front of you, if not in that position, work it till you are. Just my 2 cents..