Last month, I was up in Ottawa for a competition and I left my camera bag (sans camera) in my crossover every day. In the bag there were a few lenses and my SB-700 Speedlight. The temperature was never very hot outside, but the sun was shining and it got pretty hot in the car.

At the end of the second week, it was time for the awards and I pulled out my SB-700 for indoor shots. Lo and behold, I discovered the batteries had leaked. Four AAs, Energizer brand. The batteries were a few months old or less and the expiration date was 2024 or some such. I pulled out the batteries and put away the Speedlight. So, no decent flash for the awards and it shows on the pictures.

When I got back home, I cleaned out the battery housing using a stainless steel brushes and some CLR and now the Speedlight works fine.

I have never experienced a battery leakage with modern batteries and certainly not one in such a short time. I used the flash a few months ago at another event and it worked fine and like I said the batteries were just a few months old.

Has anyone else encountered such a problem with batteries and heat? And before someone asks, the Speedlight unit was turned off completely, not in standby mode.

I would like to combine several images of the eclipse into a single photograph showing the sequence of partial through to total and then through to final partial. I'll probably have 4 to 6 partial shots on each side of the total. Does anyone know of a software program that can do this? I know it must be out there because I've seen the results, just not how if was achieved. I've downloaded 2 different software programs but they seem to be suitable only for overlapping images like three or four shots taken across a landscape or a sequence of images of a drawing or painting. The images I want to sequence are obviously similar but don't need to be tied together, just sequenced across the frame.

Dynamic focus might be a better choice as it gives priority to the center spot. With group it is more likely to get a wing tip instead of the birds eye in focus. With the shallow depth of field of longer lenses, this can make a noticeable difference.

While this has been acknowledged in many publications (and I learned the hard way) I think Steve Perry's video on Nikon Focusing makes it pretty clear. 12 minutes well spent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N_bzhJAKms



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For birds in flight I strongly recommend setting the camera to GROUP AUTO FOCUS (Gr P) in the top screen. Then pick the center focusing spot (this should be a default setting on your Nikon) and Nikon will automatically put four spots around that one for a total of 5. As long as, when you track the bird, one of the five spots is on the bird the bird will be in focus. Use center weighted metering, continuous auto focus, shoot in Aperture priority and at least two stops down from wide open and shoot at least 1/1600 second or higher. Good luck.