Is the problem 1600 ISO or something else?
Jan 29, 2021 14:16:19 #
Silverrails wrote:
Sorry, need to understand or define BIF, is it "Built In Focus"??
Birds In Flight.
Feb 4, 2021 19:34:51 #
when I get pix looking like that its usually because the shutter speed is too slow. I use 1200 and faster ....
Feb 7, 2021 08:20:36 #
genocolo wrote:
Just trying BIF. Any help would be appreciated. Canon 80D with 100-400L lens.
Was the Sky actually that color?
May 24, 2021 12:08:03 #
I looked at the meta data for your image, it was as follows:
1/1250 sec. f/6.3 124mm, ISO 1600.
You indicated you had a 100-400 lens. The lens was set on 124 mm. Was the bird that close or did you crop this image? Did you have image stabilization activated? If not activate the IS.
May I suggest you consider the following settings:
1/1250 sec., f/8, Auto ISO, place the focus point on the birds head and fill the image area with the bird. If still blurring, increase the shutter speed.
1/1250 sec. f/6.3 124mm, ISO 1600.
You indicated you had a 100-400 lens. The lens was set on 124 mm. Was the bird that close or did you crop this image? Did you have image stabilization activated? If not activate the IS.
May I suggest you consider the following settings:
1/1250 sec., f/8, Auto ISO, place the focus point on the birds head and fill the image area with the bird. If still blurring, increase the shutter speed.
Jun 21, 2021 21:40:00 #
I am not a BIF (Birds in Flight) expert (or even a novice). But I do think I know what a decent photo is. In this case, the subject is wonderful. Who cannot love birds of prey! But the photo, even if perfect, is not one to display. It is of a bird, flying away, no face, only the backside / underside of the bird. First and foremost, curate your work. If this was just a technical question, they ok to show it. But IMO, this is not a photo I would keep in my files. The photo does not appear to be well focused. There is a hot spot on the underbelly, possibly over exposed. I note that the file size on download is quite small, so I suspect that your cropped this quite a bit. It seems you had to take a quick snapshot of a bird but did not have time to do much else. A wonderful moment, but not one to display. I do not know what focusing you were using..single point, etc. I suspect that was a bit off as well. My suggestion (and I struggle with this all the time) is to refine your workflow...first, eliminate the non-keepers and never look back.
Jun 30, 2021 22:12:32 #
Jul 5, 2021 18:27:53 #
genocolo wrote:
Just trying BIF. Any help would be appreciated. Canon 80D with 100-400L lens.
As I consider myself to be an Advanced Beginner, I would say, Maybe the ISO, although the Sky is rather Dark, so I really will look forward to a Professional Photograph's determination of this Image.
Aug 13, 2021 10:59:32 #
amfoto1
Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
genocolo wrote:
Just trying BIF. Any help would be appreciated. Canon 80D with 100-400L lens.
The Canon 80D is a 24MP camera.
After your crop, all that's left of this image is 8MP.
You threw away most of the image. The end result doesn't have much fine detail left.
Do a better job filling your viewfinder with the subject, to minimize your need to crop, and your images will be a lot better. This isn't easy with BIF. I sometimes take 75 or 100 images to get one or two good ones that I like. But I don't shoot BIF very often and might get better at it if I practiced more. (I do shoot other fast action a lot with reasonably good success.)
Below was shot with the same lens as you were using... Except I had it on a 7D Mark II (20MP.... lower resolution than 80D) and with a Canon EF 1.4X II teleconverter installed that has some effect on image quality. Plus, the finished image you see here has been downsized and is actually now smaller than yours. The difference is that I "filled the viewfinder" and only did very little crop off the original (just trimmed the right and left sides to go from 3:2 format to a 5:4 format that's more printable).
Aug 13, 2021 12:24:31 #
cahale
Loc: San Angelo, TX
amfoto1 wrote:
The Canon 80D is a 24MP camera. br br After your... (show quote)
That's a really good shot. I don't think the bird is flying, however. And why is it so hard to say (type) "bird in flight?" This is not the millennium generation or the Z generation - it's the lazy generation.
Aug 13, 2021 14:40:32 #
amfoto1 wrote:
The Canon 80D is a 24MP camera. br br After your... (show quote)
Exceptionally beautiful shot 🎖️🏆🎖️
Sep 2, 2021 13:43:55 #
Agree with @Ourspolair that knowing the approximate distance to the subject would help the analysis.
At 124mm, f6.3, the DOF is 7 feet for a bird, say, 40 ft away. That is more than enough. I'm going to say that in this shot the camera autofocus system is not able to keep up with the bird. The bird has simply moved away from the center of the DOF. Maybe check that the shutter cannot fire unless it has a focus solution.
I don't know the Canon system but I agree with others here that Single Point/Spot focus is all you need and might give the camera less to think about.
If you go to 400mm, the DOF drops to only 6 inches at 40 ft, so as others have said you might need to use F8 or smaller in that case.
For my favorite 2 or 3 lenses, I use an app like FotoTool to see what the DOF will be for a range of distances and likely f-stops. Then set limits in the camera on shutter, ISO, f/.
At 124mm, f6.3, the DOF is 7 feet for a bird, say, 40 ft away. That is more than enough. I'm going to say that in this shot the camera autofocus system is not able to keep up with the bird. The bird has simply moved away from the center of the DOF. Maybe check that the shutter cannot fire unless it has a focus solution.
I don't know the Canon system but I agree with others here that Single Point/Spot focus is all you need and might give the camera less to think about.
If you go to 400mm, the DOF drops to only 6 inches at 40 ft, so as others have said you might need to use F8 or smaller in that case.
For my favorite 2 or 3 lenses, I use an app like FotoTool to see what the DOF will be for a range of distances and likely f-stops. Then set limits in the camera on shutter, ISO, f/.
Sep 5, 2021 23:54:53 #
Arizona Art
Loc: SE Florida
I have shot 10’s of thousands of handheld BIF images with your set up. Due to the small image area covered by the focus points, it is very challenging to get superb images of BIF’s. Not impossible, but challenging. For best results use all 45 of the focus points, shoot in Shutter priority mode, Auto ISO, TV of 1/2000 minimum.
The ultimate images are those where the bird fills most of the view finder, is front or side lit and the eye is clearly in focus with a catch light. Birds flying away are throw away images.
Practice on slow flying birds like seagulls.
Even after taking 10’s of thousands of BIF images with your set up, my keeper rate was never better than 5%.
Feel free to PM me if you need more insight.
Welcome to the challenging world of BIF photography!
Samples of BIF's with your same rig:
https://flic.kr/p/2kg6ovd
https://flic.kr/p/2jLWL7o
The ultimate images are those where the bird fills most of the view finder, is front or side lit and the eye is clearly in focus with a catch light. Birds flying away are throw away images.
Practice on slow flying birds like seagulls.
Even after taking 10’s of thousands of BIF images with your set up, my keeper rate was never better than 5%.
Feel free to PM me if you need more insight.
Welcome to the challenging world of BIF photography!
Samples of BIF's with your same rig:
https://flic.kr/p/2kg6ovd
https://flic.kr/p/2jLWL7o
Sep 9, 2021 09:45:15 #
genocolo wrote:
Just trying BIF. Any help would be appreciated. Canon 80D with 100-400L lens.
Iso is not the problem
Plenty of light for low iso but the problem is blur , hotspot
Keep trying but know what settings to use
Not hard
Jan 1, 2022 17:05:31 #
JimBart
Loc: Western Michigan
By no means am I an expert but here’s my take on shooting BIF.
ISO is normally 800 on cloudy days 200 on sunny ones; f stops are usually 5.6 - 11 usually f9 with ss of 1000. Oftentimes I also use exposure comp +.3 to 1.
ISO is normally 800 on cloudy days 200 on sunny ones; f stops are usually 5.6 - 11 usually f9 with ss of 1000. Oftentimes I also use exposure comp +.3 to 1.
Jan 1, 2022 18:41:52 #
We are discussing this for well over a year? The initial post was October 31, 2020. 
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.