Group AF and wingtips

[KCPhoto]

I really like to get a nice flyby against a favorable background, but man I hate that AF grabs that wingtip (the closest thing to me) so often. It seems like when I see the wing position I want or shot that has the best composition, background, or whatever draws me in, I will have missed critical focus on the eye every time in favor of that closer wing. Tack sharp wing....slightly soft eye. I know I can stop down some and help, but with larger wingspans on raptors, herons, etc. it is still noticeable. Then there is the need for higher ISO when stopping down.

What works for you all? I know it is a function of how the AF works, but I would love to hear some of what works for some of the way more experienced folks on BCG Forums.

 

[DRwyoming]

What works for you all?

For more or less parallel flight path shots with larger birds I either use a reasonably small Dynamic AF setting (e.g. D9, D25 depending on the camera) or I stop down if I'm worried about the camera acquiring focus on a near wingtip which is pretty common when running Nikon's Group AF. If a large bird like an Egret or Trumpeter Swan is fairly large in the frame and flying parallel or ideally a bit towards me then Group AF does a great job as it's not too hard to keep the center of the Group area over the head and neck but for birds smaller in the frame large enough to have wingtips significantly closer than their heads I have better luck with a Dynamic AF Area mode as long as I can more or less keep the center of the area over the head or neck.

 

[Capturingtheunseen.com]

I have to say, it hasn't been a problem for me. With the D500 and 10 frames per second, if I do get one with a wing tip focus it doesn't matter, as the rest are probably good. You can also use single point continuous if it's a real problem. It tracks better than the dynamic modes.