Need help re: switching from stills to video for birds in flight (BIF)

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James C.

James C.

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Earlier this week, I was out photographing Kestrels and one of them was going in and out of "hovering" mode as it hunted.

For those of you who aren't aware, kestrels can hover like a hummingbird when they are homing in on prey. (No their wings don't move as fast as a hummingbirds, but fast enough to maintain a brief hover.)

I got several photos, but needless to say, they don't do justice to capturing this fascinating behavior.

Does anyone have any suggestions/tips on how to capture this type of BIF behavior quickly (and well) when needing to switch from shooting stills to wanting to record video using a Nikon D500 with a 200-500mm lens?

Thanks.
 
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I am trying to shoot more video myself these days and I am just starting to get the hang of it. One of the reasons I like my Z6 is that you can shoot video through the EVF which I believe is easier that shooting in live view. I don't have as much experience shooting video on the D500 as I do on the Z6. The D500 was one of the first DSLRs to shoot 4K video. As always the best advice is to practice.

You have to establish your shooting settings for both your still and movie settings. Then switch to video and select live view and record. The standard rule is to shoot video at a shutter speed that is twice the frame rate setting, so if you are shooting 2160p at 30 frames per second the usual shutter speed is 1/60 of a second. If you are shooting stills in lighting using 1/2000 at F5.6 and switch to video the video exposure would be 1/60 at F32 if ISO remained unchanged. If you are shooting auto ISO you can set different settings for video and stills to get some of that DOF back if you need to. I shoot my video in manual mode with auto ISO.

Video also has different focus modes and you can shoot in AF-S or AF-F (full time mode). I usually use AF-F with Wide mode and use the D500 rear LCD touch option to select focus points. I have also used the 3D tracking in video mode and it has worked pretty well.

It is best to shoot video from a tripod and use a fluid head if possible. VR can appear to be strange when shooting video because it can make camera panning movements look jumpy, but it helps stabilize the video.

I had the opportunity this summer to shoot video of Grizzly 399 and her 3 cubs in the Tetons with 399's daughter 610 and her 2 yearling cubs together. I was shooting my Z6 in DX video mode with my 200-500 and 1.4TC.
 
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