Many Feathers
Member
I have been reading and re-reading the autofocus threads and handing off autofocus a lot. I feel like I'm taking a college course. THANKS to Steve Perry for his incredible book on the Z8 and all the discussions here. I could not understand this without your help 
Is it possible for the Z8 to autofocus on songbirds in flight? Or should I just be using trap focus?
My setup is simple backyard birdfeeders. I love watching them and learning their personalities etc. Throughout the spring and summer, I see birds courting, then taking mouthfuls of worms and flying off to feed their babies somewhere and then their babies landing in the big tree behind the feeders. This is the best because those babies make so much noise and frequently the parents will take the food directly to them. Eventually the babies learn to land on the feeders and that's fun to watch and photograph. My point being, I kind of learn what some of the birds are probably going to do. For example, at this time in my area, bluebird parents are getting worms to feed their babies somewhere else. Both male and female land on the telephone wire. Female will probably go to the open feeder while the male likes to go to the caged feeder. Sometimes he flies/hovers on the outside of the cage before entering (especially if there's another bird inside). I've gotten some "flying" photos in that instance, although the bird is more "vertical"/hovering than "horizontal" flying, if that makes any sense. Sometimes the daddy gets the worms, and perches for a second before flying horizontally away from the cage. The cage width is maybe 15 inches wide. I'm shooting with the 100-400mm lens (usually at 300 or 400mm) around 15-17 feet away so not much DOF. If I lock focus when the bird is perching on the edge of the cage, is it possible for the camera to track him flying? Or should I just let go of Autofocus (after obtaining focus on the perching bird or the cage) and hope that at some time, he'll fly in the focal plane?
I guess I'm asking is how fast is the autofocus? Could it focus on a bluebird in flight? If yes, could it focus on a chickadee or nuthatch or house wren in flight? If no, could it focus on a larger robin or catbird, for example? At what point do you give up on autofocus tracking and just use trap focus?
Is it possible for the Z8 to autofocus on songbirds in flight? Or should I just be using trap focus?
My setup is simple backyard birdfeeders. I love watching them and learning their personalities etc. Throughout the spring and summer, I see birds courting, then taking mouthfuls of worms and flying off to feed their babies somewhere and then their babies landing in the big tree behind the feeders. This is the best because those babies make so much noise and frequently the parents will take the food directly to them. Eventually the babies learn to land on the feeders and that's fun to watch and photograph. My point being, I kind of learn what some of the birds are probably going to do. For example, at this time in my area, bluebird parents are getting worms to feed their babies somewhere else. Both male and female land on the telephone wire. Female will probably go to the open feeder while the male likes to go to the caged feeder. Sometimes he flies/hovers on the outside of the cage before entering (especially if there's another bird inside). I've gotten some "flying" photos in that instance, although the bird is more "vertical"/hovering than "horizontal" flying, if that makes any sense. Sometimes the daddy gets the worms, and perches for a second before flying horizontally away from the cage. The cage width is maybe 15 inches wide. I'm shooting with the 100-400mm lens (usually at 300 or 400mm) around 15-17 feet away so not much DOF. If I lock focus when the bird is perching on the edge of the cage, is it possible for the camera to track him flying? Or should I just let go of Autofocus (after obtaining focus on the perching bird or the cage) and hope that at some time, he'll fly in the focal plane?
I guess I'm asking is how fast is the autofocus? Could it focus on a bluebird in flight? If yes, could it focus on a chickadee or nuthatch or house wren in flight? If no, could it focus on a larger robin or catbird, for example? At what point do you give up on autofocus tracking and just use trap focus?
