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Apr 2024
3:47pm, 3 Apr 2024
3,046 posts
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RunningRonnie
I've got a Sony mirrorless with a 55-210 lens on a crop sensor. It's quite old now.
However, my wife just bought a second hand nikon 3500 which I'm just trying to learn how to work.
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Apr 2024
3:48pm, 3 Apr 2024
3,047 posts
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RunningRonnie
Or might be d350. Not sure right now
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Apr 2024
5:08pm, 3 Apr 2024
21,201 posts
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flanker
Pretty much what um said. Although it will depend to some extent on the capability of the lens and its autofocus speed. As a brain dump:
Put the autofocus into servo mode so that it continually refocuses to hold the moving target (as long as it still has a sensor on it). I've got a button reconfigured to immediately enable servo while in single shot focus mode so I can quickly grab a moving shot when in static mode (and vice versa)
For bird in the sky shots I tend to use a wider focus area as there's generally nothing else to snatch the focus and it helps keep the focus on a fast moving dot! For perched birds I'll use a single spot focal point as it's the most precise.
I've got a custom shooting mode, but it's just a tweaked shutter priority with a capped ISO and minimum shutter speed.
If your lens allows it, restrict the autofocus range to the most distant one (unless close-up obviously) as this will speed up focussing.
Check the image stabilisation mode of the lens. The default for many lenses is to stabilise for horizontal panning, not waving it around in all directions in the sky.
I tend to overexpose by a stop when shooting against the sky to (try to!) avoid silhouettes.
Plus turn off the focus beep, especially when in company of others as it can scare off local wildlife. So many photographers who consider themselves experts, with camera setups running into the 10s of £ks, fail to do this, and it's my pet peeve 
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Apr 2024
7:50pm, 3 Apr 2024
65,294 posts
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Derby Tup
Swift . . . on Gozo
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Apr 2024
8:14pm, 3 Apr 2024
4,369 posts
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jacdaw
Do they shoot them?
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Apr 2024
8:47pm, 3 Apr 2024
4,546 posts
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paulcook
For one second I thought I saw a swallow today but to be honest I wasn't watching properly and dismissed it.
Not sure it's early or not for swifts and swallows. It feels like it is, especially how grey today has been.
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Apr 2024
8:49pm, 3 Apr 2024
3,298 posts
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riggys99
2 oystercatchers feeding in the mud outside our caravan at cleethorpes when I got up this morning. Nice to watch with out morning brew
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Apr 2024
9:02pm, 3 Apr 2024
4,370 posts
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jacdaw
Some sand martins have arrived, (not that I have seen any).
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Apr 2024
9:03pm, 3 Apr 2024
65,300 posts
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Derby Tup
Not early for the odd swallow in UK, certainly not too early for sand martin. Swift not around until early May
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Apr 2024
10:54pm, 3 Apr 2024
4,548 posts
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paulcook
It certainly wasn't a full view, fleeting at best and I suspect it wasn't. There was a group of about 8 birds, some pigeons and at least 3 different sized birds, in a scattered flight. In the confusion, one appeared it may have a forked swallowtail. I'd forgotten all about it until the "swift on Gozo" post!
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