> > From: Tom Reese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 2005/07/19 Tue AM 11:58:35 GMT > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: I'm Getting an Auto Focus Camera > > Pål Jensen wrote: > > Tom wrote: > > > >>I finally switched to my 200mm lens (the longest autofocus lens I have) > >>and that didn't do any better. The camera couldn't focus fast enough to > >>handle the job. This is the first situation I've run into where my MZ-S > >>couldn't handle the job. > > > > Strange. My MZ-S has no problem focusing birds in flight with both my 200 > > and 600mm lenses. > > The MZ-S is definietly faster than SAFOX V, used in the 645N. According to > > Andy Rouse, the wildlife photographer, his Pentax 645NII gets just as many > > keepers as the AF on his EOS-1v. > > I'm sure my technique could be improved but I'm not sure how. > > My 600mm lens is the f/5.6 manual focus one. > > I started by prefocusing the lens to a distance that I thought would > give me a good shot, putting the camera in focus AFS mode then I held > the shutter button down and tracked the birds from left to right or > right to left hoping one would come into focus and trigger the shutter. > It just didn't happen. The birds were flying too fast and I couldn't > keep that center AF sensor on them long enough to trip the shutter.
If it's any consolation, I found a similar problem using the autofocus 600/4 at Duxford two (three!) years ago. As the day unfolded, I got better at it but tracking is definitley an art and is something that digital capture would be useful in training someone for. > > I felt like one of those WWII gunners trying to hit the enemy planes > zooming by. My Manfrotto 3421 head really helped that illusion: > > http://www.adorama.com/BG3421.html?searchinfo=bogen%203421&item_no=2 > > but may have been part of the problem. > > I then tried holding the shutter button down, tracking the birds and > focusing at the same time thinking that would improve my chances but the > shutter never fired that way either. > > That's when I went to the 200/4 AF lens. The birds only took a couple > seconds to fly across my field of view and the lens couldn't focus fast > enough to get the shot before the subject was gone. > > I've used my SO's Canon USM lenses and, in my experience, they focus > much faster than the Pentax system. > > I've been thinking about a Canon body to lighten our load on our > motorcycle trips anyway. If I had a Canon body then we'd only have to > carry lenses for one system instead of two. This experience just added > another reason to pick one up. > > Tom Reese > > ----------------------------------------- Email provided by http://www.ntlhome.com/
