Wise guy, what do you want to see on the images except if it’s in focus or not.
George
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I’m not sure what you’re trying to understand, but here are a couple of photos. One is the mouth of a humpback whale, and the other is a concert photo.
I shot the concert photo with my 5D Mark IV, so I had to use the joystick to get the AF point past the neck of the guitar and into his eyes. This is easier with the R5, using eye detection autofocus.
I also posted a video to YouTube which shows how I set up dual back button autofocus on my R5, and why I set it up that way. It’s a very short video that goes straight to the point:
Whether they are “snapshots” or “photographs”, and that answer is very obvious - very, Very nice - both of them.
To me, the camera isn’t what’s important - it’s the person behind the viewfinder. Both are lovely images. The computer on that camera is amazing - so many choices. You need to be both a programmer and a photographer.
You’re into this in a way that is way over my head. George is right. …other than there being far too many things on my current “to-do” list. And no, I don’t need a long list of things to be even more confusabobbled about.
Your video is amazing, and it almost even makes sense to me.
I don’t think it’s that complicated at all.
I started out doing this stuff with a fully manual film camera. To meter with that camera, I had to stop down the lens aperture. That’s how basic it was.
But this complicated stuff? You just shoot. And when a photo doesn’t come out right, you figure out what went wrong. I guess the one important skill in photography is to be able to tell a good photo from a poor photo. Then you just keep working towards what’s better.
Your images must be sharp. A defocused background is fine and a little motion blur creates a more organic look, but you want a crisp subject. You just work towards perfection every time.
I’m no genius. I know what focus is and I figured out the pros of autofocus and then I upgraded from one camera to another with ever-better autofocus. I didn’t figure it out in a day.
I don’t know what to write. For starters, I know nothing about Canon and Sony and other cameras - the only cameras I’m interested in are the ones that I potentially buying in the next few years, which (for me) means Nikon. My friend showed me the Z8 and Z6 III, and I got to try them. Then there’s the Z9, and based on past experience, if I actually do buy one, it will most likely be a Z9.
Not sure why @George thinks I want to learn about Canon cameras - I’m interested, but there is no chance of my ever buying one. I’m certainly interested in what YOU got to do with yours, and whether or not the images are in focus or not is his idea, not mine. Heck, I drive a Mazda3 sedan. Am I interested in Ferrar’s, Teslas, and so many other “super cars”? No way.
This thread is about focusing techniques, which is an essential part of bird photography. I expect to try that again in India. Maybe this time around, I can do better (without wasting time with birds too far away to get a good image, regardless of whether or not the bird is in focus. I’ve never before used a camera that can focus on a bird’s eye. Is it worth spending $5,000 to $10,000 to get camera gear that can do that? Not to me.
I spent last weekend with Ray, and learned about his camera gear. He goes out bird watching two days a week, every week, and knows the best place to capture good bird photos. Here’s a link I already posted, showing his bird photos:
I learned a lot from him, but need to try it myself, with the camera gear I already have, meaning my Nikon gear. People have been taking beautiful bird photos even back in the film days - so if (and that is a huge IF) I do my part right, I hope I improve.
It’s obvious to me that you are very advanced in this kind of photography. I just want to work my way up, and do the best I can do with what I’ve got.
For me, this means shooting with my best camera, Nikon D780, and following the advice in the two videos I linked to. By the time I return, the temperatures in Florida will have come down, and the birds will return, meaning I can do this pretty much every weekend, and learn by experience.
One of the things I enjoy so much about the Nikon D3 is how simple it is to operate. The weak link is me, not the camera. If it’s 16 years old, so what.
Looking through the viewfinder of Ray’s new cameras, reminds me of video games I can play on my computer. Looking through the bright, clear, un-complicated viewfinder of the D3 is so simple. It doesn’t focus as quickly as newer gear, but it does seem to be accurate and reliable.
These mirrorless cameras are fairly new, and plenty of photographers shot fast-moving birds with perfect focus using DSLR’s.
I don’t really go for buying the new/shiny/expensive just because it’s there, and you can take excellent photos with the camera you have.
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im a rank beginner but latest model sony canon nikon all have similar features
If can do it , you mike myers can to.
i use canon rp r6ii reckon i could pick up a nikon and work it out roughly in 15 minutes and quick breeze through relevant sections of manual.
BBF setup and focus zones options similar.
Reckon time to move on from this thread not much to see really
I hadnt picked up a camera other than phone since mid80s when i restarted thought all this complicated stuff i would need idiots guide to mirrorless cameras not so, acceptable birds in flight by day 2 and i aint the sharpest chisel in the set
He will be lost with Z9/8/6III when he will have to fastly (during shot) change focus strategy when it’s camera won’t want to hit the target.
He will be ok with easy targets.
@mikemyers
Train yourself to track targets (pan) with your camera before buying a new one. You still will have to do this with any camera. And for static targets with any camera you should easily do this with no training.
Just learn how to set your camera to do this with what you have and train yourself. Don’t chitchat.
Or go to zoo … it’ll be easier 
I have no current plans to buy any new camera.
I enjoy panning, and have found the heavier the camera, the easier it is to pan well.
All that mumbo-jumbo about the camera automatically doing things seems counter productive, but I’m sure that’s because I haven’t yet learned what to do for different situations - as explained so nicely in the two videos I linked to.
Of course I’ll be lost with a Z9/8/6III. Reminds me of looking at the dials and gauges in an airplane cockpit. I still prefer DSLR despite all that stuff, or maybe because of it.
Anything is easy to do once you learn how to do it. 
Agreed, but I want to do it better. Need lot more practice! Eventually things get easier, but I won’t say “easy” - yet.
Practice makes perfect.
Not even my friend Ray gets every shot perfect.
You need to be both a programmer and a photographer.
Nope I’m beginner of forum, old school, technology challenged it’s a dream to take photos for me.
Some good some bad some indifferent and my editing similar.
I reckon Mike ya should sell all ya gear get one camera with 3 lenses make your life easier.
Ha!
That’s like asking me to give up steak, fish, or pasta.
(Easier- sure, get rid of everything and just use iPhone camera…)
…but serious question, if I give up everything difficult and just make things simple, there would no longer be a feeling of accomplishment when I do everything correctly?
Back to this thread - for me, these “new” focusing techniques are just one more new thing to learn. My old cameras only had shutter speed, lens opening, and focus. Buy film, load camera, and shoot. Easy peasy… but then came timing, composition, and all the stuff that makes some photos memorable. And then, what was going on in the photographer’s mind. Ansel Adams had everything planned out before he ever presses the shutter release. I certainly don’t accept that his life was “easy”… No way.
Every shot perfect in action shooting ? That would require a very low appreciation of perfection.
Finding the best and easier way to do thing is not … easy.
Making things difficult seams easier for you. How about your feeling of accomplishment ?
Well, “better” and “easier” and “difficult” are appropriate words. As to my “feeling of accomplishment”, maybe one photo out of ten, or more likely one out of twenty. Acceptance is expected. Accomplishment? That’s a difficult target to reach, and requires a lot more. If at the end of the day, I have one or two photos I really like, that’s what it takes for me, for a “feeling of accomplishment”. I suspect a new mirrorless camera, such as the Z9, might be beneficial, even for me.
I would have instead say it would require “a very skilled, talented, and experienced photographer”.
Me? if ten percent of my photos come out as expected, I have a smile on my face. It’s like bullseye shooting. Getting one shot in the bullseye is achievable. Getting ten shots in the bullseye is difficult.
It takes the same skill to hand-hold a long telephoto lens steady, as to hold a handgun steady at 15, 25, an 50 yards. Speaking of 50 yards, here’s my target from two years ago at that distance, with a S&W Model 41 target gun:
What does this have to do with focusing techniques? Simple, the ability to hold the device camera/gun perfectly steady, and press the shutter-release or trigger without disturbing the aim.
Doing so with the camera is MUCH easier than doing so with a target pistol.
And just for the record, I am never satisfied at either. Out of 20 shots fired with the gun, three holes were outside of the black.
Something I enjoy about bullseye shooting even more than photography, is the “score” is instantly visible, and can be easily captured. The score is the bottom line, not how pretty the target looks.
Is this off-target? (pun intended…)
No. Shooting with a camera or a gun requires a steady hand, throughout the whole process. For me, a heavy camera helps stabilize my hands. A light camera seems to want to “wiggle” more than I like. That’s another reason for me to try to shoot at 1/2000th second shutter speed.
As for the computerized electronics, if either the bird is moving, or the camera is moving, the focus setting needs to remain accurate. I’m not sure if any modern cameras can tell which condition is going on. Maybe someone here knows that answer.
Added later:
A quick summary of what I’ve just learned is that at a 50 yard distance, my internal body movement limits me a potential one foot movement in my point of aim. So, at a 25 yard distance, maybe more realistic for me, my internal body movement might be anything within a one foot diameter circle.
I guess my conclusion is that I need to always use a tripod.
Hopefully a monopod will be good enough.
Advice welcome.
(I can’t take my tripod to India, but my monopod fits into my suitcase, which I hope will be useful. I’m only taking my D780, which is my most capable camera.)
Didn’t read your post at all but this at least is the second time you post this kind of very us man thing.
Hey, hey, cowboy thing is in your blood. John Wane is you hero (but if you look carefully how he walks, it seems a little bit fake). And don’t forget : john ford wrote (or told) : “I make films for farmers”.
Last time you had 10 in the middle.
You seem to be losing your touch.
I will have to use this if I meet you :
How much do you contribute to the arms industry that promotes and legalizes this kind of thing ?
Yeah, I don’t get it. A country of gun toting moronic idiots who defend the “right” to carry weapons that they can use to kill their schoolchildren.
It’s a tried-and-tested recipe for creating a united nation lined up to accept the unacceptable : by sublimating the fear of an imaginary enemy in weak minds.
Do I detect a tad of thread drift? 
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No, just a back on track 
I wonder, isn´t it possible on an R5 to program just one single button so you can toggle between “Eye/Face-priority” On/Off instead? Since there is a limited number of programmable buttons on all cameras it seems ineffective to me using two different buttons to achieve a possibility to switch Eye Focus on and off.