Maybe it´s time to consult a naturally stabilized chicken instead.
Anti shake, Steady Shot, Optical Steady Shot, VR, OS, IS or whatever it is called in the camera-world is just a bad copy of the real natural solution, isn´t it?
Whatever, but I doubt any of you deny the benefit of having steadier hands, which actually need to do two things. First, support all or part of the weight of the device one is holding, and second, stabilize whatever it is one is holding.
Building up strength in the hands can be accomplished by gradually holding heavier and heavier weights, over an increasingly longer period of time. As far as I know, “stability” comes along with constant practice. Eventually.
Me? With my Ebony, it’s always 100%. And an immense sense of accomplishment that it only ever costs me one sheet of film.
With the D850, I can afford to experiment more at no cost, but I restrict myself to one perfect shot of landscape or still life shots
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Well, that depends on whether or not one includes the ability of the person to hold the camera+lens still, regardless of any software in the camera to correct movement in the subject of the photo.
Or using a tripod.
Great !!! Will try this.
My old neighbor has a chicken coop.
I need to find a way to make my equipment lighter so I can attach it to the animal’s head. What’s more, its presence will certainly boost the other birds’ confidence in the safety of the place I’m going to find them.
As for my neighbor, a bottle of old pomace should make him forget the disappearance of his chickens.
I’m not qualified to answer, but this might help:
The Ultimate Wildlife Photography Tutorial - Hand-holding vs Tripods and Gimbals
Tripods:
"Hand holding is not for everyone, but for those that have the strength and steadiness to hold telephoto lenses (200mm plus), there are many benefits to having that ability. The most important reason I handhold most of the time is the agility and flexibility it provides me and in turn this increases my hit to miss ratio in getting the shots. First of all, tripods are bulky, time-consuming to set up and there is a fundamental difference in photographing while hand-holding versus using a tripod. When you handhold, the lens becomes part of your body, an extension of you, which means there is a natural flow and movement of the lens and it happens fairly subconsciously. When using a tripod, the tripod is stationary and you have to move your body around that stationary object to follow or track a subject. This is more difficult and a less natural way and thus it can result in missing opportunities. Overall I prefer to handhold whenever possible but don’t get me wrong, there is a time for both, I often use a tripod and gimbal, but never if I expect it to be a fast-moving subject like a bald eagle or similar. There are many times a tripod is suitable over handholding, it’s up to you to decide which way will get you the best shots, the first time.
So what I am trying to convey the most on this hand-holding issue is, tracking and following a subject is more natural and easier to do handheld versus tripod. Hand holding and tracking are a learned skill set, you don’t start an expert on day one, and you learn and improve over time. Eye to lens co-ordination is also an important asset when hand holding, I can look at a bird in flight, immediately swing my lens to point where my eye sees the bird and lock onto it in flight. This skill takes time to master, when I first started I would try to pick up the eagle, but not see it in the lens, have to move the camera away from my eyes, re-look for the eagle, try to pick it up again and try again. Now it has become a reflex, like riding a bicycle, it just happens automatically. Of course, the faster the object is moving and the longer your lens is the greater the challenge. This skill is extremely important in increasing you shot hit/miss ratio and is an important skill for wildlife photography.
Some of the most precious moments I have photographed have happened in a blink of an eye, by immediately being able to swing your camera/lens combination into position and lock onto the action or moment is a valuable wildlife photography skill. Train yourself to do it, practice makes perfect. There are many times a tripod is a great choice and that choice will always be yours to make.
Ten percent of great bird in flight shot is more than not that bad.
Just plan and come back with one great shot a day.
You need to find the right location (don’t look for the rare bird, but go where the birds you want to photograph are, and in Florida you’re lucky enough to have extraordinary places where you can get very close to them).
Find a spot with the sun at your back and the wind at your back too (birds, like planes, generally land and take off with the wind at their front, so they’ll be facing you for interesting action). And get there very early (be there at sunrise if possible), that’s when they’re most active and no one will disturb your session and when the light is good for great shots.
Find a place with good background (not blue sky). Distance from background to the bird should be at least twice distance from you to the bird if you want to isolate bird on smooth blurred background.
Try big birds first. They are easier to target.
And take your latest camera! (not your cameras from the last century).
Set it right. 1/1600s for big birds as starting point. f4 to f6.3 at starting point. If light does not change shoot manual. Adjust iso to get good exposure on the bird. Try to get the bird at least one third, half the frame big. AF on continuous mode. Try af group if you’ve got it. Maybe not always the more suited mode, but one of the fastest. Will focus on the part of the bird closest to you. Make sure you have enough depth of field.
Try to be at eye level.
Aim the bird, aquire focus. When focus is aquired and bird is big enough in the frame shoot burst sequences.
Look at your image, and adjust your settings for next burst (exposure, dof and shutter speed, then later, tame the AF-area modes ).
And you should try a tripod (need a very! sturdy one) with a good pendulum fluid head (don’t know if the term “pendulum” is right in english). And learn to well balance your camera on this head, it’s important for ease of use.
Plan, shot and check result.
And do it again.
Excellent advice!!!
Most people I see at Wakodahatchee Wetlands seem to prefer a monopod over a tripod. Last time I went, it was all hand-held, for me, no support. My Nikon 300mm “P” zoom is plastic, not metal, and until/unless I get tired, I can hold it just as still (maybe more so) than with my bullseye shooting. The D780 has 24 megapixels - I still wonder if I would have been better off with a D850, and almost 50 megapixels. Too late to think about that. But now that I have a monopod, I think that will be helpful.
It is not because tripods are bad for photos. It’s because tripods can be obstructions or tripping hazards on crowded boardwalks. Do you want to tip over your expensive gear or have someone else, while distracted, tipping it over for you? what if it falls in the water? Plus, they are difficult to maneuver in crowds.
Some crowded places have restrictions or bans on tripods for this safety reason. For example - Magee Marsh during the "“Biggest Week in Birding”.
I don’t believe he ever said that or even thought it.
He did, famously introduce himself at the beginning of his comments pushing back against Cecil B. DeMille, the famous right wing reactionary filmmaker who was a supporter of the infamous anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy during the red scare of the 1950’s. When Ford spoke in opposition to Demille he began his comments with , “My name is John Ford. I make westerns”., which have nothing to do with your quote. His westerns were not typical Hollywood shoot 'em up B movie westerns. They were carefully structured story telling with the main characters generally being very honorable while trying to avoid violence. Of course, he also made many films which were not westerns. A number of his films are considered among the greatest films ever made.
Mark
Of course. This is, after all, one of Mike’s threads.
Mark
Yes, the R5 is almost infinitely customizable. I don’t think there is right way/wrong way, and just shared my approach.
I don’t like the Toggle approach because: First, you never know the state of the toggle when you pick up the camera. Second, Eye Detect Off is still “subject tracking” mode, which I demonstrated in the video. Last, the reason I use back button autofocus in the first place is because it lets me focus and recompose, by releasing the back button.
One thing I want to avoid as much as possible putting the camera into a “state.” I want to pick it up and use it and not worry that I changed it to a certain mode the last time I shot. For example, the R5 has eye detect which you must set to people or animals, so when shooting nature, I need to remember to set it back.
He did. Don’t remember in which basic book in film school i read it a very long time ago (in film school) but he said this.
He may have, and it may be in a book somewhere, but a Google search on:
john ford quote “I make films for farmers”
returns no results, so if he did say it, it’s a very obscure quote.
He did say, "It’s no use talking to me about art, I make pictures to pay the rent:
EDITED TO ADD:
Even if you remove the key words ‘john ford quote’, i.e. you search on just the quote, “I make films for farmers” you get no results. NB that still doesn’t mean it’s not a genuine quote but it does lower the probability of it being so. Google still doesn’t know everything (yet 
)
Google search …
I worked with a director who had started out as a street painter and was acclaimed for his new approach, which inspired his generation. But that was before the advent of google/youtube reality.
A few years ago, I spoke to a fan of the genre and gave him the name of this person.
He didn’t know him and immediately googled him, and when he couldn’t find him, his first reaction was not to consider his work…
There are many ways to (re)write history.
Both my Nikons and my Fuji have that ability to be put into a “state”, which will certainly have an affect on my photography the next time I pick up the camera.
My Leica cameras are different, while it doesn’t have “states” it does have “settings” that will affect the images the next time I turn it on.
Simple example - focus settings. Once you change from AF-S to AF-C (single, or continuous) the camera will remember how you set it.
Based on what you wrote, how do you avoid this?
Even ISO - it I set it to ISO 5,000 today, unless I change it back, when I pick it up tomorrow it will still be at ISO 5,000.
My best answer is to reset the camera back to regular settings at the end of each day, except I never remember to do this. It’s an even bigger problem when there are several cameras involved, as in if I pick up my Leica M10 right now, I have no idea what state I left it in the last time I used it.
…all of which is very important for this thread on focusing techniques, as there are so many possibilities, and I need to check all of them before I start using the camera again, even if just to verify that things are set correctly for what I want to do “today”.
From what you’ve written, it sounds like you’re not going to use any of those special settings, as they may mess you up the next time you pick up your camera?
(Possible answer - the Nikon D780 has two “user settings”, which you can pre-set for different situations you might find yourself in. Maybe other cameras offer this option?)
As a life long film buff and a voracious reader, I have read around a dozen books on John Ford and his films. I have also seen every talking picture he ever directed as well a number of the earlier silent ones . I find it hard to believe he would ever make such a silly statement. Perhaps what you read was a poor translation from English and “I make westerns” got turned in “I make movies for farmers” which are two very different things.
Ford was an SOB who bullied his actors unmercifully, John Wayne most of all. However, he was a great story teller and filmmaker. He and his partner Merian C. Cooper were responsible for some of the most highly rated movies ever made.
Mark
i suppose this is the main reason why I don’t touch the various focus point modes and just leave it on single point
Agreed. But, because I hardly ever delve into the menus, it is relatively easy to reset the shutter speed to 1/400sec, aperture to f/10 (where it spends most of its life), ISO 400 and WB to 5600°K (in fact it never leaves there).
But then I don’t photograph much that moves.
I only have two types of camera - LF and MF film with no electronics, and my D850.
I don’t bother with “legacy” digital gear because it is simply too limiting.
Don’t forget the KISS acronym (keep it simple stupid). It means I can concentrate on making an image rather then spending time trying to figure out how all those different cameras work and remembering which camera does what.
Indeed, which is why I explicitly qualified what I said.