[BirderBert]

I was at Boundary Bay yesterday shooting the Long-eared Owl in the failing light, tripod mounted with ISO set initially at 200 then up to 400. I had learned a few months ago that my in-body IS should be turned off when shooting with a tripod. My slow lens rig has a max aperture of 7.1 so the shutter speeds slowly dropped from 1/40 sec to 1/4 sec. Now I know that 1/4 sec is theoretically too slow for shooting birds but I decided to give it a try with this motionless subject. Many of the very slowest shutter speed shots were a little fuzzy and being unable to decide if it was slight motion in the bird or vibration, I decided to throw it out to the Group for advice. Because of the nature of the fuzziness it looks like slight vibration. The lens combo is equivalent to 800mm [35mm]. Do you turn IS back on when shooting with a tripod at speeds of 1/30? or less??

[stusteelhead]

With owls you can shoot really slow but the IS isn't the solution, mirror lockup and a remote release is. 1/30 s is about as slow as you can shoot pushing the trigger yourself with a long lens setup, between you moving the camera and the vibration of the shutter it is very tough to get a sharp photo. Your in camera IS will probably help a bit in the 1/60 - 1/30 range but beyond that mirror lockup is the solution. It moves the mirror up avoiding the vibration from mirror slap and then with a remote release you shoot the head turn of the owl. But does your camera have mirror lockup is another question. Oh and a really good tripod setup helps alot too.
Here's a screech owl at 1/3 second

[BirderBert]

It's a mirrorless system so lockup is not an option. I will look into the remote release. The tripod is an old 3 section Gitzo Reporter which I have used for the past 30+ years! It should be more than adequate for my lightweight system, but who knows? Especially since I am pushing 800mm through a Micro 4/3 sensor!!

Cool pics of the Screech Owl by the way!

[stusteelhead]

If its mirrorless all the better, no mirror slap to contend with, just get the remote release and should really help out

[Colin]

I was at Boundary Bay yesterday shooting the Long-eared Owl in the failing light, tripod mounted with ISO set initially at 200 then up to 400.

I think that you'd have much more success if you went higher on the ISO. 200 & 400 is very low, and will force a slower shutter speed (unless of course the light is very bright).

[BirderBert]

Cranking up the ISO is exactly what I want to avoid! It may guarantee me a shot but it kills image quality. My M4/3 system doesn't do as well at high ISO as say a FF sensor!

[Colin]

Cranking up the ISO is exactly what I want to avoid! It may guarantee me a shot but it kills image quality. My M4/3 system doesn't do as well at high ISO as say a FF sensor!

I don't mean really high, but staying at 200 or 400 in moderate or lower light situations will guarantee a poor image. It is obviously a graduated scale from low noise to too much noise, and I know that your smaller sensor is more sensitive to higher ISO than a FF, but I would encourage you to do some experimenting. You might be surprised.

BTW, are you shooting in Raw or JPG?

[stusteelhead]

I rarely if ever go above 400 iso on DX, I agree higher ISO really degrades the image and print quality on anything but the newest fullframe cameras. A good tripod, remote release and excellent technique for me will always trump cranking up the ISO

[Colin]

I know what you both mean, but I think that you can maybe go a little higher in ISO to achieve a faster shutter speed. This is especially true if you're shooting in Raw, and eliminating the noise in ACR (or whatever software you use) before saving as a JPG.


I got my Canon 6D a year ago, and I now kick myself for remaining down at low ISOs for the first long while. Sooooo many shots in that time could have been so much better. I just wasn't aware of how good the camera was at the higher numbers. Now, I just set the shutter speed for what I want, use Auto ISO, and let it do what it needs to do. Again, I fully understand that the FF sensor is more capable in this regard, but I'd suggest try going a bit higher and see what happens. Maybe try it on some non-critical test shots.

This was shot at 12,800 ISO on a dull day. It had some fine noise which cleaned up nice in ACR:

[stusteelhead]

Well the Canon 6D is a newer full frame, compared to m4/3 there is no comparison. Yup it does look decent as a screen shot but the noise reduction will affect the detail but I also see a shot that easily could have been taken at 400 ISO unless it was really windy,and it would have been even better imo

[Colin]

OK, keep your ISO levels super low then. Just tryin' to help.

http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blog/f ... ys-needed/

[stusteelhead]

I shoot a D300 so yup gonna keep my ISO low and Bert has an even smaller sensor so yup needs to keep his ISO even lower. In my experience I see people often shooting higher shutter speeds then necessary to freeze their subject because of poor technique and inferior camera support. A good tripod will allow you to lower your ISO which not only gives you less noise, but also much more detail and much greater dynamic range and colour, as well as much greater ability to pull shadows.. But yes your canon 6D allows for much higher ISO usage (as long as you don't have to crop) I'd be comfortable shooting that camera up to 3200 even 6400 ISO in a pinch to freeze action but for perched birds I would shoot it at 800 ISO or lower. Lower ISO will for the foreseeable future be better then higher, only you know what results you are happy with. I am happy with my camera at 400 ISO