Out of focus fast moving targets EOS R6 Mark II

[Brocstar]

Hello. I’m a novice photographer. But I’ve been shooting with the R6 Mark II for about a month now. I have the RF 100 x 500 lens from Canon. I was shooting some fast moving birds that were feeding today and a lot of my photos were out of focus.  my lens was set from 100 to infinity. I had auto focus on. And I was shooting high-speed. From a far the photos look great but once you zoom in you can tell there is a lot of noise. I kept my ISO at 100 for most of the shooting as it was very bright out. Is shutter 1/500 too slow with an aperture of 5.6f, ISO 100 not great for high speed. I was hoping to get more tact photos. 

Another couple shots I placed were water shots of big groups of birds, dive bombing bait. I was hoping to get some tack shots of the pelicans and seabirds penetrating the water. But they’re pretty dull and not very sharp.One instance of that my settings were 1/5000. F7.1 and iso 1000, water super sharp birds not. 

Another example is 1/640, f7.1 iso… Water sharp birds not. 

I am fully zoomed at 500mm

I want to make sure I am using the best settings for fast birds feeding and catching food as theses opportunities do not come up very often. 

Seemed like on the solo shots with fish hanging from birds mouths, camera was having hard time focusing.  

Any help helps. 

Thanks 

[March411]

Brocstar, Welcome to the site!

So it's you first time out, don't be discouraged it only gets better. I have the same setup and it took me a bit to find my sweet spot. You should have gotten some pretty sharp images 1/5000 so I am going to assume your point of focus was not on target. Generally I am @ 1/2500 or 1/3200 to freeze BIF. It's most likely the way you setup of you camera, action, birds in flight need a paticular setup profile. I set mine up exactly like the video below explains and it works outstanding for birds and wildlife.

Most important thing, once you find a setup that works save it to one of your custom settings. Once you turn the camera off, without saving the custom settings they could get lost. After watching the video you may have additional questions, come back here as there are many members that will assist you find that sweet spot. 

Autofocus Setup and Button Layout for Bird and Wildlife Photography 

[Brocstar]

Thank you so much.  I guess my wife said they are pretty sharp but once I zoom they dont look great, that is to me they don’t.. I was hoping to get some of the action shots more clear especially when they would fly over with a fish hanging out of the mouth. 

[Brocstar]

As you can see on the photos I uploaded. The invidious  bird photos are out of focus.  The photos with multiple birds close up, the water is in focus more than the subjects.  I know I am still learning and these are all shot using Manual mode.  I think I need to learn Av and Tv more but I get frustrated when I cannot change all settings. I also think my AF was not set correctly. Do you have any other tips on how you set your AF?  I am taking my daughter to a play here shortly so do not have time to watch the video but I will when I get home.

Thank you again for taking the time to educate a novice like myself.

Broc  

[Waddizzle]

You’re too far away to capture tack sharp photos of individual birds.

How much do you know about the basics of photography?  Learning to use a camera effectively is a bit like learning how to play a new musical instrument effectively.

You are facing two learning curves. You would need to learn some music theory before you can learn to play any instrument.

 Learning to drive a car is no different. All cars pretty much work the same way.  Their dashboard might look different but the same controls are there.  But you must learn the rules of the road to go from point A to point B.

Cameras are no different. They may look a little different but they all work the same way.  I bring this up because learning about the basics of photography is what is most important.  

There are many videos on YouTube covering “Exposure Triangle” and “Depth of Field”.  It is also important to learn how to properly hold the camera, too. 

[Brocstar]

Thank you for the help. Sorta.. 

I do understand what Exposure Triangle is and Depth of field and how Aperture affects those two things greatly. I also understand that I am a novice to say the least so take that with a grain of salt.  I appreciate all those who can help someone like myself learn the art without criticism.. With that said I appreciate your input about being to far from my subjects. The birds that were flying over my house with bait they had just plucked from the ocean were both far way and flying at very quick paces.  This was my first attempt at capturing a feeding frenzy like this. It was pretty exciting to watch and I did get a few keeper shots but not as many as I would hope. There’s always tomorrow 

[March411]

Broc,

Waddizzle is correct there is a learning curve and you have picked a challenging way to start. Birds in flight (BIF) is not one of the easiest ways to get started. I can tell you one thing is certain, the body and lens that you are using can produce outstanding images!

Canon offers a free piece of software that works well identifying your point of focus but I believe you need to be shooting in RAW.  If you don't shoot RAW go into your menu and set it up , then download Digital Photo Professional.

Digital Photo Professional 

This application will clearly show you where your point of focus is on a RAW image.

Also, it appears that you are attempting to photograph the entire cluster of birds and as Waddizzle pointed out at a pretty good distance. Heat from the sand, the wind and overall atmospheric conditions on the beach could be contributing to your focus challenges. Get close, pick a specific bird and using spot focus target that bird, follow its actions while taking pictures. See if that doesn't improve your hit rate. Taking a cluster photograph and cropping out of the group isn't going to produce sharp images. For the lack of any better term you have to be more tactical.

We all started out pretty much like you, stick with it! I sounds like you are educating yourself, kudos to you. Continue to watch some videos and learn. The video I linked to, that gentlemen is a Wildlife photographer and he shares some good information, tricks and tip, setting up back button focus (BBF) focused on primarily wildlife photography.

[TomRamsey]

The feeding frenzy scene is a very hard scene for anyone or camera to pick out and individual bird since there are so many and many are moving fast.  Terns are notoriously fast and unpredictable, even though sometimes you have a chance when they hover before a dive.  Sorry, I don’t have actual experience with the Camera to give specifics, I’ve just recently got my R6 Mark II which is my first Canon camera, and am trying to learn all of the autofocus settings.  I don’t yet have a long lens (200-800 on order) to try out the settings and technique. I’ve shot diving seabirds with Pentax cameras with some success, the R6 Mark II has a much better autofocus system, so I feel learning technique and settings are very important skills.  No matter how good a camera is, it doesn’t take pictures, the user does.

[stevet1]

Brocstar,

Two things:

1) Just as your zoom is amplified or increased, so is your camera shake. The slightest little twitch is going to show up more at those distances. Using a tripod or monopod will help reduce that shake.

2) What focus mode are you using? Single point? Or area? Or tracking?

In a large area focusing mode, the camera might tend to focus on what's closer to you than what you really want to focus on, and that's why the water might be in focus, but the bird is not.

T,ry choosing a single focus point and pick out one single bird and zero in on him (or her).

As you learn more, you might want to put your camera in Servo mode, and use back-button focusing, or BBF. With that method, combined with Servo, you use your thumb to continuously press a button on the back of the camera to keep your subject in focus while you use your index finger to actually take the shot.

Steve Thomas

[Brocstar]

Thank you again for the insight and link. I will be watching more of his videos soon. Will update you on my next attempt as I think my auto focus was not set up correct. I also need to increase my shutter a bit as I noticed most my photos are at 1/500.  I can go higher but I will keep you posted. 

Broc