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Auto focus doesn't work on bird surrounded by foliage

rfermat
Contributor

I have a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, purchased in late 2016.  I've taken at least 10000 photos with it.  I use either the EF 100-400 IS II or the 70-300 image stabilizer lens.  In either case, when I am photographing a bird that is perched on a branch and has background foliage, AF usually doesn't work.  I have lost at least 70% of the oppotunities for such photos, as eventually the bird flies off.  The %$^&#$ camera insists on focusing on the background or foreground.   These are situations where I am reasonably close to the bird, so that it opccupies maybe 1/12 or 1/16th of the image.

 

This is beyond frustrating.  I have experimented with many different AF settings and nothing seems to do any good.  

 

Anyone else have this problem?

33 REPLIES 33


@huskyC wrote:

Nice shots. What are the gears you used and settings please ?


Brewers Blackbird

EOS 6D Mark II, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM+EF 1.4x III

@1/1600, f/8, ISO 2500, @560mm

 

[EDIT]]

It is the same photo, BTW.  These are cropped and uncropped versions of the same photo.

 

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

Nice shots.  I almost never use ISO above 500.  Maybe I should.

BTW that's a Common Grackle.


@rfermat wrote:

Nice shots.  I almost never use ISO above 500.  Maybe I should.

BTW that's a Common Grackle.


I am no bird expert.  I looked it up, and came up with what I thought was a good match.

With a 5D3, you should get great results at the higher ISO values, too.  While many prefer to shoot Av mode, I prefer to use Manual mode with ISO set to AUTO.  I set an upper ISO limit in the menus.  I want a fixed shutter speed and aperture setting.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

"I almost never use ISO above 500.  Maybe I should."

 

Yeah, you need to rethink that. 800 to 1600 is great and sometimes I use 3200.  Remember each doubling of ISO is one stop.

The question becomes is one stop going to make the photo?

 

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!
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