[quote name='Jeremy Payne' date='Apr 29 2009, 08:17 AM' post='279911']
Here's a couple where I got much closer ...
Jeremy, That's the ticket. Both of these are good shots.
Hans, single-point focus probably is the right approach with the 1Ds mk3, but the Nikon D3 is a different beast altogether. With the D3, 51 point continuous focus actually works very well. I've shown this guy before and I don't want to beat the image to death, but it's one I might have missed without 51 point and continuous. I was able to get pretty close to him. I focussed with the center sensor and then moved the camera up and to the left. With continuous focus the active sensor stayed on the bird. I had to keep cranking down the zoom as I approached him. When he took off he flew across my, by then 165mm focal length. The camera tracked him perfectly. If I'd used single focus and locked on, keeping him in focus would have been a crap shoot. It might have worked and it might not have worked, depending on how he flew. With 51 point and continuous I've seen a large increase in the number of good bird shots over using a single AF point. But of course, that's with the D3. I suspect Jeremy's D700 will do the same thing. On the other hand, different setups work best for different folks. All you can do is try all the combinations and see what works best for you. ISO on this one, by the way, turned out to be 500. That's close to what I often get with auto ISO, f/8 and 1/1000th.
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