Hi, I was just struck by your statement of the short period of time you had with those geese.
Were you praying that your lens would focus, or does yours just lock in all the time. Sometimes things are good with me, I shot so much yesterday that I was bound to get some Bifs, and my lens behaved itself pretty good.
But if those geese had come by me, I am not sure that my lens would focus.
Do you have a secret to share. I do know that if you can get locked in further away it seems to stay on all the way, but if they honk and come up close to me like that, my darn lens can't seem to find them. Sometimes I can see them, and the lens is so out of focus, and it might even come into focus and then go back out, especially if there are trees and stuff behind, or in front, or anywhere.
And I see you did have that situation.
Ginger
Ginger - Autofocus works very well sometimes and can sometimes be frustrating as can be. On the 20D I prefer using the center AF point a lot if I am having less than perfect AF lock. Faster lenses and more light do help a lot also.
One other tip is that Canon's telephotos can be confused if they are not nearly in focus - that is to say that if the lens is focused very close and the subject is near infinity the lens can search quite a bit. The Canon L teles allow you to focus manually without turning off the AF to get them close - AF will usualy lock in real quickly once you get them close. That can be very helpful when you are shooting a bird in the midst of tree limbs or grass blowing in the wind like with this Red Wing Black Bird. He would pop in and out of focus due to the wind blowing the grass around, so manual focus helped keep it sharp. Try it - I think it will help with your 400f5.6 L also.
Comments
Ginger - Autofocus works very well sometimes and can sometimes be frustrating as can be. On the 20D I prefer using the center AF point a lot if I am having less than perfect AF lock. Faster lenses and more light do help a lot also.
One other tip is that Canon's telephotos can be confused if they are not nearly in focus - that is to say that if the lens is focused very close and the subject is near infinity the lens can search quite a bit. The Canon L teles allow you to focus manually without turning off the AF to get them close - AF will usualy lock in real quickly once you get them close. That can be very helpful when you are shooting a bird in the midst of tree limbs or grass blowing in the wind like with this Red Wing Black Bird. He would pop in and out of focus due to the wind blowing the grass around, so manual focus helped keep it sharp. Try it - I think it will help with your 400f5.6 L also.
And another
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Susan