Advice please - birds in flight (especially flocks)

[davidedric]

This post was prompted by a thread in general photography about focus points.

Focusing birds in flight?

I only do this occasionally. Using a Canon 600D and a Tamron 70-300, I set AI Servo, select the centre focus point only, and pan with the bird. That can work OK with a single bird - here's an example



But how do you manage a flock? I use the same technique, but it's certainly not ideal.

I find that if I allow the camera to select the focus point it generally hunts, and I end up with nothing but frustration. My camera and lens aren't the fastest to focus, it may be different if I had Canon L series glass, but I'd be very interested to know how the bird photographers out there go about it.

Thanks,

Dave

[rtbaum]

+1

[Mark von Kanel]

Manual focus? i think we are all getting lazy, people have been taking photos of flocks of birds way before AF why not take i step back? its something i have resolved to do when i get home....

[davidedric]

Manual focus

Blimey, I'm not that good! You are right, though, not to get too reliant on gadgets. I 'm OK with manual on landscapes and stuff that doesn't move around, but it's all much harder without a split prism.