NQS readers will already know that I'm not a photographer, just a birder who carries a camera. Once in a while I get a pleasing bird photo, but mostly I'm happy to get anything which might enhance a blog post. However, the other reason I carry a camera is to get record shots of good birds. Which is where my interest in flight photography comes in. Because how many times is the bird of the day a brief fly-by? My early efforts to capture birds in flight were woeful. Credit where it's due, for me the game-changer was a short piece by a chap named Stephen Ingraham that I came across on a photography forum shortly after I bought my original P900. Type 'birds in flight nikon p900' into Google and you will find it. Or, click HERE. Just in case the link ever dies, I've taken the liberty of saving a screenshot of Stephen's hints and tips and publishing it at the bottom of this post. Essential reading.
So, here are my settings for birds in flight...
First, turn the Mode dial to 'S' (Shutter Priority) then press the 'menu' button. Set each menu option as follows...
Image quality: FINE
Image size: 16m (4608x3456)
Picture control: SD (Standard)
Custom Picture Control: blank - probably a default setting.
White Balance: Auto1 (Auto (normal))
Metering: Spot
Continuous: H (Continuous H)
This is a burst setting, and gives a maximum of ten rapid-fire exposures, depending on how long you press the shutter release. In my view, a vital setting for birds in flight.
ISO sensitivity: A3200 (100-3200)
The camera automatically selects the ISO depending on the light available. In practice that might be anywhere between 100 and 3200. The lower the number, the less noisy (grainy) the photo.
Exposure bracketing: OFF
AF area mode: Target finding AF
The rationale for this setting is explained in the above linked article.
Autofocus mode: AF-F (Full-time AF)
Flash exp. compensation: -0.3 (this might well be a default setting - I never use flash)
Noise reduction filter: NR- (Low - probably another default setting)
Long exposure NR: NR (Auto - another default setting I suspect)
Active D-lighting: OFF
Multiple exposure: OFF
Save user settings: don't touch this!
Reset user settings: don't touch this either!
Zoom memory: ON
Zoom memory enables you to preset a selection of zoom settings. Toggle right,
and you will be presented with a list. I have ticked 24mm, 50mm, 105mm (the
maximum available in macro mode, which I use for moths), 300mm, 500mm, 800mm,
1200mm, 1600mm and 2000mm. To understand how this works in practice, see
below...
Startup zoom position: 50
Automatically sets the zoom at 50mm (i.e. what would be equivalent to 50mm on a 35mm camera) when the camera is switched on. With zoom memory ON (see above), pressing the zoom lever (by the shutter release button) will instantly shift the lens to the next selected zoom position (105mm); press again for 300mm, again for 500mm, and so on. Personally I like this approach, but it might not be for everyone. You can always fine tune a zoom setting manually with the lever on the left hand side of the lens body. However, the main zoom lever by the shutter release will always zoom in or out by the preset steps.
M exposure preview: OFF (again, probably a default setting)
In the field my camera will probably be in 'U' mode for static birds (explained in THIS post) but when a flight shot opportunity presents itself, all I have to do is turn the mode dial to 'S' and I am ready to roll. I tend to leave the camera set at 1/500sec by default, but will up it to 1/640 or faster if the light is good. Sometimes slower in bad light, but blurry wings are a risk.
One other (non-menu) setting that is worth talking about briefly is exposure compensation (or exposure bias) which can often be an important consideration with flight shots, especially when shooting against a bright sky, say. Get it wrong, and you may wind up with a nicely exposed sky and a black silhouette of a bird. Anyway, I'm not going to bang on about it. Rather, just the obvious suggestion that if you're not used to playing around with exposure compensation, then do exactly that - play around with it. Ideally on birds that don't matter.
As Stephen Ingraham points out, there will be a lot of failures. Getting the camera to focus on a bird against a busy background can be a nightmare - sometimes it will, sometimes it won't. As far as I know there is no guaranteed remedy for this, though in desperation I have tried focusing initially on something I reckon is the same distance away as the bird before reframing the shot with the bird in it. And yes, that method is as reliable as it sounds. He also cautions against being tempted to use too high a magnification. Keeping the zoom to 1200mm or less is the safest bet, but decent results are still possible beyond that. But if you are desperate not to blow what might be a fleeting photo-opp, try a very modest zoom initially. Your chances of an in-focus subject might be better, though it may be very small indeed...
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I really didn't want to mess up this Stone-curlew shot at Cogden
in April 2021, because I thought it was heading off. In the event it
swung back towards the beach and dropped in. So, with just a
safety-first 300mm of zoom in play, my Stone-curlew is not
blurry, but is tiny! A pleasing shot though, even so. It was
taken with the P900, but the settings were essentially the same as I use
now with the P950. |
A couple more flight shots where I didn't want to muck it up...
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Another P900 shot: White-tailed Eagle over the garden in
September 2021... |
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...and the original uncropped image, with camera settings attached. Note
exposure compensation of +1.3, though +1.7 or +2 might have been better.
I had to lighten the bird slightly in post-processing. |
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One chance at this one, so it had to be right. A stonking Portland
Pom from spring 2024... |
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...and the original uncropped version, with camera settings attached.
Like the WTE, 1200mm of zoom. Exposure compensation set at zero, which
did leave the image a touch dark. Perhaps +0.3 or even +0.7 might have
been better, but honestly I was happy enough that the bird was in
focus! |
I was planning to include a few more examples, but a trawl through NQS will give you a pretty good idea of what I have managed to extract from the P950, and previously the P900. The P950 has a better view-finder, so in theory my flight shots ought to be improving too. In theory...
I'll close with a screenshot of Stephen Ingraham's helpful tips. The original article includes plenty of pics, with settings attached. Hope you find it as useful as I did...
