how to shoot moving animals with is lenses

[webejamn]

i spent an hour shooting some mating golden eyes, they were playing around and showing off, it was great, i wouldnt give up the experance, but not one of the shots turned out...well not one of hte moving bird shots,
i had the lens on mode 1, should i have turned it off or put it on mode 2 or what.
the lens was the 100-400is.. thanks for the help

[jj1987]

yeah you want mode two. Panning is hard, even with the IS in panning mode.

[mbze430]

mode 2 is for panning.

Panning takes practice. But best to remember to follow through the pan. even after you hear the shutter..

[webejamn]

what if i hold the camera still... and let the bird fly across my view.. the shutter speed was at 300 or so.. that should be fast enough

[jj1987]

what if i hold the camera still... and let the bird fly across my view.. the shutter speed was at 300 or so.. that should be fast enough
Obviously you'll have no panning effect, and thats something that cant be photoshopped well.

As a general rule, you need to have at least 1/400th for 400mm, and probly 1.6 times that 400 for the crop factor. Ill ignore the crop factor and hope that IS takes care of that.

If your not panning, dont go to mode 2 as we had earlier suggested though.

If you want to practice panning, find a dog owner and photograph them playing catch. Lots of panning opertunities, and usually the exposure is easier than on white birds to learn.

[Jesper]

what if i hold the camera still... and let the bird fly across my view.. the shutter speed was at 300 or so.. that should be fast enough
If you hold the camera still, you could use the normal IS mode (mode 1). But that will ofcourse not freeze the animals.

A shutter speed of 1/300s might not be enough if the animals are moving fast. Try turning up the ISO and choose a large aperture to get even faster shutter speeds.