Need help shooting action shots

I shoot a lot of wildlife. I have the 20d and I just picked up a 100-400l a couple weeks ago. Now I have a bunch of eagles hanging out at the river not far from home. I can't seem to capture good sharp images of them flying. I took some great shots today of them but not many turned out very good. Usally blury and not in focus. Not sure what setting to use. I shot in av mode today at 6.3 and sun for white balance. I am no pro and am really just getting started. Would like some tips on how to shot these shots. Thank you in advance

Hey there! Well, I've done my share of action shots so I guess I can tell you what I do. First use TV shutter speed priority. When capturing flight you want a pretty high shutter speed. Try 1000 and have an ISO of 400. Make sure the camera is set on AI SERVO. This will allow the camera to continually refocus on the moving bird. Make sure you pan the camera as the bird flies. Check your AF point metering, either use automatic or center if your panning skills are good. Oh, and of course make sure it's on continuous shooting.
Hope this helps, let me know how it goes!

I have shot just about all of my wildlife in AV mode, which is what I shoot in most of the time. With experience you can control your shutter speed by adjusting the f-stop. AI Servo is a must when doing your wildlife shooting as was pointed out above. You cannot get audible confirmation of focus when using this mode.

What focus mode are you shooting in. I tend to work with a center point and then make sure that I am centered on the subject. I have done a great deal of wildlife work with the 100-400 and am more than happy with the results.

With that lens (good one!) I'd try at least 1/500; f/8 to f/11; ISO 400 on a bright day to try to keep some detail in the underside. And shoot only on "M", 'cause the bright sky will confuse the meter & want to underexpose.

Examples of why you can't trust your camera's meter, regardless of metering mode.
Curtis's thread: Comparisons of metering modes - an eye opener!

Need an exposure crutch? Again, if you get a reading of f/11 here, I'd try f/8 to keep the underside looking good. Try a few at both & see what is working best for you.

Thank you for your imput. It looks like I was on the right track for the most part. One thing I did do wrong is I shot in AI Focus. I am thinking that is why I got so many blured shots. I was messing with the f stops to change my shutter speed and see the differnet results from that. I shot at iso 200 and it was a nice sunny day and I was getting 1/800 to 1/1200 at f6.3. That should have been good enough. I will get back out there and shoot in AI Servo. I don't know why but I had it in my head I needed to shoot in AI Focus. I still got some nice shots but I had a ton more that I missed because of focus problems. Here is one that I like.
http://the-outdoorsman1.home.mchs​i.com/125.jpg

That's a very nice one! Did you enter it for the Book?

PhotosGuy wrote in post #2650015
That's a very nice one! Did you enter it for the Book?

Thank you. What book would that be.

We're making a POTN Book of images! Sorry, I guess you missed it as submissions closed a week ago. You'll still be able to vote starting Feb 19th.
-=Official=- GREAT POTN BOOK planning thread

Ignore everone else EXCEPT, SSIM and I.

Basically because we are both in agreement. Not only that, we are also brilliant.

My friend downloaded this ebook Guide to Photography and part 3 is about nature photography and wildlife and is very good.

Jon, The Elder wrote in post #2653432
Ignore everone else EXCEPT, SSIM and I.

Basically because we are both in agreement. Not only that, we are also brilliant.

Bwhahahahaha good one Jon.

What about using the IS for action shots?