How I Practice Manual Focus in Wildlife Photography
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- As a Wildlife Photographer, I eventually got to the point in my career in which I was exhausted with missing focus due to autofocus missing the subject. I decided that I was going to become a 100% manual focus shooter and haven't turned back since! Today, I'll be showing you guys my tricks and how I practice manual focus in wildlife photography. WRITING NOTES RECOMMENDED: plenty of information being shared quickly and can be overwhelming if not written down.
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Jeremy.neipp@gmail.com
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Why Manual Focus?
0:45 - Intro
1:17 - 3 Core Concepts
3:42 - An Important Setting to Mention
4:19 - When to Use These 3 Techniques
7:57 - How I Practice
11:45 - A Few Recommendations
13:27 - One More Giveaway!
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Why not use AF to track and focus and get a series of images to choose? Your technique works but you only get a few images that are in focus. Am I missing something?
Great question Kenneth! In my experience, I’ve actually wound up landing more images in manual focus on Swallows in flight for example as opposed to in autofocus... with incredibly fast subjects flying straight towards a camera, AF often has extreme difficulty keeping up and even if so, will often be slightly offset and tack the back of a bird rather than the front for example. Even with still subjects, I found my AF often missing focus by centimeters if not millimeters, which then resulted in the eye being ever so slightly out of focus. MF therefore allows me not only to hit focus more often in difficult AF scenarios, but also make sure my focus is tack sharp in all scenarios. Immediately, experiencing manual focus will most definitely be a downgrade from autofocus, however, once you get good at it, I would argue it’s more reliable than AF. Again, this is my experience and by no means am I saying AF is worthless, just in my years of experience, I found myself hitting more images in manual focus than in autofocus! Thanks for your question.
@@JeremyNeipp May I ask what gears you are using? Have you tried Canon R5/R6 or Sony A1? You can get a ton of images to choose from with AF at 20 FPS or 30 FPS. Their AF is awesome.
@@JeremyNeipp I hate to be that guy, but I think it's likely because you're shooting with a Panasonic which does not have a phase detect auto focus. Having said that, what you're doing sounds like a good skill set to have and props for making the best of your gear! As long as you're enjoying the process and are happy with your results then that's all that matters.
Most definitely! I haven’t tried those newest models, I have tried a few older Canon’s and a couple different versions of the Sony’s A7 line. They definitely are better than my history of Panasonic line cameras, but still found them struggling in certain scenarios. But again, this is my opinion and my use case. So I share this just to share my experience!
Most definitely you’re undoubtedly right that my Panasonic lineup plays a role in my decision to go MF. However, I still have used other camera lines in the past and run into bumps. However, Panasonic is definitely a step down from other brands in AF. To me, manual focus appealed because now I can only miss a focus due to lack of my own pulling focus skill, rather than getting frustrated by a missed shot by a computer locking system. This is my personal preference and by no means worldwide, so great wildlife photographers can shoot exclusively AF and that’s awesome! I just felt that this skill set was an important one to have under my belt, and I’d rather rely on it. Thanks for your feedback. I think this is a valuable comment thread as it’s not something I talked about in the video.
You are actually right
I also shoot in manual focus and
My images turn out to be better than auto focused photo
Because sometimes auto focus is a big irritation 😅
Thanks for sharing your experience too!! Glad you’ve found value in it as well!
Good day Jeremy you have shared your shooting tips clear and precise, where others might just touch and go. Thumbs up for your generosity.
That been said we need to practice, practice and practice... with more practice we will be able to anticipate where and when our moving subject next move/direction.
And that apply to any photography field.
So glad it helped! I really wanted to give good details to all those who have asked. Undoubtably Practice is the most important part. It’s not an overnight switch and definitely takes work. Always a good reminder to hear that from others as well!
Valuable insight especially for me that love taking photos of wild birds. I landed to your channel while I was doing yt search how to use manual mode to capture quality bird photos. Thank u for sharing ur knowledge. I did checked out ur ig as well, but ur last month long caption showed you’re on a break right now which I somehow understand what u going thru. All artists go thru with the burn out. Most especially for self taught artist like myself who hasn’t gotten real commission offers on my drawings and paintings. This is why for the meantime I’m shifting to wild bird photography to spice up my passion a bit and get on top of the competitive world of Art. Looking for your insightful tips when you’re ready to inspire more new aspiring & beginner photographers like myself. Best wishes to u.
Super glad that this was able to help you in your search for learning how to manual focus! I think it's a skill undervalued :) thanks for sharing your thoughts and encouragement! I'm looking forward to getting back in the swing of things.
Amazing video ! That’s really great! Thanks for sharing !
Thank you!! So glad it was able to help you out.
Thanks for the tips. Lovely video
Glad they were helpful! 🙌🏻
These are really useful tips for me. I wanted to try out wildlife photography but didn't want to spend a lot of money. So I got a Sony a6000 for 215$, and a 300mm zoom Minolta lens for 30$, plus a 30$ adapter.
That’s awesome to hear Robert, glad I could help you with your setup! It’s pricey to get a good AF system so I love that Manual focusing can allow you to use cheaper gear
With old Panasonic DFD bodies these skills are essential. With good PDAF cameras like Z8/9, A1/7/9, R3/5/6, OM-1 they seem redundant. Except for prefocus maybe which could be usefull no matter what system do you use.
You have some very nice technique Jeremy. Thanks for sharing it with us.👍👍
Thanks Terry!! Glad you enjoyed the value. Hope you’re staying encouraged!
@@JeremyNeipp I haven’t been out much lately do to our massive heatwave. Am going out early in the morning though, to photograph some of our local forest fires. Only a 20 mile drive.
And another awesome video from you🥳.
Thank you so much for these tips! The AF on my 12 year old Nikon D90 is not really good and I often miss the right moment because of it.... So now I'm going to practice manual focusing....
I think it would be really interesting to see how your technique would compare to a Sony A1 or Canon R5, since they have Animal Eye AF.
I took a look at a video of the Sony A1 with the Sony 600 f4. With Birds-Eye AF and a bird flying right at the photographer, about 80 out of 90 images were sharp - the same with cheaper lenses.
I think a comparison would make sense and be very interesting.
Anyway, looking forward to the next video😉🙃
So glad I could help! It’s amazing what you can do when you work on your manual focusing skills... I hope it serves you well in your wildlife photography journey!
That would be a very interesting comparison! Probably won’t be anytime soon, but I’ll definitely keep that recommendation in mind and if I receive a good opportunity to do that comparison I’ll go for it! Thanks for your encouragement!
Amazing video. So many great tips. Do you always use a tripod when using manual focus or do you ever handhold?
Thank you!! If I’m out just for photography, I use a tripod only about 30% of the time and handheld 70% of the time, but that’s also cause I’ve gotten very comfortable with MF now! However, if I’m out shooting video, I almost always take my tripod out for reasons of stable footage
Very helpful 👍
☺️🙌🏻
Wonderful technique to have as backup I think. The newest cameras are so incredibly powerful it's almost a non issue. Image the power in 5 years from now. It does take the skill a little out of the equation.
Even the best cameras nowadays will fail in cluttered situations still however, which is why it's always important to have the skill in the back pocket at the very least :)
Practice, practice, and more practice. My neighbors probably think I am nuts. I take a lot of pictures I don't really care about just trying to practice a skill. You are right that water fowl is good to practice on. I take a lot of duck pictures but every once in a while you will find you took one that is uncommon in your area. I don't know birds as well as I should yet.
That’s most definitely right!! It takes a lot of practice to get good at it. Glad you’ve found some of the tips helpful in your own journey too.
I shoot birds with manual focus because I'm using a 2016 made entry level canon 1300D dslr ,and the autofocus is very slow in that.
Find this very helpful
Glad it helped!! I think it’s an important skill for every person to learn at least a little of
Awesome stuff Jeremy! Always love your stuff!
Thanks so much man!! Glad you enjoyed. Keep up the good work yourself!
Hello Jeremy. May I ask your opinion. I have Canon 400mm f5.6 AF (nice and light for walking around) and 300mm f2.8 MF primes (heavy, need monopod), both are non-IS. Do you think I would be better off using a Full Frame mirrorless with no IBIS, or a Panasonic G9 to get IBIS? I'm assuming with the heavy lens mostly on a monopod that IBIS doesn't add much but do you think it should tilt the decision on the lighter lens? I'd get the latest Canon R6 with IBIS but I the G9 is less $$$ even with speedbooster, what do u think
Hard decision! Personally, I would go with the heavier lens as it's better, but for me, weight really matters very little. So I think the question is really just dependent on how important that really is to you and what your budget is. With that being said, the G9 with a speedbooster is a great setup as well and you can't go wrong with that!
@@JeremyNeipp Thanks! I guess what I was wondering was, for these FF non-IS lenses. Is IBIS very helpful with 600mm equivalent. Have you been finding your FF lenses work better on one vs the other, like say your G9 vs FF, or about equal?
They seem to work about the same on both in my opinion! I haven't researched a technical answer on this but for me, I can't notice a difference.
@@JeremyNeipp Thanks!! keep up the good work
What fps do you need for each types of focus ?
What tripod is it?
my tripod is not very stable whit a 600mm lenses.
It's a combo of these two parts below!
Movo GH800 Carbon Fiber Gimbal Head - amzn.to/3itMmDp
Innorel Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs - amzn.to/3hQ6Fw0
Will following focus work on slow burst cameras? Like 6 frames per second for example.
It’s not ideal, but it still will work 👌
@@JeremyNeipp I tried it a bit, I can see this working with practice and with the brib flying towards me or a predictable path. I only have 300mm lens and a Sony DSLR-A100. Still learning the basics. I haven't yet gone to the nice birding spots we have flamingo$ which I imagine due to their size might be easier for me to get good photos of. And I think autofocus on these older ones is not usable at all for moving subjects.
Swallows are hard🥲
Hii can you dm me i have some questons
You lost me at Panasonic 7d2 user
Their isn’t a Panasonic 7d2 camera? I’m not sure what you are talking about
@@JeremyNeipp I’m a canon 7d2 user
@@JeremyNeipp i think he meant “you lost me at Panasonic. -7d2 user”