Captureing flying birds

[hb1944]

I am having some difficulty capturing birds in flight. I am using the 50D which has 9 AF points. I wonder if the 7D with 19 points would work better? By the way I am using the Canon 500mm f4.

[Photo-John]

The 7D does have a better AF system than the 50D. But lots of photographers are getting great results with lesser cameras than either of those. I'm no wildlife photography expert but I have no doubt the guys on our Nature & Wildlife forum can help you out. I expect you just need to learn some better technique. Hope you don't mind that I moved your post to the Nature & Wildlife forum

[mn shutterbug]

I always use just the center AF point and make sure it's set for AI Servo, not one shot. Other than that, it just takes practice locking the focus on the subject and keeping it locked on while you press the shutter. I've used this method with both my 30D and 50D. Also, 1/1250 sec. is just about the minimum shutter speed you'll need and if you can, and still maintain a good shutter speed, stop down the aperture to F8 or F9. That will give you a bit more depth of field.

[Loupey]

What kind of birds? Small ones flying erratically or large ones flying fairly straight?

In my parts we don't have too many large/exotic species and I've never had much luck with AF with the 50D, 40D, 30D, or 10D cameras - especially for the small birds occupying a very small percentage of the screen.

The 7D has a better AF system than the 50D (so I'm told anyway) so it should be better. Whether it can do what you envision is entirely a different matter.

[mn shutterbug]

I guess the type of bird would make a huge difference. If shooting birds on the wing such as eagles, the 50D should do the job just fine. On the other hand, woodpeckers are next to impossible. I have plenty of sharp bif's with my 30D, such as eagles, swans, snow geese and Canadian geese. But, these are large birds that fly pretty straight.

[paulnj]

Sounds like you need to practice panning with your subject.