Fulmar Photos

These birds were travelling along cliffs at great speed today - a friend had a speed gun and tracked one of them at 60mph. They are one of my fav birds and I only wish i had a lens to catch up with them!

These are the best of the bunch

k-5 and 150 - 500(OS turned off in camera and lens

What is the reason for turning off all stabilisation?

The OS is great for static stuff but not great IMO for action.

Theres a slight delay before it kicks in... I dont use it at all for birds. I know you can use the panning (number 2 option) but its a little slow for me

I would imagine that it would be counter-productive having the anti-shake turned on when panning / moving the camera quickly as the mechanism wouldn't adjust quickly enough to the movement of the camera and this would result in every shot being wasted. I'm sure Alistair will correct me if I'm wrong!

Regards
David

Edit: Alistair was too quick for me!

exactly

The difference is remarkable. Im not dismissing Sigmas OS though. Its fantastic - just not for birds that move all over the place

That third shot is superb Alistair, a real testament to your camera skills.

Regards
David

I'd be interested to see a set, with one with both on then individually on.
I like them all but the look in its eye in the last one is the winner

Magical birds. Fantastic flyers. Well done Alistair.

As to image stabilization. if we use the reciprocal of focal length for shooting handheld (and adding for the crop factor), no-one should be needing OS or IS at the shutter speeds you have for these.

As to the internal stabilization, I've missed shots of static subjects because I've had to take the shot before its kicked in. So, always off for wildlife, whenever possible. At least with the in lens OS, you can physically see the image stabilize, so know when its kicked in.

I like No 2 best, great action capture but that lovely soft 'under-lighting' makes it special.

Thanks guys. They are special birds.
Glad you like