Best technique for EM1ii and Pany100-400

[FarFromSane]

Going on a birding trip to Bosque del Apache and would like to improve my technique.
Looking for some discussion and hands-on experiences on best practices and technique with this combo with fast moving objects like airplanes, cars, birds etc.

My typical settings are Manual Shutter/Aperture with Auto-ISO, C-AF (no tracking), Silent shutter and the 25 point box.
Shutter speeds usually greater than 640... typically 1-2000 @ F6.1 to F8.

I've had some excellent results ... but often many shots within the same burst are not sharp at all. This is a puzzle.

Last outing was at the airshow with a lot of panning.

I have a gut feel that the Lens OIS is fighting the pan. I was using the OIS with internal IBIS disabled.

 

[Phocal]

Trade the 100-400 for the 300/4 is my best advice.

 

[relic]

Have you tried disabling the lens IS and using the IBIS setting that allows panning? (I admit that this is just a wild guess).

 

[FarFromSane]

Mostly interested in what others use.... Not just about the Lens OIS/vs IBIS but technique/settings in general.

 

[Holoholo55]

Scott Bourne has a lot of experience at Bosque del Apache. Might be worth looking up what he did. He uses Olympus gear, so he won't have any advice specific to the 100-400.
https://picturemethods.com/

 

[bassman]

My experience is that the lens IS is meaningfully better than IBIS for the 100-400/E-M1.2 combo. I shot it extensively on an African Safari mostly with S-AF, silent shutter, A priority usually wide open, Auto ISO up to 3200 and down to 1/250. Not as much movement as you’re likely to see, but pretty good keeper rate. This was summer 2017 so an older firmware rev. Handheld or on a beanbag for all shots.

 

[ac12]

Try turning OFF all the IS, both lens and IBIS.
If your hit rate improves, that is a culprit.

How smooth and accurate is your panning?
The better you can pan, the less the camera is working to determine which focus point to use.
Practice, practice, practice.

I prefer to free-hand when I track action, and handle the camera like a shotgun.
But depending on the weight of the kit, and how long I am shooting, I may use a monopod to reduce the load on my arms.

But a monopod sucks in the wind, as it has no stability in the horizontal axis (L/R, F/B).​

In the wind or for extended shooting or a heavy kit, you need a good tripod, with a decent gimbal head.

A gimbal head is my choice for tracking a fast moving subject, with movement in in both azimuth and elevation.​

In my experience a pan and ball heads were usable ONLY if there was no change in elevation, so you just rotate it in azimuth. If you have to change elevation, both the pan and ball heads were useless/too difficult to use. Which is why I got a gimbal head.​

 

[blackfox wildlife]

hmmm I have this combo , so the first thing to ask is ... is your firmware up to date i.e v3.01 ... turn off auto iso if possible calculate on available light 800 iso is a good base , if your doing static birds the pinpoint focus is best , if concentrating on b.i.f the I would suggest either 25 or all focus points as once that bird leaves the box you have to regain focus .. personally I dont find stuff in the background loses focus but be careful .. on that lens f7.1 or f.8 are the sweet spots ... ensure that you have a solid lock on before firing .. limit your shutter speed to 10fps .. hold the lens steady I would suggest practise makes perfect so try to find the local sea-gull flock before departing and practise ..set your i.s to all motion .reset ibis to lens priority in body does not work with that lens anyway .. ensure that shutter speed is higher than 1/1250th sec thats about it really heres one of mine ,plenty more on my Flickr stream if you link back
noisy bugger by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr

 

[brerfox]

Just to muddle things up, you might try lowering the number or AF points. The lesser the better as long as you can keep the point on target.

 

[FarFromSane]

Thanks everyone !

 

[blackfox wildlife]

I am actually finding the pinpoint a.f single one is the most accurate as long as it’s kept on target