Sony A6400 Bird Photography Settings

[Lee H]

Hello all,

I have just bought the Sony A6400 and was wondering what settings people use for birds and birds in flight?

With being new to the system I was wondering which settings would be best.

I've used Aperture Priority to good use with my Canon, if anyone can help I'd appreciate it.

Cheers

Lee

 

[Tim Mayo]

Hey Lee,

Congrats on the a6400! Which lens are you using with it?

As for settings for birds and birds in flight.

First make sure that you are using the mechanical shutter and not electric/silent otherwise you’ll probably see some distortion from the rolling shutter in your images.

You’ll definitely want to be using AF-C and a Drive Mode like Hi or Hi+.

For birds in flight a Focus Area like Wide or Zone will work best, either with or without tracking. For perched birds you’ll probably want to use a small or medium spot, I prefer the tracking option here as it helps with composition. Setting up a custom button to quickly switch between these two focus areas can be useful.

I prefer Shutter Priority or Manual over Aperture Priority as normally for birds I like to have more control over the shutter speed than the aperture. Then usually Auto ISO unless the light isn’t changing a great deal. You can set ISO limits if you wish to avoid it going too high.

That should hopefully get you started. Let us know how you get on!

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Good morning Lee, welcome.

As you are no doubt aware overall settings are many and varied and to cover these in detail, it would be best to
visit one of the many you tube sites for comprehensive details.......Marc Galer, Steve Perry and Mark Smiths sites
have such details from which to set your camera up initially before imposing your personal preferences.

On the issue of using Aperture priority as your primary shooting mode some people do use it with good effect but
as a birder myself I regard full Manual mode as being the most effective/flexible but do have a seperate set up for
action and birds in AP which i will use occasionally, subject to local circumstances,(see Marc Galers set ups as he
prefers aperture mode for action and birds).

I do not use the A6400 but have attached two sample settings sheets for the Sony A1 from Marc Galers site, but
am sure if you visit his site you will be able to obtain similar details for the A6400.

Hope this helps.....

View attachment 23211View attachment 23212

 

[Lee H]

Hey Lee,

Congrats on the a6400! Which lens are you using with it?

As for settings for birds and birds in flight.

First make sure that you are using the mechanical shutter and not electric/silent otherwise you’ll probably see some distortion from the rolling shutter in your images.

You’ll definitely want to be using AF-C and a Drive Mode like Hi or Hi+.

For birds in flight a Focus Area like Wide or Zone will work best, either with or without tracking. For perched birds you’ll probably want to use a small or medium spot, I prefer the tracking option here as it helps with composition. Setting up a custom button to quickly switch between these two focus areas can be useful.

I prefer Shutter Priority or Manual over Aperture Priority as normally for birds I like to have more control over the shutter speed than the aperture. Then usually Auto ISO unless the light isn’t changing a great deal. You can set ISO limits if you wish to avoid it going too high.

That should hopefully get you started. Let us know how you get on!

Timothy,

Thank you so much for your reply and help, I really appreciate it.

I am using the MC-11 adapter with my Sigma 150-600.

At the moment I have the ISO limit at 6400, would I need it to be higher than that?

Cheers

Lee

 

[Lee H]

Good morning Lee, welcome.

As you are no doubt aware overall settings are many and varied and to cover these in detail, it would be best to
visit one of the many you tube sites for comprehensive details.......Marc Galer, Steve Perry and Mark Smiths sites
have such details from which to set your camera up initially before imposing your personal preferences.

On the issue of using Aperture priority as your primary shooting mode some people do use it with good effect but
as a birder myself I regard full Manual mode as being the most effective/flexible but do have a seperate set up for
action and birds in AP which i will use occasionally, subject to local circumstances,(see Marc Galers set ups as he
prefers aperture mode for action and birds).

I do not use the A6400 but have attached two sample settings sheets for the Sony A1 from Marc Galers site, but
am sure if you visit his site you will be able to obtain similar details for the A6400.

Hope this helps.....

View attachment 23211View attachment 23212

Hi Ray

Thanks for your reply and help, appreciated Mate.

I have been experimenting with Manual mode, and I am really starting to understand it better now. I will continue to learn it as it does seem to be the way to go.

Thanks for the settings charts, I will have a good look at them.

Cheers

Lee

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

I didn't do any birding when I had mine. But one thing I wish is that I never sold my A6400!

 

[Lee H]

I didn't do any birding when I had mine. But one thing I wish is that I never sold my A6400!

Clint, that makes me feel confident I've picked a good camera !
Cheers Mate

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

Clint, that makes me feel confident I've picked a good camera !
Cheers Mate

I have nightmares that my A6400 with my 20mm G lens are chasing me. Every time I put that lens on my current camera I think what a brilliant match it would be for the APSC bodies. Although it does fit the A7 series cameras extremely well too...

 

[Sdawes]

Hi Lee , not a lot to add to what the guys above have already said but one thing to bear in mind is always make sure you have a high enough shutter speed to capture your subject without being obsessed with keeping the ISO low . My starting shutter speed for any BIF is 1/2000sec and for small fast flying subjects can go as high as 1/5000th , this often necessitates using higher ISO's than I would ideally choose but always better to have a sharp noisy image than a clean blurred one. In addition modern software programs for noise removal do a great job so I never worry about how ISO needs to be .

 

[Lee H]

Hi Lee , not a lot to add to what the guys above have already said but one thing to bear in mind is always make sure you have a high enough shutter speed to capture your subject without being obsessed with keeping the ISO low . My starting shutter speed for any BIF is 1/2000sec and for small fast flying subjects can go as high as 1/5000th , this often necessitates using higher ISO's than I would ideally choose but always better to have a sharp noisy image than a clean blurred one. In addition modern software programs for noise removal do a great job so I never worry about how ISO needs to be .

Sdawes, cheers Mate, what is a decent noise removal software? Also do you shoot in Manual mode?

Cheers

Lee

 

[Sdawes]

Sdawes, cheers Mate, what is a decent noise removal software? Also do you shoot in Manual mode?

Cheers

Lee

Hi Lee , I use Topaz denoise and yes I shoot in manual mode as I like to make all the key decisions myself

 

[Lee H]

Hi Lee , I use Topaz denoise and yes I shoot in manual mode as I like to make all the key decisions myself

Hi Mate and cheers, will have a look at Topaz

 

[Tim Mayo]

Timothy,

Thank you so much for your reply and help, I really appreciate it.

I am using the MC-11 adapter with my Sigma 150-600.

At the moment I have the ISO limit at 6400, would I need it to be higher than that?

Cheers

Lee

For the a6400 I probably wouldn't like to go much higher than 6400, so that's a good limit to have set. That said, sometimes it's better to get a noisy shot at 12800 than no shot at all, especially if it's a rare subject, then just throw it through DeNoise.

 

[Lee H]

For the a6400 I probably wouldn't like to go much higher than 6400, so that's a good limit to have set. That said, sometimes it's better to get a noisy shot at 12800 than no shot at all, especially if it's a rare subject, then just throw it through DeNoise.

Tim, cheers Mate, gonna have a look at some de noise software