Best settings for bird photography on Nikon P900 (1 Viewer)

[Nick Leech]

Nikon P900 - best settings for bird photography

Apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere.

I just bought a Nikon P900 and would iike to know what people think are the best settings for bird photography?

Do most people use the "Birdwatching Mode"? With any tweaks/adjustments?

Any other favoured settings?

AF spot focus?
Matrix metering?

Do people stick to max optical zoom, or do some use digital zoom also?

Is digital zoom better than cropping in post?

Thanks!

 

[nikonmike]

From what i found forget digital zoom and to a large extent cropping,get yourself in the position where 2000mm is enough,i found you could possibly crop off about 20/25% but not any more.

Never used bird watching mode, i used shutter priority,auto iso up to 400 iso, center point focus and burst mode then taking 3 or 4 shots in a burst if i felt the situation needed it.

This is a link to my P900 album if you look at the settings and click show exif it should all be there.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7239177@N07/albums/72157686865461884/with/37348492415/

 

[nikonmike]

Just thought you may need to tweak the in-camera jpeg settings try this.

Saturation high
Sharpness hard

 

[njlarsen]

I recently met someone who uses the birdwatching mode. In that mode it is important to be aware of how to adjust exposure: press the right hand side of the wheel on the back side, and adjust up or down to get the bird darker or lighter.

Niels

 

[Andy Adcock]

Can someone explain 'birdwatching mode'?

Birds appear in different light, at different distances and at different speeds, the variables are almost inumerable so how can you have a cover all for that?

I know that my wife is constantly setting and resetting her camera when we're out, surely she wouldn't do that if there was such an easy option or are we talking about static photography from a hide or set position?


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[seaspirit]

Can someone explain 'birdwatching mode'?

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Not much to explain. It's a preset mode within the camera's menu; Most camera offer landscape, sport, portrait, night modes, and the P900 has a "birdwatching mode". And like in most of those modes there is some sort of memory that compares a scene with stored samples to decide -by the camera- what settings are used to take the shot.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Not much to explain. It's a preset mode within the camera's menu; Most camera offer landscape, sport, portrait, night modes, and the P900 has a "birdwatching mode". And like in most of those modes there is some sort of memory that compares a scene with stored samples to decide -by the camera- what settings are used to take the shot.

I still don't understand how this can manage the diverse scenarios you'll encounter and cannot believe it will provide consistently, good shot?

From what I know, (admittedly little compared to some here) for continued good results, you must alter your settings often unless in unaltering conditions and I'd be surprised if any of the well known bird photographers use this mode?


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[Sc0tty]

If you have the time and patience there's lots of discussion about settings on this thread http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=300509

 

[Andy Adcock]

If you have the time and patience there's lots of discussion about settings on this thread http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=300509

This is the secret, the patience to learn about your equipment and how to deal with light and the lack of it etc.


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