Shooting Feathered Friends
With a camera, of course! We like watching the birds at the feeder from our kitchen window, it's one of the reasons we got it. After months of thinking "I've got to get pictures of these guys", I finally acted on it. First we break out the D2X, the old workhorse and put it on my studio tripod with the Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead: This bad boy got me through my first few years of sports shooting. Unfortunately, it was terrible with low light situations, such as night games and indoor without flash. Very bad digital noise. At the time, Nikon had no alternative and all the top sports shooters used Canons, who handled low light very well. Nikon has since caught up, beginning with the D3 and the D700. Attach the usb cable: Zoom, get focus on the feeder, as close to the prong on which they stand. Be careful not to let the distant background throw it off. Set focus to Manual, turn off VR. Set shutter and aperture. I used 1/200 as it was in shade, c