Aloha again from Honolulu, Another uber-useful video. Again, lots of great ideas to aid with my experimentation. Mahalo nui loa!

A trick bird watchers use on telescopes is to tie two large cable ties round the lens with the tags pointing upwards and in line. Focus the lens on a recognisable object them trim the tags so that line up on said objects. Then you can line up on a subject using the tags and the lens should be close.

👍🏻 exactly I do!

Brilliant mate..

Thank you Mr Miguel

nice one buddy, good tips there! 😉👍🏼

Having tried all methods I find the both eyes open works the best for me along with the lens hood screw. Pre focus helps as well. Also the use of extenders slows AF down especially 2x. Good information Paul.

Really excellent video Paul with some incredibly useful tips. Thank you so much for posting this. Cheers. Tom

Some great Tips Paul 👌

Excellent advice, Paul. Have never got on with the ‘split screen’ approach but will give it another go.

Another tip for gimbal head users is to mount your camera 'backwards', so the arm is on the right rather than the left. That means that as you look through the eyepiece with your right eye your left eye has a clearer view of the surrounding area.

Thanks again. All good stuff! I'd suggest practice photographing every bird or animal you come across. Whether it is something interesting or otherwise. This soon adds up to greater skill in pointing, focusing and becoming familiar with your gear.

Nicely done Paul!

Previous subscriber. I've lately been trying the "split screen" technique (i.e. shooting with both eyes open), and am finding it very helpful. Also, love the tip about setting up two equidistant perches ...very clever.

Brilliant just what I've been wanting to see always learning from you 👏and that's what I call a lens!

Very helpful tips, thank you!

Nice video, Like n.264 and Greetings from Italy

Thanks Paul just what I needed just ordered a 600mm F4 👍👌😀

if you are on a tripod and only shooting a set left and right perch you could as a beginner set pan stops so the camera only travels as far as your perch either side. with my larger lens i get used to using the barrel and camera like gun sites so can place the camera pretty close to the place in the tree where the bird is, again this is a learned thing with practice. also when you getting used to a bigger lens for the first time/s use a cross body strap like a black rapid, esp if you walking around, i started off using one with the 100-400 because i didn't want to drop it, after a while when i was comftorble with the lens i started using it with out any carry aid, though its a fairly easy weight to walk around with if you have it hand held for a long period you might find youre muscles start to lock up and hinder you for the shot. now i tend to have it rest in a shoulder bag for walk about so my arm is ready for action (leave it!!). for the other girls out there that dont want big all in rucksack bags i bought two good size normal wear shoulder bag identical to each other then sew them together to form a double bag, this helps in the carry of your big lens and other stuff while still looking feminine :) i found it useful training on pigeons in the park, esp where small children are, they will often feed and chase pigeons at the same time giving you plenty of in flight targets (after trying to keep uk bats in frame at dusk birds in flight are so much easier!!)

Another interesting video, Paul. Owning a big lens will always be a dream for me. In the meantime, I'm happy using my 100-400mm mk2 Canon lens. I do use a 1.4 converter at times (the mk3 version) and have been impressed with the quality of images I get when teamed up with my 1D mk4. I have noticed that there is a slight drop off in quality when I use the lens and converter set up with my 7D mk2. I like the head that you are using, but I think it may be overkill for my set up. Anyways, look forward to seeing more content soon.

I use the two eyes open technique

👍

Nice few tips Paul, which video head have you used in this video thanks Paul

Hi Paul - thanks for the tips, I love your channel. I'm just starting out with wildlife having shot landscape for decades. I'm left eye dominant though - which means I really struggle to view the wider scene by keeping my other eye (right in my case) open (the camera and my camera holding hand are in the way!) I've had this problem in the past when shooting things like my son running around, but with landscape it's not an issue because I'm usually viewing on Live View anyway. Have you got any advice to work around this restriction for left eye dominant people like me who want to shoot wildlife? I should mention - I've tried shooting with my right eye instead and it just doesn't work - it's like asking me to write with my other hand, I can't do it! Strangely enough - I am right handed though. The left-side dominance only applies to my vision. I know - I'm weird... :-)

I recently sold my EF 600 f/4 L IS II USM and sortve gave up on Wildlife photography as it's just too time consuming and incredibly annoying when you spend hours or days setting everything up, and potentially not getting a shot, more often than not. Plus having to carry a tripod and big lens everywhere just doesn't feel worth it so I'm going to try landscape and nature photography instead, I just like going out and taking pictures, not waiting around for years.

Amazing tips ✌️ Paul do you think investing in a 500mmf4 version 1 now is a Good thing to do? I have the 400f5.6 now but I'm missing that light and extra reach... Any tips?

Do you use electronic shutter or mechanical for your telephoto lenses

Good tips. I've just moved to the R5, and the animal AF finds birds before i've even seen them 🤣

What metering mode do you tend to use thanks.

Good tips but "both eyes open" doesn't work for those of us who shoot using our left eye...

Hi, What kind of "ball/video head are you using

Hi Paul great tips no doubt but for me a big prime lens like yours is fantasy land for me unless I win the lottery it's never going to happen. I am retired and could not justify the sort of money those things cost but I wont stop dreaming that one day it might happen.

Hi Paul, I’ve just purchased the sigma 150-600 contemporary lens. My problem is nearly every shot is either soft or totally out of focus. HELP. I’m using a 5d mk4

6:56, guy is shooting with a 20D in the year of 2020.

I never have this problem, my eyes move like a Chameleons just not a beady looking.

A trick bird watchers use on telescopes is to tie two large cable ties round the lens with the tags pointing upwards and in line. Focus the lens on a recognisable object them trim the tags so that line up on said objects. Then you can line up on a subject using the tags and the lens should be close.