RDS for BIF?

[DrJon]

I'm not doing very well with my "have you seen this" posts... I guess I'm the only person doing Bokehramas and I may be the only person interested by this, but I'll give it one more go...

This is an interesting technique to photograph Birds In Flight (BIF) that seems commoner than I thought, so I wondered if anyone here was using it?

You take an Xtend-a-Sight and a Red Dot Sight (RDS) and mount them to the flash shoe (or a flash bracket). You then use it to track birds you want to photograph and avoid the problem with the AF point slipping off the bird, focus racking away and the bird disappearing into the Bokeh and having no idea where it is to aim at.

http://www.photosolve.com/main/product/xtendasight/

So, do people here do this? If so then how do you get on?

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51743587

http://www.stephenfischerphotography.com/Red_dot_sight.html

John

[mikep]

Re: RDS for BIF?

Is this serious?

Surely, the same problem of keeping the bird in the frame exists whether you're panning viewing through the eye piece, or attempting to keep a red dot on the subject. I can't see how any of this actually helps.

So to answer your question... no, never seen or used anything like that... I just concentrate on tracking the bird etc. as best I can using the camera. It's cheaper!

Mike

[DrJon]

Re: RDS for BIF?

The problem with tracking via the camera VF is when you've lost the bird from sitting on the focus point and the AF has then disappeared off looking for something to focus on and even if the BIF is in the VF area you can't see it as it's lost in the OOF blur. Actually I more have this issue with passing Spitfires and Hurricanes, as we have a few of those...