Due to a combination of factors I'm semi-housebound right now, so I've taken to photograph the birds I can lure to my back deck. My results have been kind of hit or miss (actually A LOT of miss, but it's not like I'm burning through film at an unsustainable rate) I have always been an F/8 & be there; LOW ISO (ASA) kind of photographer and it's not working for this case. I've been taking photography classes - more for the social interaction than anything else. But I am still learning. I was showing the instructor some of my "hits" the other day and she had some valuable criticism. She suggested I switch to shutter priority & keep the shutter speed at 1/250 or even 1/500. Just let the camera do its own thing with the aperture. I'm really not comfortable with that, so I opted for TAV mode, shutter 1/500 & aperture f/8 and let the ISO float. I've got a set-up on my back deck where I can put food out on the railing & I've got part of a tree screwed to the outside of the deck, creating a perch just above where the food is so the birds can land, take a look around and then hop down to feed. I have the camera & lens mounted on a sturdy tripod. I'm zone focused on the branch & f/8 gives me enough DoF to have the birds sharp on the branch & on the deck railing. I've only been doing it a couple of days, but my observations so far ... The glass in the window has no more effect on the image than a skylight filter. I can't use the remote trigger (wired). I'm too slow. Even holding it in my hand I just can't get the shot off in time. I have to use the shutter button on the camera. Live View has a lot of lag. And on the K-1 it seems to constrain the buffer so that you can't get as many shots in a burst as you can without Live View. I'm getting my subjects backlit a lot. I just rigged a $1.98 Home Depot clamp light to a table I have out on the deck. I'll see how that works to add a bit of fill. I HOPE I'll have some results I think are worth sharing. Anyway, I hope y'all are getting to do some photography that satisfies you. Maybe in the fall when the temperatures get down a little I'll be able to go a bit farther afield. -- Aeternum vive aut conando moriere. -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

F8 @ 1/500th. Birds twitch. Long lenses like shutter speed ! Shoot TVS. Paul > On Jul 31, 2026, at 4:24 PM, John Sessoms <jsessoms002@nc.rr.com> wrote: > > Due to a combination of factors I'm semi-housebound right now, so I've taken to photograph the birds I can lure to my back deck. > > My results have been kind of hit or miss (actually A LOT of miss, but it's not like I'm burning through film at an unsustainable rate) > > I have always been an F/8 & be there; LOW ISO (ASA) kind of photographer and it's not working for this case. > > I've been taking photography classes - more for the social interaction than anything else. But I am still learning. > > I was showing the instructor some of my "hits" the other day and she had some valuable criticism. > > She suggested I switch to shutter priority & keep the shutter speed at 1/250 or even 1/500. Just let the camera do its own thing with the aperture. > > I'm really not comfortable with that, so I opted for TAV mode, shutter 1/500 & aperture f/8 and let the ISO float. > > I've got a set-up on my back deck where I can put food out on the railing & I've got part of a tree screwed to the outside of the deck, creating a perch just above where the food is so the birds can land, take a look around and then hop down to feed. > > I have the camera & lens mounted on a sturdy tripod. I'm zone focused on the branch & f/8 gives me enough DoF to have the birds sharp on the branch & on the deck railing. > > I've only been doing it a couple of days, but my observations so far ... > > The glass in the window has no more effect on the image than a skylight filter. > > I can't use the remote trigger (wired). I'm too slow. Even holding it in my hand I just can't get the shot off in time. I have to use the shutter button on the camera. > > Live View has a lot of lag. And on the K-1 it seems to constrain the buffer so that you can't get as many shots in a burst as you can without Live View. > > I'm getting my subjects backlit a lot. I just rigged a $1.98 Home Depot clamp light to a table I have out on the deck. I'll see how that works to add a bit of fill. > > I HOPE I'll have some results I think are worth sharing. > > Anyway, I hope y'all are getting to do some photography that satisfies you. Maybe in the fall when the temperatures get down a little I'll be able to go a bit farther afield. > > -- > Aeternum vive aut conando moriere. > > -- > This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. > www.avg.com > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.

TAV Paul > On Jul 31, 2026, at 4:58 PM, Paul Stenquist <pnstenquist@mac.com> wrote: > > F8 @ 1/500th. Birds twitch. Long lenses like shutter speed ! Shoot TVS. > Paul > >> On Jul 31, 2026, at 4:24 PM, John Sessoms <jsessoms002@nc.rr.com> wrote: >> >> Due to a combination of factors I'm semi-housebound right now, so I've taken to photograph the birds I can lure to my back deck. >> >> My results have been kind of hit or miss (actually A LOT of miss, but it's not like I'm burning through film at an unsustainable rate) >> >> I have always been an F/8 & be there; LOW ISO (ASA) kind of photographer and it's not working for this case. >> >> I've been taking photography classes - more for the social interaction than anything else. But I am still learning. >> >> I was showing the instructor some of my "hits" the other day and she had some valuable criticism. >> >> She suggested I switch to shutter priority & keep the shutter speed at 1/250 or even 1/500. Just let the camera do its own thing with the aperture. >> >> I'm really not comfortable with that, so I opted for TAV mode, shutter 1/500 & aperture f/8 and let the ISO float. >> >> I've got a set-up on my back deck where I can put food out on the railing & I've got part of a tree screwed to the outside of the deck, creating a perch just above where the food is so the birds can land, take a look around and then hop down to feed. >> >> I have the camera & lens mounted on a sturdy tripod. I'm zone focused on the branch & f/8 gives me enough DoF to have the birds sharp on the branch & on the deck railing. >> >> I've only been doing it a couple of days, but my observations so far ... >> >> The glass in the window has no more effect on the image than a skylight filter. >> >> I can't use the remote trigger (wired). I'm too slow. Even holding it in my hand I just can't get the shot off in time. I have to use the shutter button on the camera. >> >> Live View has a lot of lag. And on the K-1 it seems to constrain the buffer so that you can't get as many shots in a burst as you can without Live View. >> >> I'm getting my subjects backlit a lot. I just rigged a $1.98 Home Depot clamp light to a table I have out on the deck. I'll see how that works to add a bit of fill. >> >> I HOPE I'll have some results I think are worth sharing. >> >> Anyway, I hope y'all are getting to do some photography that satisfies you. Maybe in the fall when the temperatures get down a little I'll be able to go a bit farther afield. >> >> -- >> Aeternum vive aut conando moriere. >> >> -- >> This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. >> www.avg.com >> -- >> %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.

Yep. That's what I'm working on right now. Trying to get comfortable with it. On 7/31/2026 4:58 PM, Comcast wrote: > TAV > Paul > >> On Jul 31, 2026, at 4:58 PM, Paul Stenquist <pnstenquist@mac.com> wrote: >> >> F8 @ 1/500th. Birds twitch. Long lenses like shutter speed ! Shoot TVS. >> Paul >> >>> On Jul 31, 2026, at 4:24 PM, John Sessoms <jsessoms002@nc.rr.com> wrote: >>> >>> Due to a combination of factors I'm semi-housebound right now, so I've taken to photograph the birds I can lure to my back deck. >>> >>> My results have been kind of hit or miss (actually A LOT of miss, but it's not like I'm burning through film at an unsustainable rate) >>> >>> I have always been an F/8 & be there; LOW ISO (ASA) kind of photographer and it's not working for this case. >>> >>> I've been taking photography classes - more for the social interaction than anything else. But I am still learning. >>> >>> I was showing the instructor some of my "hits" the other day and she had some valuable criticism. >>> >>> She suggested I switch to shutter priority & keep the shutter speed at 1/250 or even 1/500. Just let the camera do its own thing with the aperture. >>> >>> I'm really not comfortable with that, so I opted for TAV mode, shutter 1/500 & aperture f/8 and let the ISO float. >>> >>> I've got a set-up on my back deck where I can put food out on the railing & I've got part of a tree screwed to the outside of the deck, creating a perch just above where the food is so the birds can land, take a look around and then hop down to feed. >>> >>> I have the camera & lens mounted on a sturdy tripod. I'm zone focused on the branch & f/8 gives me enough DoF to have the birds sharp on the branch & on the deck railing. >>> >>> I've only been doing it a couple of days, but my observations so far ... >>> >>> The glass in the window has no more effect on the image than a skylight filter. >>> >>> I can't use the remote trigger (wired). I'm too slow. Even holding it in my hand I just can't get the shot off in time. I have to use the shutter button on the camera. >>> >>> Live View has a lot of lag. And on the K-1 it seems to constrain the buffer so that you can't get as many shots in a burst as you can without Live View. >>> >>> I'm getting my subjects backlit a lot. I just rigged a $1.98 Home Depot clamp light to a table I have out on the deck. I'll see how that works to add a bit of fill. >>> >>> I HOPE I'll have some results I think are worth sharing. >>> >>> Anyway, I hope y'all are getting to do some photography that satisfies you. Maybe in the fall when the temperatures get down a little I'll be able to go a bit farther afield. >>> >>> -- >>> Aeternum vive aut conando moriere. >>> >>> -- >>> This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. >>> www.avg.com >>> -- >>> %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. >> -- >> %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- Aeternum vive aut conando moriere. -- This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software. www.avg.com

On 2026-07-31 14:21, John Sessoms wrote: > Yep. That's what I'm working on right now. Trying to get comfortable > with it. TaV mode is what I use anytime I am shooting in a situation when I don't know for a fact that I can get all of the shutter speed and depth of field I want at a specific ISO. I have lost many more photos to too slow of a shutter, or potentially too little depth of field (the camera didn't quite focus on the eye) than I have from too high of an ISO. I do remember one time I was processing photos of some friends playing at a show, noticed that one photo was a little noiser than ideal, and found out that it was at 25,600. I've also been able to go back and reprocess raw files years later with much better noise reduction software and clean up noisy files. So yea, TAV is the way to go. I'll also point out that you could set up a hot light aimed at the feeder and alleviate a lot of those problems. Birds don't seem to care about stationary lights. -- Larry Colen LRC@red4est.com http://red4est.com/lrc