Waterlilly with bees

[P Plates]

I often complain about my Sigma Bigma, especially when trying to get birds in flight shots - more probably user inadequacy than the lens. Then on other days it absolutely amazes me. These are about 50% crops, both hand held at 500mm.

[seaslug]

Very well done! You've caught those bees spot on!

[eaglem]

Excellent captures with everything spot on.

[Isac]

Good examples of what the siggy can do P Plates. Good shots hand held at 500mm. I have the same lens and it's great for BIF, so don't give up. I find that the camera settings for BIF are very important. Many choose Aperture Priority but I prefer Shutter Priority. Here are my general settings:
Shutter Priority @ 1/1250th | Auto ISO | f:8 | Single point focus with expansion | Spot Metering OR Evaluative Metering | AI Servo / High Speed Continuous Focus.
It works for me but all settings can be changed to suit the day. I have these settings preset so all I have to do is turn the mode dial and I'm all set.

[Phoenix]

Interesting. Thank you for sharing your set up.

[P Plates]

Thanks Isac. Tried similar today and did get a couple (still have to process). Dull overcast weather didn't help. Now I just have to learn how to find them when I bring the camera up to the eye, so often all I see is blue sky and by the time I do get them in frame they're too far away.

[Isac]

You're welcome Jo and I'm looking forward to seeing your shots for today P Plates.

[millicat]

Like that first one ... really good shot. I still hope to get that lens one day

[Phoenix]

I think the Sigma is tricky to use. It's soft on wider dofs and you end up needing longer exposures which results in softer shots.
Unless you have a camera that can deal with high iso it's hard to get around the need to have great light.
The light sure is very nice in these.

[Alan]

Pretty amazing for hand held Jo. A novel use for the lens too

[P Plates]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Had a camera club photowalk this morning so had some more practice with it. Isac's suggestion of auto ISO and shutter priority definitely helped.