Flash and shutter speed when photographing hummingbirds?

10 years 8 months ago #290938 by Carlos
There's a hummingbird that is visiting my feeder regularly and I want to try to snap off a good shot. Any idea what shutter speed would be required to freeze this buggers wings? Would you recommend using a flash? If so, what speed would you recommend?

(2) Canon 7D, Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM, 50mm f/1.4 USM, 85mm f/1.8 USM, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 HSM, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6
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10 years 8 months ago #290966 by garyrhook
I did the computation once last year (for a thread here, I think) and pretty much you'll need 1/4000 s or faster to get the wings anywhere close to still.

Your best bet is a flash, since the flash length is something like 1/25000 s. Just expose for that. This is the technique that has been suggested to my by others.


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