Nikon D300 camera settings for bird photography

I have been using a Nikon D300 for 1 1/2 years for mainly landscape photography but over the last couple of months have become interested in bird photography. I was reviewing the D300 manual the other day to check camera settings and would be interested to know how other Nikon D300 users have their focus and metering modes set. I am trying to narrow down why some bird images look sharp and others do not. I realize many factors come into this (tripod, ballhead, VR lens, light on subject, etc...) but it would be good to verify that I potentially have the right camera settings to start with.
For instance with the landscape work I would always use Single-servo AF, Auto-area AF and metering at 3D color matrix II settings mainly using Aperture Priority. For the somewhat stationary birds I have my settings at Single-servo AF, Dynamic area AF, metering at Center weighted and use the Program exposure mode or Aperture Priority to try and get blurred backgrounds with the bird in sharp focus. This works fine sometimes and sometimes not. I have had very little luck with the in flight birds but I am assuming I would have to go with Continuous-servo AF, Dynamic area AF (51 points), metering at 3D color matrix II or possibly Center weighted and higher shutter speeds and possibly higher ISO. I will practice and work on the in flight birds but just wanted to get some feedback with Nikon D300 users and camera settings for the fairly stationary birds.
My current setup is using D300, Nikkor 70-300 VR lens, Manfrotto carbon tripod, RRS BH-30 ballhead.
Thank you for any feedback,
Jim

Congrats on getting into Avian photography - it's highly addictive.

I use the D300s on the following settings:

Aperture Priority (thought there is an argument that Manual is better for FLIGHT photography)
Continuous-Servo AF
Dynamic Area AF (21 points)
Center Weighted.

For flight shots you will need a shutterspeed of @ least 1/1000s but the higher the better. Also, the lens you have is a good lens, but it doesn't have a ton of reach, so when you crop your photos the quality is degraded, and zoom lenses won't produce as sharp an image as a prime lens, such as the 300 f/4 which I use.

- LUke

Jim,

I don't shoot with the D300, I use a D200, but I also shoot in aperture priority, continuous and for flight images try to keep the shutter speed above 1/1000.

I have the 70-300mm VR lens and have found it to produce crisp images, you just need to work on stalking skills to get closer to the birds. When I was in FL I primarily used my 80-400mm VR handheld and consistently acquired sharp images both stationary and in flight.

Same as Luke, I use the D300 and the 300mm f4 lens with same settings. I commonly use a 1.7X teleconverter too.

If you get a static bird you can drop the ISO to the lowest feasible setting, use a lower shutter speed and reduce noise.

Jim, I also shoot the D300 for birds. Here's my settings;
a1 AF-C------Focus priority
a3 Dynamic AF Area -----21 points
a4 Focus Tracking --------Short or Off
a5 AF Activation ----------On
a6 AF Point Illumination Auto-On
a7 Focus Pt wrap -------Off
a8 AF pt selection --AF 51
Meter --Spot
Aperture Priority and Manual
AF-Area Mode ----Dynamic Area AF
I shoot in continuous mode at all times
Note on Focus Tracking: I set mine to short, but sometimes(like if I'm using a slow focussing lens) to Off, because it slows focus.
BTW, You wouldn't likely ever want to use 3D color matrix for birds.

Thanks Luke, Mia, Bill and Wayne for the feedback on the camera settings. I also was looking at lens options that would give me a longer reach and sharper images. At this time my budget does not allow for the Nikkor 200-400 VR but the Nikon 300 f4 prime with a 1.4 or 1.7 teleconverter sounds very appealing and would fit into the budget.
Best regards,
Jim

The 300 f/4 + 1.7TC combo is an excellent one. You can see from my gallery/portfolio/photoblog the types of results I get. While it is not as ideal as a 1.4 (due to an increased f-stop), the AF still works, it's plenty fast and quite sharp and I think the added reach over the 1.4 makes it the better choice. Also, the lack of VR isn't much of an issue, because usually when you are shooting birds you're hoping to get them inflight, and thus you will need a SS that would render VR more or less irrelevant.


- Luke