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Photographing birds in flight at 60 frames-per-second By Thomas Stirr (website | eBooks, check out also his previous NR posts):

The objective of this article is to illustrate the additional differentiation in bird motion that can be captured when shooting still images at 60 frames per second.

While the now discontinued Nikon 1 system with its small 1” CX sensor was challenged with dynamic range, colour depth and low light performance, it was capable of some very fast frame rates. When shooting in continuous auto-focus, various Nikon 1 bodies could shoot at 15 frames per second, or at 10 or 20 frames per second in full resolution, depending on the model.

Nikon 1 bodies can also shoot at either 30 or 60 frames per second in full resolution. There is a notable restriction. At these very fast frame rates, the first photograph in a run locks focus for all of the frames that follow it. There are specific situations when bird photographers would use these very fast frame rates. These include birds taking off, landing, or flying at a 90-dgree angle to the photographer.

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