About my camera equipment

Note: I only post this information here to avoid a multitude of questions about camera equipment being posted on the Kodak Birdcam discussion board. This is also out of deference to Kodak: I would rather not keep mentioning Canon's name on a Kodak board. If you have any questions about what's here, please email me rather than post it to the board. My email address is available by clicking my name on any of my posts on the board.

The camera I use is a Canon Digital Rebel, which is a 6 megapixel digital SLR that allows the use of interchangeable lenses.

All the in-flight falcon shots are taken with a Canon 100-400mm zoom lens. This lens has image stabilization, which means that there are little gyroscopes inside the lens that are supposed to counteract vibrations, thus making the image steadier. However, I disable this feature when shooting birds in flight because it is more of a hindrance than a help.
(Technical note: Due to the fact that the sensor on the Digital Rebel is slightly smaller than a 35mm film frame, the field of view of a 400mm lens on the Digital Rebel is the same as a 640mm lens would be on a film SLR)

As for settings, I usually use the following for the falcon photos, at least on sunny days:

Mode:	Shutter priority (Tv) I tell the camera what shutter speed I want, and it sets the aperture appropriately.
Shutter speed:	I try for anything shorter than 1/1000 of a second. This helps "stop" the fast motion of the falcons
Aperture:	Set by the camera. Almost always ends up between f/5.6 and f/11; usually is close to f/8.
ISO/ASA sensitivity:	400 This allows me to get the shutter speed up high enough without causing too much "noise" (the digital equivalent of film grain)
Exposure compensation:	+2/3 or +1 stop This makes the camera overexpose compared to what it thinks it should; otherwise the birds look too dark because the sky is so bright.