Yesterday I was shooting humingbirds and the weather was cloudy and crummy. To get a decent exposure I had to have my ISO between 800-1600, I had my shutter speed at 1/4000 to catch thier wings and f5.6. I was using my 75-300mm lens with a focal length of 271 and I was having trouble getting sharp focus. Was this because of the high ISO? What setting could I have changed? I had the same issue today, same kind of weather so lighting was about the same. Would love some advice.
Pretty much what Gabriel said... not enough light. Do you have a flash unit? That might both give you enough light & freeze the action.
I just shot a bunch this weekend under very trying conditions, but at a festival, so I had to shoot & make the best of high ISO value to catch anything at all... I feel your pain ;-)
I agree with 'G' - shouldn't use an ISO higher than 800 otherwise you get lots of 'speckles' in your pics - a result of 'noise'.... anything between 400 and 800 should be okay though...
By looking at your pics you didn't have enough light...
Try using a tripod, flash and have your ISO between 400 and 800...
I'm not sure how practical using flash is going to be. If you don't have a high-speed sync flash then you're only going to be able to sync at somewhere between 1/125 or 1/250 if you're lucky. Besides, I'm not sure the little birdie is going to appreciate that.
I'm going to say that you need a good quality camera for the best results. While there's nothing wrong with your camera, it will produce a lot of noise at the higher ISO settings. I have seen some AMAZINGLY clear pictures from a Nikon D3 shot at ISO 1600. Of course you probably have to take out a second mortgage for that camera. But you can still get a great picture with your camera. You just have to wait for a bright sunny day.
Well considering you can change these things... f-stop (either through adjustment or getting a better lens), shutter speed, amount of light (if you used flash),iso,focal length; I would try adding more light (flash or wait for a sunny day[I don't like to wait so the latter is bull]) and/or try getting a little closer so the aperture can be open wider and ISO as a result will be lower.
The one thing that will make a big difference would be a faster lens. That's my take on it.