Thanks Nate, Bob and John.
I think they are normally more skittish than Mallards. This is from a lake in a city park so the ducks are very accustomed to people and if you sit down next to the water and move slowly they swim very very close at times. I have some shots sort of like the one you are describing John and I like your thinking on the pose as well as dof.
This is an immature Wood Duck shot at f/4
I gave up on waiting for the rain to stop, and just went out shooting late this afternoon with the 600 II. Thick, dark overcast, 1-2 hours before sunset, and under a canopy of trees, so as you can imagine the light was not great. The lens was. I spend about an hour, handheld shooting only - not a problem with the lens and 1D X, and my arms are fine tonight (I did have a BR strap connected to the lens foot, so when not shooting, the weight was on my shoulder).
Below are a couple of shots, a female cardinal and a purple finch (the latter, at ISO 1250, was the only shot of the day that was lower than ISO 2000!).
One revealing observation when doing the image triage - of the ~150 shots, there were only 2 shots that missed focus (and not by much), and a few more where subject motion resulted in blur (dropping off the perch, or shaking off water). That hit rate is far, far higher than I experience with the 7d + 100-400mm combo.
EOS 1D X, EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/250 s, f/4, ISO 6400
EOS 1D X, EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/320 s, f/4, ISO 1250
Very nice, the new 600mm looks like it is doing a fine job. It sounds like you are enjoying it.Originally Posted by neuroanatomist
Your observation defines one of the topics that pop up occasionally. The 1D IV gives a similar hit rate as you are seeing on the 1D X. The 1D IV has always given me an outstanding hit rate on all lenses, but the supertele’s even more so. The 7D never, ever performed so well even on the supertele's. When someone asks the question should they go with the 7D vs. 1D IV IMO the answer that matters the most is that the superior AF of the 1D trumps any perceived benefit of the additional crop. Anything else the 1D provides is just an added benefit.
I still think the biggest downside to having a 1D body with a super fast 12fps is all the additional time wasted on sorting and picking through near identical in focus pictures. I really try and keep my finger off the trigger, but it is hard. I can live with this big downside.
Joel...great shots of the wood ducks...
John....ummm...wow.....great shots...what I am really impressed by is the shutter speed. That IS is working very well.
John, just one tip and I am not sure the 1D X has this function, but if it does it helps allot. You can program the black buttons on the supertele, one of the preset functions on the 1D IV collapses the focus point and makes it smaller when you are using single point single shot AF. I use this function when I shoot birds in the bush. On your purple finch I think this would have helped you, I think the point your camera hit was the branch to the left rather than the bird’s eye. I may be wrong, but it does appear that way.
Wow, there are some amazing shots in here! Here are a couple of my attempts.
San Diego Zoo:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-I...0522-1538_.jpg
EOS 7D, EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM, 1/500 s, f/7.1, ISO 1600
Bishop's Peak:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-k...0922-2965_.jpg
EOS 7D, EF 70-200mm f/2.8-L USM, 1/1250 s, f/6.3, ISO 100
Rave or Crow? I believe it's the former
101 _MG_5903 - Version 2 by ahab1372, on Flickr
Last edited by ahab1372; 10-10-2012 at 08:30 AM.
Arnt
Sandhill Crane from my guided tour of the Bosque in Jan 2012, courtesy of Bob Williams......looking forward to a return visit soon
Beautiful photo, Joel! I have not photographed birds in a long time! Your photo is making miss it!
I have always wanted to get a great hot of one of these! Not too many sited around here! Another fantastic shot!!1D MKIV
500mm
ISO 800
f/10
1/400
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