Post your best bird shots!

[Joel Eade]

I took this Goldfinch in the rain this afternoon using a 580 EXII and a softbox off camera triggered with pocket wizards.


1DMKIII


300mm 2.8L + 1.4 TC II


f/5


1/500


iso 1600


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[Richard Lane]

Another job well done!


Rich

[JJphoto]

very nice lighting Joel!, looks very natural!


and thanks for the comments on my lens, I guess I got some degree of in-camera sharpening, I need to check that out later.


just couldn

[Richard Lane]

Hi JJ,


Happy New Year everybody!


I guess I should of gone back a page. I missed a lot of good posts.


Congrats on the new lens JJ, the shots look great, but they do appear a little soft to me, but I don

[JJphoto]

Hi! Rich, Happy new year!


I should have posted the EXIF.


for the first shot, f4.0,1/1250, ISO100


for the second, f4.0 1/400, ISO 100


both with tripod and IS on


I do need more shots with different settings to know more about my new lens. sharpness does not bother me that much, I'm very happy with the effect of bokeh, I'll let you guys know what I feel about this lens later.


thanks Rich, and waiting for you and Joel to pull the trigger soon.[]

[HDNitehawk]

both with tripod and IS on

I shoot IS off when using a tripod with stationary birds. Just the motor kicking on and off you can loose a little sharpness.


I have always thought the IS was as bit noisy on the 500mm, but I do not know any one with a copy to compare with to see if it was just mine.

[JJphoto]

I shoot IS off when using a tripod with stationary birds. Just the motor kicking on and off you can loose a little sharpness.

HD, now you really got me confused again. before I bought this 500mm, I had been thinking to get a 600mm non-IS version since IS is not for moving objects and I can't handhold 500mm anyways. especially I have seen some good pictures took with this non-IS 600mm. then people told me that IS is very important for long lens even on a tripod, Bryan's review supports that we should leave the IS on when shooting with a tripod, Nate had a similar statment and he tune the IS off when shooting BIF. for me, personally I always don't care about IS that much even handhold the lens, birds are rarely be "stationary" even perching on the trees, my shutter speeds are almost always faster then 1/800, maybe 75% are faster then 1/1250. so anyway, which way should we go? I remember somebody in this forum had called the Canon but didn't get a very clear answer. I guess it depends, I need to do more test to find out which way is better for me.


thanks for bring this out!

[HDNitehawk]

I have heard it both ways leave it on and turn it off when using the tripod, only thing I see that canon says in the manual is that it saves battery power to turn it off.


This is Bryan's Comment you were mentioned:

1. With a super telephoto lens, image stabilization is even important with tripod use as wind and other destabilizing sources can add movement/vibration to your setup. Fortunately, the IS version on this lens is tripod-sensing. The Canon EF 500mm f/4.0 L IS USM Lens knows that a tripod is being used when vibrations go below a certain level. Keep IS turned on when mounting the 500 L on a tripod to take advantage of this secondary IS mode - reducing mirror slap, shutter and tripod vibrations.

Myself, I have seen times, where the tripod and head was locked down with no vibrations and the stabilizer would kick on. When it does this the image seems to float while it is stabilizing. I have a very stable tripod and head, but if I had one less stable I would probably be more inclined to leave the IS on.


Good luck and have fun with your new lens.

[Steve U]

The harder I try at getting a good birdshot, the harder it gets. The rainy weather here has encouraged the wildlife to come out and bask in the rare sunshine.


A juvenile kookaburra, what do you think?


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Thanks for viewing.


Steve

[ddt0725]

Nice shot Steve and glad to hear you are enjoying some sunshine! I remember singing the Kookaburra song in school as a kid & never knew what one looked like! Now I know & now I know I'm going to have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the day! [:P]

I haven't seen any birds around here in about a month! This is all I have as of late ...







They are always a good standby when there's nothing else available!

Denise