My Yard Birds

[canonloader]

Got these today with the 400L and the 1.4x TC. Sort of a test. All manual focus out the window of my truck for a different perspective and sun at my back. :D

One of the males hogs the seeds and chases everybody else away.
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/potn/cardinals/snowcardinal1.jpg

Looks like he's really packing it in.
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/potn/cardinals/snowcardinal2.jpg

http://www.picturelacrosse.com/potn/cardinals/snowcardinal4.jpg

Yup, he's a bully and knows it.
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/potn/cardinals/snowcardinal5.jpg

He finally gives the female and her friend a chance...
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/potn/cardinals/snowcardinal6.jpg

While he jumps up on the stand and keeps eating...
http://www.picturelacrosse.com/potn/cardinals/snowcardinal7.jpg

http://www.picturelacrosse.com/potn/cardinals/snowcardinal9.jpg

[bromm]

No wonder we don't have any cardinals up here, you are hogging them. :rolleyes:

Fantastic shots Mitch, great detail, I can't get over how pretty these birds are. Nicely done!

[hTr]

Nice Series Mitch, They show up nice against the snow.

[canonloader]

Thanks guys. I've got 4 regular pairs that are here from first light to last. These cardinals are the last bird to leave. I've seen them out there after the streetlights come on. Never knew that before I started watching my feeders.

These shots were really a test of the 1.4x. I had about given up on it, but decided to go through the A,B,C's with it, and I'm pretty happy with these and the EXIF that says 560mm FL. ;)

[DonE]

Sweet shots Mitch. I can never seem to get all that detail when I shoot the males. Another I need to practice with.

[canonloader]

Thanks Don. I've been meaning to get some recent shots of these guys since I noticed a week or so ago, that the reds in the males were changing. There for awile, they were solid fire engine red. Now I notice a dark saddle appearing on males and the reds are fading or changing to orange almost. Kind of neat to watch as I've just never noticed it before. They must be going into breeding plumeage. :)

[Kevin]

Very nice Mitch. The males bright color really stands out.

[canonloader]

Thanks Kevin. I love these guys. They are getting very use to me, as they can see me in here watching them. At first they would take off right away, now they ignore me. ;)

[EdV]

Very nice images Mitch.

I don't know what it is but Cardinals give me fits. I was just going through about a half dozen Cardinal images from the weekend and none of them are any good. They are either just a little out of focus or the the red is just so saturated that it looks artificial. Must be the darned lens - it couldn't be me. :lol: ;)

On the other hand, your Cardinal images look great. Good job and keep them coming.

[sugarzebra]

Wow, great detail & colour Mitch. Thanks for posting these shots taken with your 400L. I'm 99% certain this will be my next lens purchase and seeing your excellent results with the 1.4 pretty much seals the deal (and wont leave me wishing I'd waited until I could afford the 500 :D). That second shot is perfect.

[johnstoy]

Sharp as a tack...great colors and composition...

Thanks for sharing your bird story...:D

I can't seem to get a Cardinal
within 35 feet of me, or even one to keep still for more than a split second...It's great to see them up close...someday I'll get them to venture closer...:rolleyes:

By the way, Mitch...

Off topic, FYI:
The storm passed through the Poconos and all of our county roads are closed...three Interstates and the turnpike in our area are also closed, and
some schools won't open now till Tuesday...
Hopefully, our power won't go out...so far so good...
I got some bird pics out of this...will post them soon...

Edit: By the way Mitch...which TC extender brand and model did you get? Does it retain auto focus?

[canonloader]

Very nice images Mitch.

I don't know what it is but Cardinals give me fits. I was just going through about a half dozen Cardinal images from the weekend and none of them are any good. They are either just a little out of focus or the the red is just so saturated that it looks artificial. Must be the darned lens - it couldn't be me. :lol: ;)

On the other hand, your Cardinal images look great. Good job and keep them coming.
Thanks Ed. I have been shooting everything in RAW lately, and the reds seem to get over saturated more so than the whites. You can see it clearly in CS2 RAW editor. I think this must be the reaction to the red color and the way digital sensors handle red, cause I see the same thing on other bright reds and oranges. In RAW, I can adjust it out though, so that's a plus. :)

Wow, great detail & colour Mitch. Thanks for posting these shots taken with your 400L. I'm 99% certain this will be my next lens purchase and seeing your excellent results with the 1.4 pretty much seals the deal (and wont leave me wishing I'd waited until I could afford the 500 :D). That second shot is perfect.
Thanks Scott. I had the 100-400 and traded it for the 400L Prime. I have never regretted it. If I've ever spent better money, I don't remember what it was. :D

Sharp as a tack...great colors and composition...

Thanks for sharing your bird story...:D

I can't seem to get a Cardinal
within 35 feet of me, or even one to keep still for more than a split second...It's great to see them up close...someday I'll get them to venture closer...:rolleyes:

By the way, Mitch...

Off topic, FYI:
The storm passed through the Poconos and all of our county roads are closed...three Interstates and the turnpike in our area are also closed, and
some schools won't open now till Tuesday...
Hopefully, our power won't go out...so far so good...
I got some bird pics out of this...will post them soon...

Edit: By the way Mitch...which TC extender brand and model did you get? Does it retain auto focus?
John, these cardinals are not the most skittish bird that comes around, Bluejays and a Red Belly still zoom off when they see me, even through the window. The Cardinals are coming around. But, for these, I was in my truck, and they paid me no mind at all.

I bought Canon. I learned early on that Canon lenses on Canon cameras was the only way to go. So I first bought the Canon 2x TC II, to use with my digiscope, and it does, fine, but won't work for beans on the 30D. IQ is terrible, and I'm guessing it's more because of my tripod and head, than any problem with the extender itself. You add that much focal length, and any tiny wiggle is magnified beyond the point where shutter speed can neutralize it.

Then, I bought the Canon 1.4x TC II, and didn't have much luck with it either, until today. And I still don't have dependable autofocus, even with the pins taped. These shots were hand held and using manual focus. You don't even get the little red light on the center focus point, so it's a guess when true focus is reached. I had less keepers using the TC than without. Maybe a tripod will help that, which I will be using in the future.

As a test, I tried the 400L and 1.4x late this afternoon and used AF, but where I was using AI Servo before, I put it on one shot and was able to get it to auto focus fairly quickly. Still, it's not dependable, not at all like the 400 without the TC. When shooting eagles, I'll manual focus. AF would not be fast enough with the TC attached.

[johnstoy]

Thanks for the feedback, Mitch...you know how important that TC could be, if it only functioned at 100% with auto focus on our lenses... So I must boast, my local Blue Jays have succumbed to the lure of bird seed, compounded by the fierce blizzard conditions, and whamo, I got lucky with several pics...will post them in a few days...

Your cardinals are real, real sharp...

Hand held and with manual focus, would defeat me...I have trouble with the mechanics of all the variables for that perfect shot...instead I used a tripod with the Canon cable shutter release...I gotta try the car and bean bag on the window trick...but in auto focus only...

Last bit of weather info: hundreds of drivers are still stuck on the highways tonite, since 2:15 PM...Scranton/Wilkes Barrie declared an actual state of emergency...

[Reyno]

Veyr nice series Mitch.

[canonloader]

Thanks John and Reyno.

John, both my converters have been in the bag since almost the day I got them. I was resolved to use them only with the digiscope. Then I just bit the bullet today and decided to do it using everything I'd read and learned and could think of to do to make at least the 1.4 to work. I feel much better after getting these today and will certainly be using it a lot more often now. :)

[johnstoy]

Thanks John and Reyno.

John, both my converters have been in the bag since almost the day I got them. I was resolved to use them only with the digiscope. Then I just bit the bullet today and decided to do it using everything I'd read and learned and could think of to do to make at least the 1.4 to work. I feel much better after getting these today and will certainly be using it a lot more often now. :)

Great...that makes for a sound investment...

I'm strictly a Canon lens buyer...however the $100 Tamron TC offering auto focus for the 400mm 5.6L is tempting me...I'd buy it to try it and if it doesn't cut the mustard in IQ, I'd return it right away and upgrade to a Canon TC for my other (70-200) lens... Any suggestions?

[downywp]

Great post Mitch, as always I learn from your posts, which is one of the things I love about this forum:) So many great photographers to learn from...

These pics are all very sharp and the colors are well exposed but the only problem I have now is that I feel the need to get myself a prime lens so that I can use a t/c, and this is not possible with the 100-400 lens that I currently use;)

Sorry, this is off topic: When you said you watched osprey fishing in St Helens in your other post, did you actually mean Mt.St.Helens here in Washington? Small world isn't it!:)

[canonloader]

Whats the f/stop on the 70-200? You've got the 2.8? Then you can probably buy the Canon 2x, only $10 more and have auto focus no problem.

I can only recommend Canon. Not only is it the best, but I read a great article whos author had a very real perspective on aftermarket stuff made for Canon cameras. It's pretty simple, really. Canon is a big company, they have a world class product and shareholders. Does anyone think they are just going to open the books to Tamron and Sigma and give them their hard earned technology so they can copy it, market their own cheap stuff and cut Canon out of their own market? I don't think so.

This leaves the aftermarket companies with having to buy old canon bodies, tear them apart and backwards engineer a product to fit. The hardware aspects might be doable, but Canon and Nikon are increasingly using digital sensors of their own manufacture, and chipsets to run everything. Sigma and Tamron can't crack into that and make a product that will work as good as Canon lenses on Canon bodies. Simple as that. ;)

Sorry, this is off topic: When you said you watched osprey fishing in St Helens in your other post, did you actually mean Mt.St.Helens here in Washington? Small world isn't it!
Yes, I worked at Mt. St. Helens from early spring 82 to Turkey day 82, for the Federal Highway Dept, putting the roads back in on the back side, where the Clearwater and Muddy Rivers are. I stayed in Cougar, when I wasn't up there working. The three chain of lakes between Vancouver and Cougar had mostly Ospreys fishing what fish were left after the mountain blew up. :)

[johnstoy]

Whats the f/stop on the 70-200? You've got the 2.8? Then you can probably buy the Canon 2x, only $10 more and have auto focus no problem.

I can only recommend Canon. Not only is it the best, but I read a great article whos author had a very real perspective on aftermarket stuff made for Canon cameras. It's pretty simple, really. Canon is a big company, they have a world class product and shareholders. Does anyone think they are just going to open the books to Tamron and Sigma and give them their hard earned technology so they can copy it, market their own cheap stuff and cut Canon out of their own market? I don't think so.

This leaves the aftermarket companies with having to buy old canon bodies, tear them apart and backwards engineer a product to fit. The hardware aspects might be doable, but Canon and Nikon are increasingly using digital sensors of their own manufacture, and chipsets to run everything. Sigma and Tamron can't crack into that and make a product that will work as good as Canon lenses on Canon bodies. Simple as that. ;)


Yes, I worked at Mt. St. Helens from early spring 82 to Turkey day 82, for the Federal Highway Dept, putting the roads back in on the back side, where the Clearwater and Muddy Rivers are. I stayed in Cougar, when I wasn't up there working. The three chain of lakes between Vancouver and Cougar had mostly Ospreys fishing what fish were left after the mountain blew up. :)

Well than there is no reason to take chances...

It's the 70-200mm 2.8L IS...probably should get the Canon 2x TC, huh?

By the way...while Mt. St. Helen's was errupting in 1980, I was driving west, en route to California (family job deal,) and when I reached the western states, I could see the cloudy skies...

[canonloader]

I was living down in Illinois when it blew in May, and in July, after three or four times around the earth, the ash was coming down for 2 days, like huge snowflakes. :)

The side that blew out was the most incredible thing I've ever seen, before or since. From this one road pullout, 10 miles from the cone, you could stand by the guardrail and look right at the cone, and as far as you couold see in both side directions with your periferral vision, maybe 10 miles East and 30 Miles West, was destroyed. It was gray ash, everywhere. I felt I was in some communist grade B movie. :)

[johnstoy]

I heard of the eruption, the same day, on the radio while crossing Nebraska... than, I first saw the darker sky and clouds over Wyoming, and two days later, when I got to South Lake Tahoe...my associates were telling me about the residual dusting and we had clouds for a while thereafter...To this day, I still find it difficult to perceive it's vast magnitude...

[downywp]

I know what you mean, it looked like a war zone and that ash scattered as far away as Spokane where my mom lives! You might be happy to know, the area has recovered nicely and the osprey and other wildlife are still there fishing the lakes. :) Now all we have to worry about is an occasional earthquake since it was the last active volcano.;)

[guitarman3]

Beautiful color and clarity Mitch. Those are some of the prettiest birds.

[justin carpenter]

great series, well done.

[Roy C]

Nice series Mitch - favorite is the one on the log, great shot.
This lens takes a 1.4 tc very well but I have to tape the pins to retain AF as my eyesight is not what it was for manual focus.

[canonloader]

Thanks Guys. Roy, I like the results with the 1.4 tc behind it, but I am so use to the AF of the bare lens, I got spoiled. I think the only fix is to get the 1D. ;)

[begovics]

I think the only fix is to get the 1D. ;)

Go for it :grin:

[canonloader]

HA, I think I'm going to have to wait til the used ones are old and worn out to afford a 1D. :D

[Kiddpsychotic]

Excellent series Mitch, (I have been calling you Canonloader); love the story line too. That second pic is my favorite.

[canonloader]

Thanks Kidd. The story line is just about how it played out too. Generally these guys are pretty mellow and get along with the whole mob of Juncos, Sparrows, Downys and Bluejays who spend all day at the feeders. But in the last week or so the males have been getting pretty fiesty and the reds seem to be changing. Then yesterday they really got bossy, chasing off all the birds, even the female cardinals. There's 4 pairs that were here at the same time, when it was really cold. Now that it's warming up, it's like living with relatives too long. :D

[philc123]

Your just showing off now Mitch, you can shoot yard birds as well as eagles;)

Seriously, nice shots Mitch, #2 is spot on.:)

[canonloader]

Thanks Phil. I got lucky. The shutter release got stuck and while I was waving the camera around to see what was wrong, I got these. :D

[Blue Deuce]

Nice behavior shots. You did an excellent job exposing them taking in to account ths snow.

[Stormin_24]

Excellent captures... I love these birds...

[canonloader]

Thanks Mike and Stormin. I used everything I learned here to make sure these shots in the snow came out. It seems to work. :)

[ram1958@sbcglobal.net]

Mitch,
Though these (cardinal series) were shot early last year, they are just what I've been waiting for... Nov-Dec of 07.
I will take your advice and put out the right food/seed and see if I can lure them to East side of the big lake!
Great,
Bob

[Colyn]

I bought a 1.4TC last week and my first session the shots were all spoiled because I forgot to set the F stop down so everything was blurred. I saw the mistake and tried again ... well I am happy ... it is slow on the AUTOFOCUS and sometimes do not focus at all but the images that are right is good enough for me. I use it on the 30D with the 100-400.

Nice shots Mitch.

Here is a shot with the TC ...

http://www.tripwired.co.za/JCS_Bucket/TW_Shots/ShootFromSaddle/Wildlife00/821i_MG_7803.jpg

I cannot understand why Canon do not make their stuff to work properly with the cameras ... I am not at all impressed that I have to tape up pins in order to make the thing to work ... a brand like Canon can surely do better :(

[canonloader]

Thanks Bob. The cardinals like sunflower seeds and if they aren't already coming to your yard, you have to put them out where they can see them when flying over. Usually getting sparrows to come to your yard first will tell all the other birds there is something worth investigating there. :)

Colyn, the camera is made not to AF with a lens combo above f/5.6 wide open. Not sure why, but that's how the 30D is. I never had any luck with my Canon 1.4x though.

[Najo]

Great shots of one of my favorites Mitch! looks like that combo will work for you!

[canonloader]

Thanks Najo. It did work for me, but this thread is a year old. I don't have that lens anymore. :)

[Najo]

I did not even notice the date! Still nice shots!

[canonloader]

I do remember taking them too. :)

[Najo]

:) Well lets hope, I have seen your picture, your not that old yet!

[HWP]

Mitch.. you sure have a huge variety just out your window. Very nice shots/

Henry

[canonloader]

Thanks Henry, but these were shot at the NWR a year ago. :)

[pttenn]

Nothing prettier than a cardinal in the snow!
Karen