Bird picture help

[photofinish]

Why is this still blurry?...
I supported the lens on a beanbag on my windowsill.. I shifted the focus/exposure to the * button so all I had to do was press the shutter. I also tried using manual focus. My lens was in Stage 1 IS...

stats:
exposure 1/400
shutter speed 1/400
exposure program manual
F stop f/7.1
Aperture f/7.1
ISO 400
Focal length 375mm
metering mode average
Canon 20D
Canon 100-400mmL IS

[Incomplete Pete]

lol.....all I can see is a shot of a bird with lots of motion blur!

[photofinish]

sorry folks, i put this in the wrong forum...:oops:

[BobbyC]

Was the car running?

[photoshooter]

sure the car was running it was vibrating the tree

[PhotosGuy]

beanbag on my windowsil There's your problem. 1/400 sec with a 375mm lens is right on the ragged edge of the "1/focal length" rule for hand holding & the bean bag probably didn't absorb all the vibration from the running engine, too.
Reminds me of a well known author who had a guy using a tripod on a boat! :D

[bobd]

In addition to the previous - looks to me a bit like the focus was not on the bird? At F7 the dof should be working for you, but it look a bit to me like your focus was well past the bird.

[PhotosGuy]

bobd is right. The trunk at the left looks sharper than the branch the bird is on.

[TammieO]

I find manual focus handy when there are lots of branches in front like you have. Of course manual focus gets harder every year. LOL.

[BigRed450]

On close inspection we do see that there are sharp areas of this image, so the vibration from a running car, or camera induced motion blur, is out of the question. My bet is slightly missed focus on the bird and motion blur on branches due to wind gusts... I have also seen examples of strange effects on out of focus objects caused by certain low quality UV or polarising filters....