Missed Opportunity

[markisclueless]

Originally Posted by Duane N

Has this one been cropped at all or is it straight out of the camera? If it's been cropped can you post the original so we can see how much of a crop it is.

Was the wind blowing at all?
How steady are you using a monopod?

There's a lot of factors involved figuring out if your lens is front/back focusing. The best way to determine this is to take a picture of a stationary subject that doesn't move and have the camera/lens properly supported to eliminate movement on your part.

thanks Duane ... yes this is quite cropped ... will post original later tonight - will be interesting to see where the actual AF point is ....
With regard to the monopod use, I tend to "snatch" the shot instead of smoothly depressing, will keep practicing my technique ....
I will be testing my front/back focussing by putting a piece of tape on the wall and placing camera on tripod ... place AF on the piece of tape and then view at 100% on laptop to see exactly where it is the sharpest ... sound right ?

[tonylong]

Here's a pretty thorough approach to testing and characterizing your AF:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...36&postcount=2

[markisclueless]

Originally Posted by tonylong

Here's a pretty thorough approach to testing and characterizing your AF:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...36&postcount=2

Thanks Tony, very helpful post

[markisclueless]

Okay, so I perform my AF test and it appears to be spot on .... I read that 100-400mm do not like filters so I removed my dreaded UV filter and to me the sharpness is better ... what do you guys think ?

1/1250
Iso 400
Aperture 10 (I fixed my SS and ISO, so this "high" aperture was the result)
Focal 400mm

[markisclueless]

I have cropped this, I have the RAW but it is 22MB ... AF was dead on eye .... is the lense "soft" ?

[tonylong]

You say this is a crop -- how close was the crop?

I'm asking because AF can be a bit unpredictable when there are different parts of the composition "competing" for a focus point. The "range" of the focus point is considerably "wider" than the little dot in your viewfinder. Because of that, a bit with more contrasty detail could "grab" the AF without you realizing it.

This is pretty common when something like a distant little bird has other things like branches around it. In your shot I may be wrong, but it looks to me like the focus may have actually "locked" on the branch in front of the bird.

This is common, and the way to work through this is to understand this and do a set of shots, "resetting" your AF, and keeping your eye glued to the viewfinder and trying to learn to detect slight shifts of focus, and to work with them.

It could help to practice using Manual Focus so that you can "train your eye" to observe those slight shifts.

[markisclueless]

another one from today, Grey Heron ....

SS 1/1250
ISO 400
f5.6
focal length 400mm

[Nature Nut]

A thing I do with my 100-400 and perched or still birds like your Heron is switch to One shot mode and flip to MF on the lens. That way I focus what looks right to me and if I get a red dot confirmation then all is well. Sometimes we disagree and my eye is usually right since getting a bird eye on spot can be tricky. Just something to try if your just missing the focus point . Sometimes trying to AF a bird at a good distance or behind cover.

You can lower your SS if your using IS-1 so your F stop can increase to get a bit better DOF. Generally 1/500 should be more than plenty.

[Duane N]

Originally Posted by markisclueless

I have cropped this, I have the RAW but it is 22MB ... AF was dead on eye .... is the lense "soft" ?

Just take the raw file and convert it to a jpeg then re-size the jpeg to a web size image without cropping it. The amount you crop an image will soften it...this is why we are asking for an uncropped image to see how much of a crop it is. We cannot tell you if your lens is soft, front focusing or back focusing...the amount of the crop is important.

I have IS on my lens and even though the focus point is right on the head of my subject I can see and hear the lens constantly trying to focus if I hold the focus button in (I shoot in AI Servo 100% of the time and have my focus set to the * button not the shutter button)....I use a sturdy tripod as well. Wind and myself not being to steady will cause the lens to focus constantly. If your camera body has live view throw it into live view and see how much you actually move the camera...pressing the shutter button will cause it to shift as well.

[markisclueless]

Hi Duane, thanks will do ... I know you asked me already but I must have deleted the old pic'sRAW files ... I will do this with the Cape Sparrow pic tonight .... thanks

Originally Posted by Duane N

Just take the raw file and convert it to a jpeg then re-size the jpeg to a web size image without cropping it. The amount you crop an image will soften it...this is why we are asking for an uncropped image to see how much of a crop it is. We cannot tell you if your lens is soft, front focusing or back focusing...the amount of the crop is important.

I have IS on my lens and even though the focus point is right on the head of my subject I can see and hear the lens constantly trying to focus if I hold the focus button in (I shoot in AI Servo 100% of the time and have my focus set to the * button not the shutter button)....I use a sturdy tripod as well. Wind and myself not being to steady will cause the lens to focus constantly. If your camera body has live view throw it into live view and see how much you actually move the camera...pressing the shutter button will cause it to shift as well.

[markisclueless]

just to clear things (before I get home later), to resize the image to satisfy Forum Rules, can I go to Trimming Tool > and set X and Y axis to 1024 x 1024 ....
Then NR / sharpen etc etc and save as JPEG ...
thanks for clarification

[Duane N]

I use CS4...not sure what program you are using but to resize an image for the web in CS4 I go to Image~Image size~when the box appears I select the document size width (in my case a raw file would be 16.2 inches wide) and change it to 3.75 inches. 3.75 make the pixel dimensions 900 pixels wide by 600 high...good enough for web posting. No need for sharpening or noise reduction.

Example 1:

Just resized to 900 pixels on the longest side with no cropping or anything else done to it.




Finished image. Slight crop, sharpening, noise reduction, curves.




This was taken with an older 40D and a 70-200mm f/4L (non-IS) at 1/1600" @ f/4, ISO 400, AI Servo, center focus dot aimed at the middle of the Catbird and handheld. The original was soft out of camera for my taste but I think it was the narrow DOF that got me (shot wide open at f/4) because of where the focus point ended up on the bird.

Example 2:

This is what I would consider a heavy crop (at least for me) and again, straight out of the camera without cropping, sharpening or noise reduction.




Finished image....1D Mark IV, Canon 500mm f/4L, 1/1600" @ f/5.6, ISO 400, AI Servo, single focus point, tripod. I actually took a burst series as this Eagle moved from one branch to the other so the focus button was held down the whole time as I pressed the shutter button.



Not saying this is what you're doing but I think too many people expect sharpness when cropping the heck out of an image and when they don't get the same results they see posted on here they start blaming the camera or lens. Most of the time that's not the case and why when people ask what they're doing wrong we ask for an un-cropped image so we can see the extent of their crop.

When I bought by first camera/lens I did this and blamed the equipment for softness until someone asked me to post the original image. Then they posted a before and after of one of their images and I soon realized cropping less was the way to go but sometimes it's unavoidable...but I stopped blaming my gear and worked on my technique by getting to know the habits of my subjects and getting as close as possible without scaring them off.

[markisclueless]

thanks Duane .... that last post helped loads .... the PP on the eagle is amazing ... I think you are 100% right, I keep thinking that it should be SHARP with minimum PP, but the images posted here are properly PP (I need to purchase a decent program - I only have DPP and learn the art) .... I have the RAW version and will follow your steps and post a "non cropped" version here ... thanks again

[tonylong]

Originally Posted by markisclueless

just to clear things (before I get home later), to resize the image to satisfy Forum Rules, can I go to Trimming Tool > and set X and Y axis to 1024 x 1024 ....
Then NR / sharpen etc etc and save as JPEG ...
thanks for clarification

The Trimming Tool (cropping) is used to get your best composition and to rotate/straighten the shot if needed. You don't want to use it to set your image size. For one thing, setting it to 1024x1024 would produce a square image, and it would be only a very small portion of your shot!

So the way to output an image of a proper size for the Web is to use the Convert and Save function (or Batch process for a batch of images).

In the Convert and save dialog, you click the Resize option and the Lock aspect ratio option, then type in the desired figure for the widest dimension of that image, such as 1024 in the Width box for a wide image and choose Pixels as the Unit. The height box should get automatically filled in.

Another factor is the jpeg Quality setting. If you plan to upload from your computer to POTN, you will need a maximum of 150KB for a file size, which typically means a Quality setting of 5 or lower. You'll need to double-check your file size after the conversion.

[markisclueless]

thanks Tony .... so very simple when you know how .... off to eco-park again tomorrow, hopefully will result in a few keepers ...
"May the AF be with you, young one" - need all the help I can get - anyone seen Harry Potter's wand ?