Long distance shooting

[RichAK]

I was out in Denali National Park and traveled in on the road about 30 miles. (they opened up 15 additional miles prior to May 20th when the buses start running) Spotted a big grizzly across the river (estimated about 1/2 mile away) Set up camera (20D), tripod, and Sigma 50-500mm. The lense pulled him in so that he was recognizable in the viewfinder but the shots did not come out sharp (shot auto, AV, TV, manual focus, different ISOs, AWB plus selected AWBs, timer, just about every combo there was). He was a very cooperative bear and moved slowly. I've focus tested the lens and it focuses fine. I've shot wildlife closer than this and they've come up razor sharp.

My question is, "Am I expecting too much from this lens."? "Is there a certain range (distance) that lenses are effective in or do I still need a lot more practice?"

[spaced]

What shutter was used matey?

[RichAK]

I had a variety of shutter speeds. They ranged anywhere from 1/125 to 1/2000. Some additional info: The river was frozen with snow on top (I did use just a touch of comp 1/3 up and down), weather was partly cloudy (some sun), 45 degrees fahrenheit. Bear was either standing on the white snow (brown bear) or on the gray gravel for the shots.

[stupot]

bear (hehe no pun intended...) in mind how far away it... its probably due to atmosphere and not the lens.

[spaced]

I sometimes 'forget' the 1/focal length rule when i'm popping off shots. do you think you did this? as 1/125 at 500m would produce quite blurry images even in a tripod, possibly from pressing the shutter.

Did you try some partial spot metering?

[Skeeter4]

I told you, you gotta bring them bears in closer. Even that Bigma isn't gonna give you a good picture of a bear a mile away. Ya gotta strip down naked, cover yourself in bacon and start thrashing around in the brush like a wounded moose. The bears will come so close you can shoot them with that 17-40 you got.

I tell you what. Just drop that Bigma off at my house and I'll test it out for you. I should have it back to ya before the first good snowfall.

Oh, and to answer your question. Yes, you do need allot more practice.

[weka2000]

Originally Posted by Skeeter4

I told you, you gotta bring them bears in closer. Even that Bigma isn't gonna give you a good picture of a bear a mile away. Ya gotta strip down naked, cover yourself in bacon and start thrashing around in the brush like a wounded moose. The bears will come so close you can shoot them with that 17-40 you got.

I tell you what. Just drop that Bigma off at my house and I'll test it out for you. I should have it back to ya before the first good snowfall.

Oh, and to answer your question. Yes, you do need allot more practice.

Thats the best Ive ever heard on how to get closer shots, and how to get a bigma.

Thats a fair distance your shooting at. What was the focus mode set to. If you shoot in raw have a look with in the software. I know when I had my 20D the software from canon showed you in red what the focus points were.

Post a couple of shots.

[RichAK]

Originally Posted by spaced

I sometimes 'forget' the 1/focal length rule when i'm popping off shots. do you think you did this? as 1/125 at 500m would produce quite blurry images even in a tripod, possibly from pressing the shutter.

Did you try some partial spot metering?

I had it set on evaluative metering where it averages for the whole scene (camera default). Maybe I need to get it on partial or centerweight But you know I had shutter speeds ranging up to about 1/2000 so I would think camera shake (even on the tripod) wouldn't affect it at this shutter speed.

[RichAK]

Originally Posted by weka2000

Thats the best Ive ever heard on how to get closer shots, and how to get a bigma.

Thats a fair distance your shooting at. What was the focus mode set to. If you shoot in raw have a look with in the software. I know when I had my 20D the software from canon showed you in red what the focus points were.

Post a couple of shots.

Yeah, Skeeter and I shoot together sometimes. He gets some outstanding stuff but I'm thinking he has lens envy and needs to get that 600mm prime he's been talking about. He's a telephoto addict and won't be satisfied until he can figure out a way to mount the Hubble telescope on the front of his 5D.

Thanks for that reminder on the Canon software I forgot all about that one. I have it and I'll reinstall it and check it out. Need to resize the shots and I'll post them shortly.