A little grainy?

I shot this bird (not sure what it is) today. After doing some work in DPP I still feel it has a bit of noise. I don't think I missed the focus (not sure though), but if you look at the head close it seems there is still just a bit of noise. It's just not as clear as others I've taken in the past. I think the bird was in the shade so maybe I underexposed or maybe the shutter wasn't fast enough? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Randall


T2i w/Tamron 70-300 F/4-5.6 Di VC USD
Zoomed to 300
7.1
1/100
ISO 200
Partial Metering
One-Shot AF
Center point focus

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It looks like a crop. How much of a crop is it?
The precise focal plane looks to be just behind the bird (look at the branch he is sitting on).
The bird is not very crisp.

Were you shooting in an auto mode?
That 7.1 fstop (I think that's what that number is) is really unnecessary.
You should AV mode and slam the fstop down to 5.6 zoomed all the way out.
This will let in more light and allow to maybe drop down to ISO 100.

Also...something to think about...that lens may not be at its' sharpest at the extremes of its zoom ranges (zoomed all the way in or out). All lenses have a sweet spot/zone).

It's an male Eastern Towhee btw!

Kechar,
Thanks for the reply. It is a crop, but to get a good close-up of the bird I cropped quite a bit at the expense of sharpness it looks like.
I was in Av mode.
Gotcha on dropping down to 5.6 and dropping the ISO.
I guess the more you crop the more "junk" starts to show up? With the aperture I was shooting for that "sweet spot" in the aperature around 8 or so.
Randall

It would appear you missed focus on the bird. He's a tiny target but must be the sharpest part of the image for it to work.

Use the focus point closest to the bird to minimize focus and recompose.

To my eyes looks like nothing is in focus.How long you have the lens and how much did you use it. Zoom lenses don't last for ever.If you are using them too much slowly slowly they are loosing from the sharpness

Lefteris Katsantonis wrote in post #14060650
To my eyes looks like nothing is in focus.How long you have the lens and how much did you use it. Zoom lenses don't last for ever.If you are using them too much slowly slowly they are loosing from the sharpness

This doesn't seem right...Anyone else?

I'd attribute the results exclusively to missed focus if I hadn't previously owned this lens. I used it for about a year and was never satisfied with the sharpness, even with ideal conditions. The strong point of this lens is the focal range and stabilization system, not sharpness. Also, you took the pic at 1/100sec with a 300mm focal length (which is actually 480mm on your 550D)...hardly ideal settings for sharpness.

Additionally, that is a difficult scene for the camera's focusing system. There are lots of twigs and leaves for the camera to choose over the bird. It actually looks like the lens back-focused a bit; take a look at the twigs at the far left that appear to be in focus.

Overall, I have two suggestions:
1) Optimize your conditions by using manual focus when the scene is cluttered, and a faster shutter speed. At 300mm, 1/500sec should essentially eliminate camera shake with a steady hand and the VC system engaged
2) I don't often suggest this, but upgrading your lens in this situation is going to help significantly. As I said earlier, I used the Tamron for a year and was far from satisfied. I wish I had skipped the Tamron all together.

Lefteris Katsantonis wrote in post #14060650
To my eyes looks like nothing is in focus.How long you have the lens and how much did you use it. Zoom lenses don't last for ever.If you are using them too much slowly slowly they are loosing from the sharpness

Really? Care to substantiate that with some evidence?

And to the OP: I would have kept my aperture at 5.6 but upped the ISO until I got a shutter speed at least 1/320th. Even if the bird wasn't moving, 1/100th is really slow, particularly for a telephoto lens. There really shouldn't be any noise to complain about at ISO 200 unless you are cropping 100%+.

imsellingmyfoot wrote in post #14066990
Really? Care to substantiate that with some evidence?

And to the OP: I would have kept my aperture at 5.6 but upped the ISO until I got a shutter speed at least 1/320th. Even if the bird wasn't moving, 1/100th is really slow, particularly for a telephoto lens. There really shouldn't be any noise to complain about at ISO 200 unless you are cropping 100%+.

A zoom lens is a mechanical device and it will wear out. I had an old push/pull zoom that finally just wouldn't stay put at one focal length. (If my Canon 70-200/2.8 IS wears out in my lifetime I will probably be upset).

And I didn't even notice the shutter speed. It should be at least 1/focal length so your suggestion of 1/320 is on the mark....as a minimum.

Titus213 wrote in post #14068076
A zoom lens is a mechanical device and it will wear out. I had an old push/pull zoom that finally just wouldn't stay put at one focal length. (If my Canon 70-200/2.8 IS wears out in my lifetime I will probably be upset).

But surely it would take years and years to wear out?

imsellingmyfoot wrote in post #14068087
But surely it would take years and years to wear out?

I would hope so, my push/pull did. And that's the lens that has made me very leary of the Canon 100-400.

I've been shooting for 50+ years so I probably don't have enough time left to wear out another one.

To all: Thanks for the replies. Lots of good information and suggestions. I appreciate folks taking the time to offer advice.
Randall

Actually appears to be too much detail lacking on the Towhee here, another major problem is the bright background, dark foreground, shaded subject. Mixed lighting is typically your enemy for a wildlife shot like this. Another important concept is you want the extra space in the final frame to generally be in FRONT of where the animal is looking, not behind.

For a quality capture, you also must be much much closer, and want minimal cropping done from the RAW. Crawling is often the best technique to achieve proximity for wildlife (especially birds). I'd recommend googling Arthur Morris and buying his ebooks if wildlife is your thing.

mine looks like that a lot
Im sure its me

Titus213 wrote in post #14068076
A zoom lens is a mechanical device and it will wear out. I had an old push/pull zoom that finally just wouldn't stay put at one focal length. (If my Canon 70-200/2.8 IS wears out in my lifetime I will probably be upset).

And I didn't even notice the shutter speed. It should be at least 1/focal length so your suggestion of 1/320 is on the mark....as a minimum.

im trying to figure out how you guys calculate the shutter speed because I seem to get lost when i try to shoot?