A few more Dragonflies

Went out wandering around the pond near my workplace at lunch, not sure what I would find. I found a heron and took a bunch of photos of it, then realized there were quite a few dragonflies buzzing about and resting/keeping watch.

A Roseate Skimmer:

And THIS is the reason why I need to upgrade my 70-300 non L to any of the 70-200 L's, the 70-300L, or 100-400L

Great shots, my friend. Fantastic IQ!

Thanks jdhill! Yeah, I like my 100-400L. Sometimes the AF frustrates me (slow, perhaps easily confused, or maybe that's the T3i), and the IS isn't as super-duper good as the 70-200 2.8 IS II, but I love the reach, and color/contrast is really nice.

The 100-400L is one of the oldest lenses in the L lineup, so the next-gen (if ever released) will likely be really nice, but at an increased cost I'm sure just like other recent releases.

The 70-300L looks like a fine lens, though.

shinksma

Excellent series. Very detailed.

shinksma wrote in post #14802772
Thanks jdhill! Yeah, I like my 100-400L. Sometimes the AF frustrates me (slow, perhaps easily confused, or maybe that's the T3i)e.

shinksma

EDIT: I'm sorry, I was so intent on writing what I did below that I forgot to say what good shots they all are! I use my 100-400mm also for that, so I can appreciate what you have accomplished.


Now that you bring that up, I remember when I was using my 100-400mm L on my T2i I had a hard time figuring out why 'all of a sudden' now that I have a better camera, my shots were not as in focus as they were...

What I ended up doing was to 'always' use 1.8m setting instead of the 6.5m, as weird as it sounds, I could get a LOT better focus on birds way up in trees that were normally not that sharp. (Before that I had a XSi and it had to be on the 6.5m setting to work properly for any distant shots)
I upgraded to another camera now, but it's not the case on that, it has to be on the 6.5m on all long shots.
So, it appears (for me at least) to only be that way for my T2i, I guess that stranger things have happened.

As strange as it may sound, try that and see if that is what the deal is for you too.

Randy

shinksma wrote in post #14802130
All taken with aT3i 100-400 at 400mm, f/8, around 1/1600 or 1/2000 sec for all three. In retrospect I think I could have gone for a bit more depth of field with a narrower aperture like f/11 and sacrificed some shutter speed.

shinksma - Great pics! Approximately how close were you to the dragonflies when you took their picture?

jimi60d wrote in post #14805777
shinksma - Great pics! Approximately how close were you to the dragonflies when you took their picture?

I was usually around the MFD, which is 1.8m or 6 feet for the 100-400. Due to the size of the lens, extended + hood, that puts the dragonflies about 4.5 feet from the front of the hood.

I went out today and took more shots of other species, including a neon-blue damselfly. If I get time, I may post more shots here later on.

shinksma

Well done!

Thanks everyone. Here are a few more shots from the next day, including that Damselfly:

Some stunning dragon shots here....The last two are in "obelisk" pose, nicely done!
Mike

Thanks! For some reason dragonflies fascinate me, and any opportunity to photograph them is time well spent.

shinksma