Canon 100mm 40mm issues need help

I rented this lens to shoot some ospreys while on vacation.60D shooting off a tripod with a remote shutter release at mostly 400mm the nests are about 75 to 90 yards away in a marsh my focal point is on the head of the bird the lens seems to focusing correctly IS is off and I have tried different modes and settings Av Tv M but I cant seem to get a good clear picture. I am able to get good clear shots out to maybe 20yards or so at 400mm hand held. I was also able to get a good shot of the moon.I still have two more days.Is it that the bird is too small for the camera to focus on at this distance.any help advice comments appreciated
Thanks John
Here is an example

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The first photo the birds appear they could be moving, what was the shutter speed? Were you using center point focus? Unless your subject is perfectly stationary at 400mm you need to use a high shutter speed to stop blur. The moon shot is soft as well, I use live view and manual focus when shooting the moon, try F8 1/200 on a tripod for that. The auto focus needs lots of contrast and light to perform well at 400mm so keep that in mind.

Try higher shutter speeds, nothing less than 1/500 and see if it improves for you. Don't be affraid to bump the ISO up. Also the lens is sharper around F8.

T2i4me wrote in post #14832249
The first photo the birds appear they could be moving, what was the shutter speed? Were you using center point focus? Unless your subject is perfectly stationary at 400mm you need to use a high shutter speed to stop blur. The moon shot is soft as well, I use live view and manual focus when shooting the moon, try F8 1/200 on a tripod for that. The auto focus needs lots of contrast and light to perform well at 400mm so keep that in mind.

Try higher shutter speeds, nothing less than 1/500 and see if it improves for you. Don't be affraid to bump the ISO up. Also the lens is sharper around F8.

The first picture EXIF was Exposure:Auto exposure, 1/512 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. Not sure what the problem is but from the looks of things it isn't a good picture. Looks like its too far away and is cropped too much, giving it the soft look?

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

I just ran outside and snapped a few of the dogs. Both are 60D, 100-400L @ 400mm & f/5.6, hand-held. Black dog is about 90 yards away. Tan dog is about 45 yards away. They are a tad noisy, SOOC at ISO 1600. Do you have a filter on that lens? My 100-400 does not work well with filters.
Edit: No cropping, full size images.

Were you using any filters? The 100-400L does not perform well with protective filters.

I get very sharp results with mine, handheld and wide open at 400mm. Here are a couple examples:

Thanks Ill try these settings tomorrow and see what I can do I am also going to bring my rangefinder to get a more accurate distance,
Ill also try the settings for the moon.

No there is no filter just a hood

Those are what I was hoping for how far away were they the seagull was hand held and around 20yards away maybe less

This is the uncropped image seems kind of far away where the dogs look like the lens zoomed in closer at about the same distance .

Dog shots are both at 400mm and wide open. From looking at your full-size image, I would say you are a bit further than 90 yards from the birds. I downloaded the picture and had to blow it up to 400% to get the birds near as large as they are in your post. If what you are showing (first post) is a 400% crop, you are expecting way too much out of this lens.

I think you might be right this is my first time with a real zoom and I am probably expecting too much from it at this distance. This is an awesome lens one I will someday own.I will crop less and see what happens.
Thanks for the help
John

you need to get closer even with a long lens...you're expecting a lot if you want razor sharp shots at that extreme of a crop...maybe rent the lens and a kayak

DreDaze wrote in post #14832949
you need to get closer even with a long lens...you're expecting a lot if you want razor sharp shots at that extreme of a crop...maybe rent the lens and a kayak

Good point! I think it was Ken Rockwell who said, The secret to great wildlife pictures is NOT a longer lens. It is sneaking up close enough to get a good shot with what you have. Or words to that effect.

JM45ACP wrote in post #14832598
Those are what I was hoping for how far away were they the seagull was hand held and around 20yards away maybe less

This is the uncropped image seems kind of far away where the dogs look like the lens zoomed in closer at about the same distance .

Thank
John

In my examples, the red panda is cropped to about half its original size, and the grizzly bears were not cropped at all.

You will not get razor sharp images if you crop as tight as your seagull shot, as you are lowering the resolution of the image substantially. The only solution is to either get closer or get more focal length.

Sometimes you just have to live with a less sharp image. The shot below was taken last summer in Yellowstone. I estimate the grizzly and her cub were about a half-mile away, and I had to crop the image substantially to get this enlargement. However, it is still a worthwhile shot, as I was able to capture the grizzly mother on her hind legs looking back at her cub.

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I was going to buy a pair of waders but it's not legal to go into the salt marshes.

That just makes it all the more fun

I actually didn't crop that one but I understand what you ate saying.I do have some that won't look to bad with less crop.

BTW, your moon shot is OOF too..

Try using live view contrast detect focus and see if it is any sharper that way. If it is, the AF microadjust might be needed.

I tried shooting at 1/200 t0 1/250 f8 ISO 100 to 200 at closer subjects 30 to 50 feet away still getting the same quality.I tried my 18mm 135mm and I can get pretty clear shots.
This is one I took at about 50 feet with the 100mm 400mm on a tripod.

Unfortunately the 60D does not have this feature

Thanks
John