First posted birds with new to me 1Dmk4

I've been struggling with getting sharp photos with my 1D4 and after a lot of lensalign and tweaking settings I think I'm getting it figured out

as always C&C is welcome

1.

Congrats on the new body. 3&4 seem to be slightly OOF still.

Whats with the heavy vignetting ?. Have you done that in the post processing ?.

Oh and what lens are you using ?

Yes the Vignetting was done in post, I just thought it helped frame the birds, is this a nono for bird photos?

I used my 70-200 2.8 IS II with 1.4 extender.

Vignettes are best applied subtly. The amount added here is too much imo. Sort of like looking at your photo through a smarties tube.

However, you should always do what pleases you.

I agree with Triplexbee, it's too much IMO.

Regards the vignetting, well if you like it on your images then that's up to you. There's NO rule, you do how you please!

Using that 70-200 2.8 lens + a 1.4TC with a 1D MKIV your image should be super sharp. Could be a number of reasons why they look soft ?

How do these look? I removed the vignette and added some sharpening.

The best way to test to see if it's you or the camera/lens not producing sharp images is to photograph a static subject using a tripod. There are many factors that come into play that will cause soft images. A moving subject, slow shutter speed, shooting from a running car, shooting from an idle car but the heat is coming out of the window, shooting through glass, handholding without enough shutter speed, the amount the image is cropped...etc.

Small birds are the most difficult to photograph in my opinion because they're constantly moving around.

I'm curious to know what your camera settings were with these images and the amount of cropping that was done.

The original photo #3 with the chickadee dropping out of the tree that I was told looks OOF was taken hand held with the following EXIF 1Dmk4 - 70-200 with 1.4x Extender - f4 - 1/8000 - ISO 640 - 280mm. I will post the uncropped version of this photo shortly it wasn't heavily cropped. Please let me know if there is anything you can think of that will help make this camera sharper?

I have used Lens align. and have tweaked and tweaked at the settings. I use back button focus and one of the settings I've made seems to have the camera continuing to focus even with the back button or shutter depressed.

Any help is greatly appreciated

1/8000" or 1/800"???

Practice helps with sharpening as well. Especially when shooting moving objects. If I go a week without shooting a moving object it takes me a hour or four to get back into the swing of things. Your body is as much a tool to getting a good photograph as the camera is.

When I got my big guns (the 500mm & 600mm) it took me a full week of daily shooting before I was happy with the quality of images I was pulling from that new gear. And it was all me; not the gear.

1/8000 it should be in the exif