Post your Bird Portraits (2)

Archibald wrote in post #19490184
Looks good, wxjef. You are saying that focus varies from shot to shot. MFA won't help with that. Was this a pretty big crop? The subject needs to be a decent size for the AF to do its job, and it needs to have good contrast.

The 80D is a fine camera. Maybe time to do some controlled tests to figure out why the focus is inconsistent.

Focus on most images wasn't what I'd expect, things just seemed a little bit off. The 300mm is an old lens for sure, the 80 a couple years old itself that I recently picked back up. There could be a couple things going on now that I've thought about things:

The camera should be very capable
I've only dabbled with wildlife and bird photography, mostly been a wide angle land scape photographer and used full frame for a long while.

Could be the crop factor and or pixel density of the sensor. Pixel peeping. Perhaps technique, maybe I slightly bumped the focus ring on a lens I haven't really used much. Maybe just a discrepancy between the lens and af system (was not using live view). Could have just had a setting wrong.

It was rather cloudy out also, a somewhat murky day.

It didn't seem to matter what subject size or distance was, most images just didn't seem to be what I'd expect. Maybe my expectations where too much?

At any rate, I'm a wildlife birding noob. The hawk in that shot was pretty close to me, maybe a couple yards up a nearby tree. I did crop, mostly because rest of the picture didn't offer much more to the scene.

I definitely would like to try some more, perhaps without the 300 and just use the sigma 150-600.

I also realize my shutter speed was a little on the low side even with the posted image here, but very few of the junk images actually had motion blur, just seems like focus wasn't quite there.

I have owned a Canon EOS 6D MKII and remember having gone through a calibration procedure to match the lens. It's a vague recollection and not sure if this applies to focusing or something else.

Ray.Petri wrote in post #19490212
Very funny - Ha! Ha! They will be flying out to Oz soon to visit their antipodean empire - even funnier. -)

We'll see how good their homing instinct is.

Griffon and Cinereous vultures

K9Kirk wrote in post #19490214
Blackbird stretching out.

Hosted photo: posted by K9Kirk in
./showthread.php?p=194​90214&i=i38278347
forum: Birds

Hosted photo: posted by K9Kirk in
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forum: Birds

Nice capture Kirk.
That bird has some serious talent.

Lame-Duck wrote in post #19490134
This cardinal shot is absolutely gorgeous, Jimmy! Very appealing.

Really appreciate that, Mike!
The winter overcast added some softness to this light.

belas wrote in post #19490238
Griffon and Cinereous vultures

Hosted photo: posted by belas in
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forum: Birds

Lovely shot, Belas!

wxjef wrote in post #19490222
Focus on most images wasn't what I'd expect, things just seemed a little bit off. The 300mm is an old lens for sure, the 80 a couple years old itself that I recently picked back up. There could be a couple things going on now that I've thought about things:

The camera should be very capable
I've only dabbled with wildlife and bird photography, mostly been a wide angle land scape photographer and used full frame for a long while.

Could be the crop factor and or pixel density of the sensor. Pixel peeping. Perhaps technique, maybe I slightly bumped the focus ring on a lens I haven't really used much. Maybe just a discrepancy between the lens and af system (was not using live view). Could have just had a setting wrong.

It was rather cloudy out also, a somewhat murky day.

It didn't seem to matter what subject size or distance was, most images just didn't seem to be what I'd expect. Maybe my expectations where too much?

At any rate, I'm a wildlife birding noob. The hawk in that shot was pretty close to me, maybe a couple yards up a nearby tree. I did crop, mostly because rest of the picture didn't offer much more to the scene.

I definitely would like to try some more, perhaps without the 300 and just use the sigma 150-600.

I also realize my shutter speed was a little on the low side even with the posted image here, but very few of the junk images actually had motion blur, just seems like focus wasn't quite there.

Good stuff. Sounds like you are on the issue.

K9Kirk wrote in post #19490214
Blackbird stretching out.

Hosted photo: posted by K9Kirk in
./showthread.php?p=194​90214&i=i38278347
forum: Birds

Hosted photo: posted by K9Kirk in
./showthread.php?p=194​90214&i=i222694396
forum: Birds

Gymnastics!

swltr wrote in post #19490031
Sorry for the mandarin spam

Hosted photo: posted by swltr in
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forum: Birds

Nice portrait!

Tom in Arizona wrote in post #19490075
Cactus Wren...

That's a beauty Tom!

jimmy_racoon wrote in post #19490095
Northern Cardinal

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2okM​dR4 back draft by James Stewart, on Flickr

Great capture!

TheFloridaShooter wrote in post #19490119
This Eaglet was hatched in January at a nest I've been watching and photographing. I expect it will be fledging within 3 weeks. Camera: Sony a7Rv March 7, 2023 SW Florida

Nice shots!

wxjef wrote in post #19490146
Room in here for a birding noob?

This is one of the few images that actually came out good enough to do anything with out of almost 200 images mostly with ai servo mode and h speed drive. Thinking something needs a MFA (micro focus adjustment) snapped today.

Then again I'm fairly new to wildlife and bird photography. I got lucky with this session with a hawk.

Frustrated as I expected a little bit better than mostly rubbish from the 80d and canon 300mm f/4L is, some images looked totally out of focus. Anyway the image hopefully acceptable for this thread

Hosted photo: posted by wxjef in
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forum: Birds

Here's my take. Your shutter speed may be too low when shooting birds (or any moving object). When shooting birds, 99% of the time I use a 100-400mm which is a very fast focus lens. For stationary birds I use a minimum shutter speed of 1250 and for birds in flight a minimum of 2000 and let the camera pick aperture and ISO and I use AI Servo mode. This is for handheld and with good light. I experimented and found those numbers work best for me. Some of my shots are not keepers but the majority usually are. I'm sure you've read that you should use a shutter speed at least equal to or above the length of the lens. Do some experimenting on pigeons, gulls, sparrows etc. to find what works best for you. Taking shots at different shutter speeds should show you a difference in keeper rate. Also, look at some of the photos in this forum and see what others data looks like for a particular shot. Don't be discouraged. Good luck.

sogs wrote in post #19490358
Here's my take. Your shutter speed may be too low when shooting birds (or any moving object). When shooting birds, 99% of the time I use a 100-400mm which is a very fast focus lens. For stationary birds I use a minimum shutter speed of 1250 and for birds in flight a minimum of 2000 and let the camera pick aperture and ISO and I use AI Servo mode. This is for handheld and with good light. I experimented and found those numbers work best for me. Some of my shots are not keepers but the majority usually are. I'm sure you've read that you should use a shutter speed at least equal to or above the length of the lens. Do some experimenting on pigeons, gulls, sparrows etc. to find what works best for you. Taking shots at different shutter speeds should show you a difference in keeper rate. Also, look at some of the photos in this forum and see what others data looks like for a particular shot. Don't be discouraged. Good luck.

Solid advise!