Canon 400mm question and help neded.

I posted this thread https://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php​?t=291860
and seem to have problems with noise . I would appreciate any help you can offer me.

The images you posted look fine to me... it takes some time to master a longer lens.

They look fine to me. If you do have a problem with noise, it's most likely the camera, not the lens anyway.

sc_radar,
It would be easier to help if you post an uncropped or 100% crop photo unprocessed with full Exif data to show what you get from the camera. The photos you have posted look over sharpened and strange cropped sizes (to my eyes).
Sorry, just trying to help

On the noise issue...If you shoot at a high ISO, you need to be careful no to underexpose. If you try to push the exposure in PP, you will get really bad noise. When I am shooting against a bright sky, I've started using EC as much as 2 stops. The picture of the cardinal made me wonder if that's what happened. I couldn't get your exif data to see what speed you where shooting at. With a long lens, motion blur can be a tremendous problem. You stated that you used a tripod, but even the slightest bit of wind or a tap on the tripod can be a problem. Mirror lockup might help. You really need to keep your speed up above 1/1200...1/1600 would be better. I really think that IS has helped me. Back to the tripod...if you have to raise the extension on a tripod much at all, it will seriously compromise how steady it is. On some of your other pictures, I noticed what look like oversharpening artifacts. Little white specks. Even with a long lens you need to get as close as possible. The tighter you need to crop the more any noise will show.
Sorry about the long rave....just trying to be helpful. I pretty new to the long lens stuff, so I've been dealing with a lot of these issues.

Any help is much appreciated. I will post some full shots with no pp and such when I return. AS full shot just resized. How do I make sure exif is included so you can see it ? I resize in PS elements 2.0.

convergent wrote in post #2894478
The images you posted look fine to me... it takes some time to master a longer lens.

I'm just now using the same lens. Care to elaborate on what it takes to master a lens like this? Any tips that shorten the process for me would be very helpful.

sc_radar,
Use the "save as" option in elements 2 instead of "save for web". This will keep the Exif data with the file