2 cardinals ..cloudy today.

This is the best I can get from my 20d and the 400mm I rented. I think they could be sharper and more crisp but I just can not seem to get that look . Any thoughts ?

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

The first bird is OOF. You must have locked focus on the branch in front of it. The second shot is great. Nice and sharp. Thanx for sharing.

Aha! You did it! The 2nd shot is there. Congrats. If you do send your camera back under warranty, they will do a clean lube calibration, so it may still not hurt to send it back.

tomcio wrote in post #2909781
The first bird is OOF. You must have locked focus on the branch in front of it. The second shot is great. Nice and sharp. Thanx for sharing.

The first shot was 1/60 ISO 800 so the bird may have moved but I checked focus point and it was on his chest right under his head. I was a bad cloudy day here .

I don't know what AF mode you're using, but you might want to try using centerpoint AF instead of the auto AF. Things like branches have a nasty way of becoming in focus with auto AF.

How about shots that aren't with tele range, they're all OOF as well? Could be you got lucky with the Northern cardinal if your body has a front/back focus problem.

I also think the 2nd shot looks very clear and sharp. That is a fabulous pic!
The first is good too. If the camera is not exactly how you expect I would get it checked. But I assume you got it recently if it is still in warranty so I would use it as much as possible and experiment.

wcl4 wrote in post #2909804
Aha! You did it! The 2nd shot is there. Congrats. If you do send your camera back under warranty, they will do a clean lube calibration, so it may still not hurt to send it back.

Well you all helped me DO IT. I tried learning to use exposure comp. and it does help. I appreciate the congrats. I have alot more work to do to get as good as most birders here though. I was about 20 feet away today from my feeder .

Center point focus was used.

sc_radar wrote in post #2909814
The first shot was 1/60 ISO 800 so the bird may have moved but I checked focus point and it was on his chest right under his head. I was a bad cloudy day here .

1/60th is a pretty slow speed for a 400mm + 1.6x crop body with no IS. 1/640s will get you a good hit ratio to prevent OOF pictures from camera shake. Less than 400 ISO and the details will really start to pop.

You can get Great shots with a 20D and a 400mm lens at ISO 800.

In the first picture the branch is in focus and the bird isn't, which first tells me the focus was on the branch secondly that the fstop was too shallow for the shot causing your shutter speed to drop. A rule of thumb for shutter speed is 2x lens lenght (400mm = 1/800) now many will say correctly that you can go to 1x for still shots and that is true if you and the subject are both still.

IMO
gary

Yes, I think the focus locked on the twig - it is looking for sharply defined edges. I am still working out my manual focus technique to avoid some of that. Using manual focus and my tripod have been a big benefit to me.

Love the colors on the male cardinal! It is still a nice shot even if the bird is not quite as sharp as you wish.

Dale

Hi ya' Darrell. I don't think you have a focus issue with your 20D. Are all of your other lenses focusing properly? The first image of the male Cardinal is suffering from motion blur. 1/60 sec is just too slow for use with a 400mm telephoto. Even if you tripod mount the lens and use a remote release, the vibrations from mirror slap and the shutter firing can cause this much softness. 1/focal length of the lens is a good general rule for the minimum shutter speed to use.

The second image of the female Cardinal is just fine. If you had a focus issue with the 20D this image would not be sharp. You could still add a little bit more sharpening and the image would then be excellent.

If you still decide to send in your 20D you really should send in the lens, too. Many times the issue may be with the lens and not the camera or it may be an issue of that lens used on that camera. Since you rented this lens it may not be possible to send it to Canon Service with the camera. If you're not experiencing focus issues with any of your other lenses I wouldn't bother to send in the camera. Just use it and enjoy it!

BTW, nice images, Darrell!