Question for 500mm f/4 users....

As mentioned, it is certainly easier with the TC off,.
It can be done,. here's a Kingfisher taken with the 2X mounted,..

Jake, that's a great pose on the Kingfisher!

Liz - what wonderful light on the Sandhill! I stalked these last week. A coupel hour stalk came to nothing, as they had some sentries located in an area when they coule see me about 90 yards away. There was no other direction from which to approach, so I simply struck out - several hundred yards of sliding thru the dust and stubble on my belly, and not even a single image worth taking. Another day "paying my dues". Too many of those lately, it seems.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #7722746
Jake, that's a great pose on the Kingfisher!

Liz - what wonderful light on the Sandhill! I stalked these last week. A coupel hour stalk came to nothing, as they had some sentries located in an area when they coule see me about 90 yards away. There was no other direction from which to approach, so I simply struck out - several hundred yards of sliding thru the dust and stubble on my belly, and not even a single image worth taking. Another day "paying my dues". Too many of those lately, it seems.

I guess I had an unfair advantage, I spent 2 nights in a blind out on the Platte river so was right in the midst of thousands of them.

gymell wrote in post #7722873
I guess I had an unfair advantage, I spent 2 nights in a blind out on the Platte river so was right in the midst of thousands of them.

Liz,

Did you have to do overnights in the blind so that you would already be in place come morning? I've heard that thsi is how one must go about photographing grose when they're displaying on leks, but have not yet heard of doing this for waterfowl.

-Tom

Tom,

The blinds are right out on the banks of the river, and one is on a sandbar practically in the river. They take photographers out in the late afternoon before the cranes come in, and let us out after the cranes leave the next morning. This is so the cranes don't flush prematurely and you can get good sunset/sunrise shots. Check out http://www.rowesanctua​ry.org/photo%20blinds.​htm for more details about the blinds. Also more of my photos (including pictures of the blind itself) at http://www.pbase.com/g​ymell/rowe_sanctuary .

There was a lull while photographing sandhill cranes and geese when this magpie appeared to give a little aerial demonstration. It was about a 100 yds out so I took the opportunity to test my combo's ability (1Ds2/500mm/1.4x) to capture this guy. Came out better than I thought they would. This is the smallest bird that I have attempted to photograph in flight.

It's tough at 700mm to keep the subject in view. I mostly shoot eagles in flight and a gimbal mount on a tripod helps. I don't think that work well for smaller birds.

I would try a bushhawk for smaller birds. It wil lgive you the extra stability you need for tracking smaller birds.

Gene

Jim Neiger wrote in post #7737628
The above image was made using a 1D2N and a 500mm+1.4xTC+2xTC stacked, The wide open aperture was F11 and the effective focal length was 1720mm.

WOW 1720mm and a great shot.

Jim's math is wrong,. it's 1,820mm !!! !!!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #7877974
Jim's math is wrong,. it's 1,820mm !!! !!!

Good Laws!

Definitely not impossible, but it is like trying to see the world through a soda straw.

RikWriter wrote in post #7878853
........like trying to see the world through a soda straw.

Quoted because it's so damn quotable!