A few Cardinals

Captured this one last week... They stay on the branches for a few seconds, then shoot for the ground..

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Lovely shots, Norm. I sure know what you mean about the weather. My shot for the day today is raindrops on my office window. I am sooooo tired of this.

First looks a bit noisy, I guess you were struggling with light.

jgrussell wrote in post #8168473
Lovely shots, Norm. I sure know what you mean about the weather. My shot for the day today is raindrops on my office window. I am sooooo tired of this.

Thanks Judy... Yes, so much rain even the birds are hiding out... Sun is suppose to come out tomorrow but thunderstorms possible for Friday... But I'm trying to do the best I can...

artyman wrote in post #8168485
First looks a bit noisy, I guess you were struggling with light.

Yes, possibly a little noise and light hasn't been on the menu much these days..

Nice shots Norm, love the cardinal shots... I was telling jgr that we don't get them here, only on a rare occasion.

db

dbriz wrote in post #8168747
Nice shots Norm, love the cardinal shots... I was telling jgr that we don't get them here, only on a rare occasion.

db

Thanks much, we only have a few here it seems like and not as many as a few years ago... With the dismal weather we've been having for the last few weeks, it's pretty near the only bird that sticks out color wise... Goldfinches are all over the place here but never stay put...

Good catch, Norman. Cardinals can be difficult to get in the viewfinder, but you've obviously overcome that problem. Good job on handling the exposure on the reds as well. They are easily blown.

I personally don't find noise an issue with these images. What I do see are jpeg artifacts showing up. Might be from a little aggressive sharpening.

Harvey_G wrote in post #8169380
Good catch, Norman. Cardinals can be difficult to get in the viewfinder, but you've obviously overcome that problem. Good job on handling the exposure on the reds as well. They are easily blown.

I personally don't find noise an issue with these images. What I do see are jpeg artifacts showing up. Might be from a little aggressive sharpening.

Thanks Harvey and yes I believe your right.. I did uncheck the jpeg artifacts box and probably should have left it alone.. Will keep an eye out for that in the future.. I'm still not happy with the results of most of my images, as 95% of them are blurry, even with a tripod.. I will be sending Canon Repair for the third time (both) camera and EF 400mm lens this time for fixing.. Images seem to be fine on my other 2 lenses.. I had the USM unit replaced on the 400mm on 5/29/09

Stormin_24 wrote in post #8171033
Thanks Harvey and yes I believe your right.. I did uncheck the jpeg artifacts box and probably should have left it alone.. Will keep an eye out for that in the future.. I'm still not happy with the results of most of my images, as 95% of them are blurry, even with a tripod.. I will be sending Canon Repair for the third time (both) camera and EF 400mm lens this time for fixing.. Images seem to be fine on my other 2 lenses.. I had the USM unit replaced on the 400mm on 5/29/09

For the record, I find my 400/5.6 is one of the tougher lenses for me to get a high percentage of sharp images with. I'm not as steady as I once was and 400mm is a lot for me to hold steady. I wish it had 'IS'.

It's a lens I often have to shoot wide open and it doesn't give much D.O.F. which can be a problem as the AF tolerance is wider than with a 2.8 lens.

I hope they can sort it out to your satisfaction.

Nice captures of the beautiful red cardinal! Photo #2 is very nice.

Harvey_G wrote in post #8172499
For the record, I find my 400/5.6 is one of the tougher lenses for me to get a high percentage of sharp images with. I'm not as steady as I once was and 400mm is a lot for me to hold steady. I wish it had 'IS'.

It's a lens I often have to shoot wide open and it doesn't give much D.O.F. which can be a problem as the AF tolerance is wider than with a 2.8 lens.

I hope they can sort it out to your satisfaction.

Hello Harvey, I never handhold that lens, as I too am not as steady as I once was... Always on a tripod (with remote) or bean bag...

Cyclop wrote in post #8181482
Nice captures of the beautiful red cardinal! Photo #2 is very nice.

Thanks, I'm learning... Cardinals colors seem to be getting better as summer sets in for some reason..