Pictures not as clear as I expect.

looks like you're able to set up shots with the hummers pretty easily ...it's all about finding the right light now...and finding a good spot with a nice pleasing background that'll blur out good for you...when i took a few hummer shots before at a feeder i would plug some of the fake flowers with a toothpick if they didn't give me a good background...forcing them to go to the ones i wanted

i'm saying get closer...and zoom in more...also don't shoot at f29.....try and shoot wide open more

notice how the bird bath one pops more though...because the background is so far away, also you are wide open at f5.6...now if you could somehow manage to get closer to that bird...maybe set up a blind or something...the background would blur even more so...and the bird would really pop if it filled more of the frame

DreDaze wrote in post #9923228
i'm saying get closer...and zoom in more...also don't shoot at f29.....try and shoot wide open more

What do you mean, f29?

What is considered wide open? I also just started shooting in raw, and since the t2i doesnt have the raw software yet, these are all jpeg crops of course.

NothingRemains10 wrote in post #9923240
What do you mean, f29?

What is considered wide open? I also just started shooting in raw, and since the t2i doesnt have the raw software yet, these are all jpeg crops of course.

i said f29 because that's the exif for the cedar waxwing shot...some of your other ones were f7.1, and f10...the more you stop down the lens...the more that'll be in focus...resulting in the bird not being isolated

wide open for your lens at 250mm is going to be f5.6

hmmmm....I shot those in TV mode, and I do not believe you can change the f setting in that mode can you? I think it is auto

NothingRemains10 wrote in post #9923216
Here are a few IMO that have potential, but just lack something..

These are misses but avoidable ones. The cardinal looks as if it missed focus.The Waxwing was shot at f/29. At that high an aperture lens diffraction starts becoming very apparent especially on a 18mp sensor. Selecting a better shooting location to isolate the birds would really help, They do get lost in a busy background. To best to that it helps to get close. To keep on the hummingbird theme, I was maybe 10 feet away from this one and I had to move around a bit so that the branches in the background were farther away.

NothingRemains10 wrote in post #9922821
None of those have any processing. Just cropping. Those are some of the better ones. I guess those aren't good examples though. Let me find a few crap ones. Maybe most of my unhappiness is from the lens not having enough reach. But it seems I have a ton of focus issues mainly. Probably around 60%. Like the picture will look great, but be blurry, so therefor useless.

Would going to strictly manual focus help? That is what I did for the baseball shots..I have it on AI Servo mode also.

The only thing I can think of is related to the use of AI Servo AF. You must keep in mind the camera behaves a little differently in AI Servo than it does in One-Shot AF.

In One-Shot, the shutter will not fire until focus is achieved and locked. In other words, the camera won't let you take a shot if it isn't focused. Of course, this doesn't take into account any lens issues like front or back focusing.

In AI Servo, on the other hand, the shutter will fire as soon as the button is pressed, whether or not the image is in perfect focus. It may be you are tripping the shutter before the image is focused.

I run into this problem when shooting aircraft in flight. I can't always hold the focus point on the aircraft and sometimes the focus will shift, giving me an out-of-focus shot of the aircraft. This is why I usually shoot a sequence. I'll always get at least one shot that is in focus.

NothingRemains10 wrote in post #9923252
hmmmm....I shot those in TV mode, and I do not believe you can change the f setting in that mode can you? I think it is auto

no you can't...also you were shooting at ISO 1600...you don't really need it that high if you're outdoors during the day...1/250 is a good shutter speed but faster is always better with live objects...so I'd recommend shooting in AV mode...set the aperture to f5.6...leave the ISO at like 200 or so, but if you're not getting a fast enough shutter(something below 1/250) then bump it up until you have one

but setting stuff up...taking those extra couple steps really will help more than it seems

also in going along with what's posted above me...if the birds are stationary like on the branches, i'd probably select one shot AF

OK I will give AV mode more of a try. So if the shutter speed is to slow then, I should bump the f stop up or down? Will this also help with the DOF?

NothingRemains10 wrote in post #9923421
OK I will give AV mode more of a try. So if the shutter speed is to slow then, I should bump the f stop up or down? Will this also help with the DOF?

Looking at the 55-250 MTF charts, it is sharpest between f/5.6 and f/8. In AV more set it to say f/6.3 or f/7.1 and set your ISO so that you get a nice fast shutter speed at least the reciprocal of your focal length * 1.6. So if your at 250mm you want a shutter speed minimally 1/400. Use the ISO to make sure the other settings are ok.

nothingremains-

some things to note... you are using an entry level camera and a entry level zoom. The types of photos you are getting are pretty typical of such. The Baseball photos and some of the bird photos are nice and sharp. In one of your first posts in this thread you say that you see so many great photos on this forum and are wondering if something is wrong with your camera/lens. To that I say that many of us are using very expensive pieces of equipment that allow such shots. (note that I am not saying this replaces skills) you have to be a better photographer than your gear can limit you. This is incredibly true if you are trying to compare your baseball shots to others on this forum. Many of us use 5-6k lenses in order to get certain shots.

NothingRemains10 wrote in post #9923421
OK I will give AV mode more of a try. So if the shutter speed is to slow then, I should bump the f stop up or down? Will this also help with the DOF?

This is how everything relates if you're uncertain about something.

Effect on Exposure

Darker...............B​righter

ISO

Lower...............Hi​gher

f-number

Larger...............S​maller

Physical Aperture

Smaller...............​Larger

Depth of Field (Smaller = Blurrier background, more subject isolation)

Larger...............S​maller

f-number

Larger...............S​maller

Physical Aperture

Smaller...............​Larger

Focal Length

Shorter...............​Longer

Subject Distance

Farther...............​Closer

Note: Physical aperture is the literal size of the iris opening in the lens, eg. f2.8 is larger than f5.6. When someone refers to a larger aperture, they're referring to a smaller f-number, and vice-versa.

NothingRemains10 wrote in post #9923421
OK I will give AV mode more of a try. So if the shutter speed is to slow then, I should bump the f stop up or down? Will this also help with the DOF?

as mike pointed out upping the f-stop(which is actually referred to as stopping down the lens) will cause the need for more light, so the shutter will actually be longer...shooting wide open will give you the fastest shutter you can get...if you're at f5.6, and ISO 200 though, and your shutter is something like 1/125...i'd bump it up to get faster, going to ISO 400 will get you 1/250...ISO 800 1/500

i'm not sure how new to photography you are...but a book i, and many here recommend is "understanding exposure" by bryan peterson

You are targetting the wrong kind of subjects for your lens. The baseball pics are just fine because the subject is fairly large but not so for the birds because they are so small and far away. For birding you need at least 300 mm. A zoom lens generally performs its best around the middle of its range. Try shooting with your lens at various focal lengths and see where it performs best and shoot accordingly.
The greyish rabbit is not an easy subject to focus with an autofocus camera. The camera I think focused on the leaves. For small subjects please use spot focusing in the middle of the screen.

canonnoob wrote in post #9923525
nothingremains-

some things to note... you are using an entry level camera and a entry level zoom. The types of photos you are getting are pretty typical of such.

Agree about the lens though others have shown some pretty good stuff with it - mainly just not as fast (focus and aperture) versus more expensive offerings. Disagree about the camera - same sensor as 7D and while a higher-end model might get a higher percentage in focus due to better focus system the in-focus shots would be identical - so fewer keepers versus say 7D but the keepers should be just as good.

OP asked re 300 f/4 + TC vs. 100-400. My read on this from other posts is the 400 5.6 is the best affordable 400mm Canon, my sense is that the 100-400 with a good copy would be better than 300 + TC but would need to ask those with both or search this topic - I know it's been discussed before. The 100-300 SIgma is a very good lens if you want a zoom and fairly cheap esp. used, takes a TC fairly well. The longer Sigma stabilized zooms are popular relatively affordable wildlife lenses though more money.