A6000 55-210 Wings and Other Things (birds and insects from Bronx, NY)

I took a long Labor day weekend and spent a good amount of it in the wilderness of Orchard Beach, Bronx, NY.

I went out to see birds during migration and came back with lots of ospreys!

Later, in Van Cortland park in the Bronx, I got some insect macros.

C&C welcome! Thanks for looking!




This happy guy looked like he was about to hug me!




Fish delivery bird running late!




Ospreys would sit on tree branches watching the water. When the time was right, they'd dive without warning and come up with an entrée!




This one was making sure I'm not a fish.




Is this one tagged on its leg? Why?




Almost buzzed by an Osprey.




This one could see me better than I've ever seen anything.




I must have been fascinating in my late summer plumage.




Not an osprey. What is it?




Early in the morning, the beach was crawling with crayfish and crabs. They all scattered when they saw me, but this one posed for a few shots.



Later today in Van Cortland Park, Bx, there were no birds of interest. I saw some Daddy Long Legs on a leaf, so I switched to macro gear (Raynox 150 on top of the 55-210 and Minolta 5600 flash). I was glad I did!


Who's your daddy?!




This dainty damsel was very compliant letting me get in close with the Raynox for a bunch of shots.




Not to be left out, this dragon also posed for his closeup!




What is this weird dude?

Nice shots, esp the insects.

I'm still looking to get results that good with that combo - guess it takes time to learn the camera as well as you have.

Which combo? The tele or the macro? I've found that, with the tele, the lens gets soft at 210. I usuallly get the best results when I'm close enough to pull back to around 180ish.

For macro, I like to stop down to around f18, and I've got a powerful speedlite (on hotshoe) for extra light with a diffuser cap.

SRQPHOTOS said:

Nice shots, esp the insects.

I'm still looking to get results that good with that combo - guess it takes time to learn the camera as well as you have.

Click to expand...

pubserv said:

Which combo? The tele or the macro? I've found that, with the tele, the lens gets soft at 210. I usuallly get the best results when I'm close enough to pull back to around 180ish.

For macro, I like to stop down to around f18, and I've got a powerful speedlite (on hotshoe) for extra light with a diffuser cap.

SRQPHOTOS said:

Nice shots, esp the insects.

I'm still looking to get results that good with that combo - guess it takes time to learn the camera as well as you have.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

What Macro? It looks like all were taken with the 55210. THe crab at 210 is very sharp. The EXIF says 210 - did you use a Macro lens on that?

So I'm talking the a6000 55210 combo.

I don't think I've shot smaller than f11 in a long time. I'll have to start looking at that for certain shots.

The insects were taken with Raynox 150 macro adapter on top of the 55-210. The rest (crab included) were with 55-210 and 1.7 tele extender. You'd only need the small aperture for macro. For tele, stop down maybe 1 stop for max sharpness. But for far objects, you'll have to crop, so keep the ISO low. It's a tough job, but (for some reason) we all want to do it!

SRQPHOTOS said:

pubserv said:

Which combo? The tele or the macro? I've found that, with the tele, the lens gets soft at 210. I usuallly get the best results when I'm close enough to pull back to around 180ish.

For macro, I like to stop down to around f18, and I've got a powerful speedlite (on hotshoe) for extra light with a diffuser cap.

SRQPHOTOS said:

Nice shots, esp the insects.

I'm still looking to get results that good with that combo - guess it takes time to learn the camera as well as you have.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

What Macro? It looks like all were taken with the 55210. THe crab at 210 is very sharp. The EXIF says 210 - did you use a Macro lens on that?

So I'm talking the a6000 55210 combo.

I don't think I've shot smaller than f11 in a long time. I'll have to start looking at that for certain shots.

Click to expand...

pubserv said:

The insects were taken with Raynox 150 macro adapter on top of the 55-210. The rest (crab included) were with 55-210 and 1.7 tele extender. You'd only need the small aperture for macro. For tele, stop down maybe 1 stop for max sharpness. But for far objects, you'll have to crop, so keep the ISO low. It's a tough job, but (for some reason) we all want to do it!

SRQPHOTOS said:

pubserv said:

Which combo? The tele or the macro? I've found that, with the tele, the lens gets soft at 210. I usuallly get the best results when I'm close enough to pull back to around 180ish.

For macro, I like to stop down to around f18, and I've got a powerful speedlite (on hotshoe) for extra light with a diffuser cap.

SRQPHOTOS said:

Nice shots, esp the insects.

I'm still looking to get results that good with that combo - guess it takes time to learn the camera as well as you have.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

What Macro? It looks like all were taken with the 55210. THe crab at 210 is very sharp. The EXIF says 210 - did you use a Macro lens on that?

So I'm talking the a6000 55210 combo.

I don't think I've shot smaller than f11 in a long time. I'll have to start looking at that for certain shots.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

FOund a 1.7 teleextender on eBay, and it just arrived today.

Bigger than I expected it to be, and now looking forward to trying it out tomorrow - there's a botanical garden near here, and the dahlia's are out, so I'll try that, as well as the birds & ducks that hang out there.

Well done.

Love the eye focus.

pubserv said:

Not an osprey. What is it?

Click to expand...

Definitely a small heron - maybe a green heron

Nice series with the ospreys!

--

dancph

Good luck, and post the results!

Thanks!

davect01 said:

Well done.
Love the eye focus.

--
Novice photobug. Former 3 and F3 owner. Current proud 6 owner.
http://davesnex-3photos.blogspot.com/

Click to expand...

Thanks! The ospreys were all around, so it was hard to miss!

dtrph said:

dtrph said:

Not an osprey. What is it?

Click to expand...

Definitely a small heron - maybe a green heron

Nice series with the ospreys!

--

dancph

Click to expand...

Incredible shots! Congrats!

My favorite is with fish (fish delivery...)

Thanks for uploading.

Al.

Here's a bonus (slightly gorier) just for you!

AlGor said:

Incredible shots! Congrats!

My favorite is with fish (fish delivery...)

Thanks for uploading.

Al.

Click to expand...

pubserv said:

Here's a bonus (slightly gorier) just for you!

Click to expand...

Thank you!

A bit out of focus (or just a heavy crop...) but incredible catches.

Al.

Looks like you had a great day out and you are making good use of those two combos.seeing pictures like these, I'd like to try that tele-extender on my a6000 and 55-210 combo but the photo budget has already been blown for the next year probably, so for now I'm sticking to the a6000 with my old Canon 100-400mm…takes some nice pictures but the AF is useless.

I hope to see more of what you are doing with both the tele and the macro.

Thanks! I'd love it if Sony made a 100-400 for E mount! In the mean time, just try to get those ospreys to come close. Maybe I'll go out with some fish next time!

lightgrabber said:

Looks like you had a great day out and you are making good use of those two combos.seeing pictures like these, I'd like to try that tele-extender on my a6000 and 55-210 combo but the photo budget has already been blown for the next year probably, so for now I'm sticking to the a6000 with my old Canon 100-400mm…takes some nice pictures but the AF is useless.

I hope to see more of what you are doing with both the tele and the macro.

Click to expand...

pubserv said:

Thanks! I'd love it if Sony made a 100-400 for E mount! In the mean time, just try to get those ospreys to come close. Maybe I'll go out with some fish next time!

lightgrabber said:

Looks like you had a great day out and you are making good use of those two combos.seeing pictures like these, I'd like to try that tele-extender on my a6000 and 55-210 combo but the photo budget has already been blown for the next year probably, so for now I'm sticking to the a6000 with my old Canon 100-400mm…takes some nice pictures but the AF is useless.

I hope to see more of what you are doing with both the tele and the macro.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Ahhh - A consummation devoutly to be wished!

Nice Osprey BIF's, wish we had them here. Beautiful bird of prey. Darn good macro shots as well. I'm not sure on what you have up your way, but interesting little buggas ;-)

All the best and well done. Keep them coming and I'm still catching up here

Danny.

Thanks!

Maybe some day I'll get a few as good as the ones you post all the time!

nzmacro said:

Nice Osprey BIF's, wish we had them here. Beautiful bird of prey. Darn good macro shots as well. I'm not sure on what you have up your way, but interesting little buggas ;-)

All the best and well done. Keep them coming and I'm still catching up here

Danny.

--
Birds, macro, motor sports.... http://www.birdsinaction.com

Just Kingfisher ..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/96361462@N06/

Click to expand...

Great set! Sorry I missed this when first posted, but since it's been bumped back around, I got the chance to see. You've got some nice diversity there - and some great osprey closeups! Wish they'd get that close for me more often - and with a fish to boot.

pubserv said:

Not an osprey. What is it?

Click to expand...

Looks like you caught a female or juvenile night heron in flight. The orange eye is a bit of a giveaway. For comparison, here's a female black-crowned night heron closeup:





Beautiful birds - and such great intense orange eyes. The males are more boldly patterned.



Very nice bug selection too - I really should try more macros more often! I can't help identify your bug though - I'm not too familiar with bug species.



--
Justin
galleries: www.pbase.com/zackiedawg