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Finally enjoying using that telelens

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superlevure

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I tried a few things I was told by contributors on the forum and managed to actually begin to overcome some initial frustrations.

I removed the x1.4 extender and enjoyed a bit more freedom with apertures. I slowed down massively. I still shot some of my pictures at 3200 iso.

Maybe I need to try a lower iso now, correcting anything underexposed in post process.

Nuthatch
Nuthatch
 
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Your picture is much better without the 1.4X. Your area is low light you might consider using a flash to help.
 
You also might try a slower shutter speed. Some of the shots will be blurry, of course, but not all.
 
It may just be me but something feels a bit sad in that picture. Might be the dark(ish) background? Almost feels like a still-life picture.

Thank you all for your comments.
 
I went down to 1/180 for some pictures that time. Really tricky to get a good one, but may be due the the birds moving a lot rather than compensating for my own movements.

What aperture do you use for perching birds?
 
Even though your system is light, anything to prevent movement helps.

1. aperature- usually one to two stops down from wide open is the best resolution of the lens

2. shutter speed faster the shutter the less movement

3. ISO each camera has a limit. You just have to experiment.

4. How camera is held makes a lot of difference.

A. handheld the longer the focal length the harder to hold --- you are cropping a 400 to 600 with your camera.

B. monopod --- stops vertical movement not horizontal, swings on a radius from the ground.

C. tripod--- stops most movement (must be proper tripod for equipment)

a. finger on shutter

b. mirror comes up
 
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superlevure said:
I went down to 1/180 for some pictures that time. Really tricky to get a good one, but may be due the the birds moving a lot rather than compensating for my own movements.

What aperture do you use for perching birds?
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Depends. My main wildlife lens is the practically miraculous Canon 100-400 L Mark II, which I have mounted on a crop-sensor Canon 7D Mark II. I've found that at 400mm (640 equiv.), f/5.6 to f/8 works pretty well.

I find I can get great detail even at 1/320sec (from my "Five Tips for Better Wildlife and Nature Photographs"):

94eecf28fd67420b8cf698996edf13ad.jpg

And pretty good detail way lower than that:

bfc8b0927a6e46d091826c53bff2a371.jpg

(Yes, I shot the lion --- in the wild in Africa --- at 1/13th second, hand held, though I wasn't fully zoomed in.)

One of the mistakes I made on my first trip to Africa was shooting at too high a shutter speed, needlessly sacrificing light.

--
J.M. Hoffman
Editor, Lux Umbraque --- Light and Shadow

Loading…

luxumbraque.com
 
There are various reviews of the Fujifilm 100-400 lens which suggests it is sharpest when stopped down a little; generally speaking, one or two stops produces the best detail resolution at any focal length (f/8 seems particularly sharp). Aperture affects several aspects of the image, including depth of field, levels of diffraction and chromatic aberration, as well as amount of light that passes through to the camera sensor, so the aperture you choose may be affected by artistic as well as technical considerations. You may like to experiment with reducing the aperture and gauging the effect on background blurring and foreground sharpness to see what you prefer.
 
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Very impressive pictures.

Impressive what can be done at 1/13. I'd love to go on a safari, but I need to develop my skills first, I'd hate to spoil it.

I've saved the link and will enjoy reading your tips, thanks!
 
I always assumed lenses were better when stopped down a bit, but I always felt it was a pixel peeper kind of thing and ignored it. I'll look more closely now that I've got a bit more freedom with apertures without the x1.4 extender.
 
Thanks for your advice.

I wonder how people manage to use a tripod to shoot birds? It's already so difficult to frame the birds on time when shooting handheld.

I have a good tripod but wouldn't use it unless I was using a hide (which I would love to do).

About how to hold the camera: I saw grips could be fastened to the telelens tripod mount. I wonder if it's any good.
 
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Frankly so far I've been using the widest I can, which is already quite small on these long lenses. Last time I left it on auto and just changed the aperture manually. What do you recommend?
 
superlevure said:
It may just be me but something feels a bit sad in that picture. Might be the dark(ish) background? Almost feels like a still-life picture.

Thank you all for your comments.
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That's an interesting observation. If you happened to make any exposures when the bird's head was at an angle allowing sun to reflect off its eye, compare those against this photo. A glint of sunlight off a bird's eye adds "life" to that dark, bottomless orb.

It's something to be aware of when photographing animals in the wild. When you've got a composition you like, watch for a glint of light off the eye and capture those moments.
 
Nice feather detail. It might be a bit dark. I'm liking the composition.

Morris
 
superlevure said:
I always assumed lenses were better when stopped down a bit, but I always felt it was a pixel peeper kind of thing and ignored it. I'll look more closely now that I've got a bit more freedom with apertures without the x1.4 extender.
Click to expand...
It really depends on the lens. And the 1.4x extender already has the effect of stopping down one stop.
 
Per your request, I lightened the shadows and darkened the wood on the right. I also darkened the lower left. The wood on the right does nothing for the picture so I chose a new format of 8x10. Just because we shoot in a 4x6 format there is nothing keeping us there.





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