1200mm ducks and geese

Morris0 · Feb 10, 2020

I've been waiting for a brighter day for two weeks to try out my X-T3 + Sigma 150-600 Contemporary mounted via a Fringer EF to Fuji X Pro II adapter with the Fuji 2x TC. With an effective aperture of about f14, one needs a lot of light and the hazy in and out sun was enough. Phase detection AF turns off at this aperture so it's contrast AF only. While the snappy focus of this combination was gone, it was absolutely fine for portraits and if there was at least one second to achieve focus flight photos were possible as tracking was effective. The images are all processed using my usual methods and I'll discuss what's been done for each image.

-1

I've done a bit of a crop for composition.

-2

a small amount was removed from the top and left

-3

Adjustment to the highlights

-4

Crop from about 1/2 the frame. Removed a distraction in the lower left

-5

Same image crop from about 1/4 the frame. Increased vibrance and saturation a touch and sharpened more

-6

About 1/4 frame

-7

Slight crop for composition

-8

Raised the shadows, increased vibrance and saturation

All of these images are taken on a fully extended tripod with gimbal set louse. Stabilization was set for panning and while it helped, I had quite a few images affected by my gentle squeeze of the shutter as the first image in the burst showed a touch of vertical movement at 1/500 which was enough back when I used the Sigma Sport on my D500. Overall I'm thrilled to have this type of reach for times when my subject is distant.

Morris

SpeedyNeo · Feb 10, 2020

Wonderful Morris! Thanks for taking the time to share those pics. That combination would put FL at 1800mm in FF equivalence, wouldn't it?

Would be interesting to photograph the moon with that setup and explore its terrains!

--
Fujifilm X-T3 | Fujifilm X-E3 | XF16mmF1.4 | XF35mmF1.4 | XF90mmF2 | XF18-55mmF2.8-4 | Fujifilm FinePix XP140

UTAH DAVE · Feb 10, 2020

Nice shots. It sure must be nice to have that reach!

Morris0 · Feb 10, 2020

SpeedyNeo said:
Wonderful Morris! Thanks for taking the time to share those pics. That combination would put FL at 1800mm in FF equivalence, wouldn't it?

Would be interesting to photograph the moon with that setup and explore its terrains!

Thank you,

Yes it would be fun. We could look for the flag that Neil Armstrong left behind and see if it's still blowing in the vacuum.

Morris

casey1823 · Feb 10, 2020

Nice shots, thanks for sharing. I would expect the focus to be a little slower.

Still came away with some nice images. I'm wishing the Fuji road map has a 200-600!!!

Casey

Morris0 · Feb 10, 2020

UTAH DAVE said:
Nice shots. It sure must be nice to have that reach!

Thank you Dave,

Yes this type of reach opens up possibilities

Morris

Morris0 · Feb 10, 2020

casey1823 said:
Nice shots, thanks for sharing. I would expect the focus to be a little slower.

Still came away with some nice images. I'm wishing the Fuji road map has a 200-600!!!

Casey

Thank you Casey,

I suspect they will in time. Why wait, the Sigma Contemporary for Canon works great using the Fringer Adapter.

Morris

thomega · Feb 10, 2020

Impressive. Thanks for sharing. You must have great technique.

One question: did you need to use the Sigma software for customizing the lens or did it work out of the box?

I'm asking because the software is only available for Windows and Macs. (If necessary, I could use our secretary's Windows desktop for firmware updates, but it would be inconvenient for tuning AF parameters to my taste.)

Rmcp20 · Feb 10, 2020

Well done, these are great!

casey1823 · Feb 10, 2020

Morris0 said:
casey1823 said:

Nice shots, thanks for sharing. I would expect the focus to be a little slower.

Still came away with some nice images. I'm wishing the Fuji road map has a 200-600!!!

Casey

Click to expand...

Thank you Casey,

I suspect they will in time. Why wait, the Sigma Contemporary for Canon works great using the Fringer Adapter.

Morris

Believe me, I've been looking! I really just want one wildlife lens. For now, it's the Fuji 100-400.

I've been considering that second body we talked about a while back! The new X100V is calling my name as a one lens walk around camera. One the other hand I want to wait for the XT-4 announcement. Yes, I've got GAS!

LOL

Casey

Morris0 · Feb 10, 2020

thomega said:
Impressive. Thanks for sharing. You must have great technique.

One question: did you need to use the Sigma software for customizing the lens or did it work out of the box?

I'm asking because the software is only available for Windows and Macs. (If necessary, I could use our secretary's Windows desktop for firmware updates, but it would be inconvenient for tuning AF parameters to my taste.)

Thank you,

I've been shooting with long lenses for 20 years and have masted using them. There is no need to AF Fine Tune on a mirrorless camera as the focus system can not get out of alignment the way it can on a SLR. I did not purchase the Sigma Dock and don't know what version of firmware it has. I got the lens from B&H who's stock turns over quickly so I'd expect it's recent firmware. I did upgrade the Fringer Adapter to the latest firmware as well as the X-T3.

Morris

Morris0 · Feb 10, 2020

casey1823 said:
Morris0 said:

casey1823 said:

Nice shots, thanks for sharing. I would expect the focus to be a little slower.

Still came away with some nice images. I'm wishing the Fuji road map has a 200-600!!!

Casey

Click to expand...

Thank you Casey,

I suspect they will in time. Why wait, the Sigma Contemporary for Canon works great using the Fringer Adapter.

Morris

Click to expand...

Believe me, I've been looking! I really just want one wildlife lens. For now, it's the Fuji 100-400.

I've been considering that second body we talked about a while back! The new X100V is calling my name as a one lens walk around camera. One the other hand I want to wait for the XT-4 announcement. Yes, I've got GAS!

LOL

Casey

With the cost of the X100V I'd rather have an interchangeable lens body and a lens to let it act as a single lens camera as it can then act as a backup body. I sometimes do long trips and would hate to be caught without a camera. So far, I've only experienced a lens fail while I was traveling and made due with others.

Morris

Morris0 · Feb 10, 2020

Rmcp20 said:
Well done, these are great!

Thank you,

Morris

Gaber · Feb 10, 2020

Super results Morris! I'm surprised you didn't have to go over 800 ISO and were able to get 1/500 sec. Considering these birds were moving, the lens did extremely well even at 1/500th sec. Now, with 1800mm, you are ready for Safari.

Geekapoo · Feb 10, 2020

Pushing the FL to the max, eh Morris? Nice set of pics.

Geekapoo · Feb 10, 2020

Pushing the FL to the max, eh Morris? Nice set of pics.

TwoMetreBill · Feb 15, 2020

Morris0 said:
I had quite a few images affected by my gentle squeeze of the shutter

And the reason you didn't use the eShutter? I personally prefer sharper images to the, invisible to the human eye, 1/5th EV better dynamic range.

Excellent shots! Thanks for sharing.

Morris0 · Feb 15, 2020

TwoMetreBill said:
TwoMetreBill said:

I had quite a few images affected by my gentle squeeze of the shutter

Click to expand...

And the reason you didn't use the eShutter? I personally prefer sharper images to the, invisible to the human eye, 1/5th EV better dynamic range.

Excellent shots! Thanks for sharing.

The mechanical shutter is my preference as I always want to be ready for action and don't want to risk rolling shutter. While I was not using flash, I use front curtain flash for action and front curtain is not compatible with the electronic shutter. I was not using flash for these yet like to keep my camera set up as close to a standard as possible to avoid picking it up and having problems.

Morris

Morris0 · Feb 15, 2020

Gaber said:
Super results Morris! I'm surprised you didn't have to go over 800 ISO and were able to get 1/500 sec. Considering these birds were moving, the lens did extremely well even at 1/500th sec. Now, with 1800mm, you are ready for Safari.

Thank you Gabe,

The high shutter speeds some people go for are to make up for things they do that cause camera shake. This is why there recommended for beginners as it makes it easier to sort out issues that are causing some blurring.

Morris

Morris0 · Feb 15, 2020

Geekapoo said:
Pushing the FL to the max, eh Morris? Nice set of pics.

Thank you Richard,

Well at least my max. I could start stacking Canon TCs :-}

Morris

1200mm ducks and geese

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