moon shot with ef600 f4II

Press Correspondent wrote:

AOKH wrote:

To me the one with the TC looks backfocused. Maybe MA will fix it!

Right, backfocused... because the edes seem more in focus and they are obviously further away than the center. Never mind the moon is two hundred million miles away - the shallow DOF of the 600mm can clearly separate the edges from the center!

Here in America we are proud of the public school education. And although our kids rank the last in in science, they rank #1 in self confidence.

Actually, you proved your point about education. The moon is 240,000 miles away, not 200 million.  However, your snarky point about depth of field is still correct.

Gee, what is it with all of the ancient threads that are being resurrected lately

Your response shows that people are still reading the old threads :-).

Dragonrider wrote:

Your response shows that people are still reading the old threads :-).

Seriously ?

This thread was 3rd from the top thanks to your resurrection - I did not go looking for an old thread, but I do review the latest threads in the list.

There seems to have been a spate of threads more than several years old (I think the oldest lately was from 2005) being brought back to life recently, with people responding to the OP's question like it was raised yesterday, which is quite amusing.

Colin

FYI the reason I was reading the post is because it is the first item in the listing of user reviews for the 600mm L II.  If you look at some of the other threads brought back from the dead, you may find they are also in the product review listing.

That TC really destroys the image. Yes, this is an old thread but the scenario is relevant to those wanting to use that combo.

I'd like to see someone else who has both the 600mm and the TC provide a sample.

riknash wrote:

That TC really destroys the image. Yes, this is an old thread but the scenario is relevant to those wanting to use that combo.

I'd like to see someone else who has both the 600mm and the TC provide a sample.

I recently got the 800L and I use it with a 2x III to shoot hummingbirds.  The lens looses some sharpness at the pixel level, but the overall image at a given size is still sharper with the TC so I suspect in the example given here, either the TC shot was ever so slightly out of focus or, more likely, seeing conditions changed ( and that can happen in a few seconds on these long shots).

Dragonrider wrote:

riknash wrote:

That TC really destroys the image. Yes, this is an old thread but the scenario is relevant to those wanting to use that combo.

I'd like to see someone else who has both the 600mm and the TC provide a sample.

I recently got the 800L and I use it with a 2x III to shoot hummingbirds. The lens looses some sharpness at the pixel level, but the overall image at a given size is still sharper with the TC so I suspect in the example given here, either the TC shot was ever so slightly out of focus or, more likely, seeing conditions changed (and that can happen in a few seconds on these long shots).

Please share some of your hummingbird shots.  From what distance do you take them?  Do you use a tripod?

Dave wrote:

Dragonrider wrote:

riknash wrote:

That TC really destroys the image. Yes, this is an old thread but the scenario is relevant to those wanting to use that combo.

I'd like to see someone else who has both the 600mm and the TC provide a sample.

I recently got the 800L and I use it with a 2x III to shoot hummingbirds. The lens looses some sharpness at the pixel level, but the overall image at a given size is still sharper with the TC so I suspect in the example given here, either the TC shot was ever so slightly out of focus or, more likely, seeing conditions changed (and that can happen in a few seconds on these long shots).

Please share some of your hummingbird shots. From what distance do you take them? Do you use a tripod?

I just got the lens a few days ago and not a lot of experience yet, but here are a couple of samples from about 85 feet with a 2x III TC.

These shots are full resolution and cropped to 16:9 for computer backgrounds.  The camera body was an SL2 (for its high pixel density and the fact that the AF in live view works quite well to at least f/16.  I haven't had a chance to try the lens yet on the 5DSr, but expect it will be impressive.  Note that these shots are at an equivalent focal length of 2560mm  (800x2x1.6).  Processing is LR to PS to Neat Image (for NR and sharpening).

I have a heavy duty tripod and a Wimberley style gimbal mount.  The lens is pretty heavy to consider hand holding (even without the TC).  The hummers spend a lot of time on the feeders (which are in the yard) and they used to hang out close by in the brush, but we had a big fire in the area this summer so cleared all the brush and now they hang out in some Sequoias that I planted about 25 years ago and the distance is between 80 and 120 ft.

Maybe the best 1/400 sec hummingbird photos I have seen.

Dave wrote:

Maybe the best 1/400 sec hummingbird photos I have seen.

Thanks. I have lots of great hummer photos at 1/250 to 1/500 sec, but never before at that distance. Here are a few 100% crops with widely different gear.

Of course, if the hummingbird is flying the game is completely different. If you want to really stop their wings, 1/8000 sec is barely fast enough and you almost need a strobe. I have found that around 1/1000 to 1/3000 sec range produces the most interesting results with some wing blur. When they are hovering, their head and body stay remarkably still (very good internal stabilizer), so shutter speed is more a choice of how much wing blur is going to produce the best result. It would be nice to have a camera with a speed bracket feature that held exposure by moving ISO or aperture. BTW, it does help a lot to have very friendly hummingbirds.