Canon FD 400mm F4.5, Lens Turbo 2 and NEX-6 at the Aviary

Just wanted to share some images from my recent visit to the Aviary.
I mostly wanted to test the FD 400mm F4.5 and I am extremely happy with it!
All handheld but it is not that hard to handle at all that lens.

And finally with the same FD 400mm decided to try a quick Profile pic of my wife which I think turned out pretty good.

Thanks for looking!

Very sharp results. Looked at them all at the larger views, you can't knock that lens. Heck you even turned it into a portrait lens Nice going in these and that's the light I like to shoot in as well. The fine feathering in the duck's to just note a couple are showing excellent details.

How was the CA or purple fringing, easy to fix ??. Someone mentioned it to me awhile ago, but I was never sure on that when I think who it came from.

All the best and that's a keeper that lens by the looks. Nice work.

Danny.

nzmacro wrote:

Very sharp results. Looked at them all at the larger views, you can't knock that lens. Heck you even turned it into a portrait lens Nice going in these and that's the light I like to shoot in as well. The fine feathering in the duck's to just note a couple are showing excellent details.

How was the CA or purple fringing, easy to fix ??. Someone mentioned it to me awhile ago, but I was never sure on that when I think who it came from.

All the best and that's a keeper that lens by the looks. Nice work.

Danny.

Thanks for taking the time to check the pictures! Coming from you it means a lot indeed. Sadly I did not get many options for flying birds there are most are injured animals etc but so nice to see them up close!
And yes about the Portrait! After that, I tried some more at home and was extremely surprised with how sharp it can be and the skin detail I was able to get on those other ones. My wife says, it blurs things so much that it does not matter where I take the picture when using that lens as Portrait lens.  
As you mentioned about the feathers, that really surprised me that I could get that details from such lens. I have had others like the Rokkor 300mm before and never was able to achieve such detail. Also CA and Purple fringing is small and very easy to clean which again is surprising based on other long lenses I tried before like the Konika 200mm and Rokkor 300mm. I really love these FD lenses
I really got lucky for what I paid for it and the results I got so you bet, this is a keeper for sure! 
Thanks again for the comment.

jtr27 wrote:

Beautiful shots, thank you for posting!

Please consider this as an opportunity to educate me, and not a challenge to what you have done, and I apologize in advance if it's a dumb question.

But my question is, why use a lens turbo? Why not use a dumb adapter and get 600mm equivalence, with no more glass added to the equation? Isn't more reach "more better," when photographing wildlife?

Oh no problem at all.
Well the Lens Turbo 2 first gains me an extra stop of light so that makes a nice difference so I can increase shutter speed if needed etc. Second, from my tests and some others I have seen, it actually looks better when using the Lens Turbo 2 at least on the main part of the image. Some lenses may not be as good on edges, specially wider ones but I am fine with that trade for sure.
Plus handheld the 400mm ish  with an extra stop of light is easier to get good pics than at 600mm with one less stop of light overall. Not to say I wouldnt use it as 600mm of course, I can do it as that is a nice thing of it...having two lenses in one sort of.

Thanks for the kinds words as well!

shaolin95 wrote:

nzmacro wrote:

Very sharp results. Looked at them all at the larger views, you can't knock that lens. Heck you even turned it into a portrait lens Nice going in these and that's the light I like to shoot in as well. The fine feathering in the duck's to just note a couple are showing excellent details.

How was the CA or purple fringing, easy to fix ??. Someone mentioned it to me awhile ago, but I was never sure on that when I think who it came from.

All the best and that's a keeper that lens by the looks. Nice work.

Danny.

Thanks for taking the time to check the pictures! Coming from you it means a lot indeed. Sadly I did not get many options for flying birds there are most are injured animals etc but so nice to see them up close!
And yes about the Portrait! After that, I tried some more at home and was extremely surprised with how sharp it can be and the skin detail I was able to get on those other ones. My wife says, it blurs things so much that it does not matter where I take the picture when using that lens as Portrait lens.
As you mentioned about the feathers, that really surprised me that I could get that details from such lens. I have had others like the Rokkor 300mm before and never was able to achieve such detail. Also CA and Purple fringing is small and very easy to clean which again is surprising based on other long lenses I tried before like the Konika 200mm and Rokkor 300mm. I really love these FD lenses
I really got lucky for what I paid for it and the results I got so you bet, this is a keeper for sure!
Thanks again for the comment.

Ha, keep at the portraits with the 400mm

It does have a couple of decent elements in that lens and interesting about the CA. That's several people now that say its not really an issue, so that is very good to know. I do get slight CA in the Sigma 500 and the Canon 800, sounds about the same.

For BIF's, use that light you have in these shots and fast shutter speeds, it will work out just fine and 400mm is a darn good focal length on APS-C.

Hey, all the best up there, you must be getting close to that snow in a couple of months, starting to warm up here. See ya 

Danny.

nzmacro wrote:

shaolin95 wrote:

nzmacro wrote:

Very sharp results. Looked at them all at the larger views, you can't knock that lens. Heck you even turned it into a portrait lens Nice going in these and that's the light I like to shoot in as well. The fine feathering in the duck's to just note a couple are showing excellent details.

How was the CA or purple fringing, easy to fix ??. Someone mentioned it to me awhile ago, but I was never sure on that when I think who it came from.

All the best and that's a keeper that lens by the looks. Nice work.

Danny.

Thanks for taking the time to check the pictures! Coming from you it means a lot indeed. Sadly I did not get many options for flying birds there are most are injured animals etc but so nice to see them up close!
And yes about the Portrait! After that, I tried some more at home and was extremely surprised with how sharp it can be and the skin detail I was able to get on those other ones. My wife says, it blurs things so much that it does not matter where I take the picture when using that lens as Portrait lens.
As you mentioned about the feathers, that really surprised me that I could get that details from such lens. I have had others like the Rokkor 300mm before and never was able to achieve such detail. Also CA and Purple fringing is small and very easy to clean which again is surprising based on other long lenses I tried before like the Konika 200mm and Rokkor 300mm. I really love these FD lenses
I really got lucky for what I paid for it and the results I got so you bet, this is a keeper for sure!
Thanks again for the comment.

Ha, keep at the portraits with the 400mm

It does have a couple of decent elements in that lens and interesting about the CA. That's several people now that say its not really an issue, so that is very good to know. I do get slight CA in the Sigma 500 and the Canon 800, sounds about the same.

For BIF's, use that light you have in these shots and fast shutter speeds, it will work out just fine and 400mm is a darn good focal length on APS-C.

Hey, all the best up there, you must be getting close to that snow in a couple of months, starting to warm up here. See ya

Danny.

Yeah I will keep trying more Portraits with it

I can post some 100% crops on some images where it shows CA before corrections if you like to see but yes indeed I am super happy with it. And you bet...snow is soon to be here so getting ready for that indeed. 
Take care!

Just a couple more...a sequence I call the Third Wheel

These were actually with the FD 100mm F2 but anyways here they are

shaolin95 wrote:

And finally with the same FD 400mm decided to try a quick Profile pic of my wife which I think turned out pretty good.

Thanks for looking!

And she has a much kinder look than the bird in image #7. But I like them all.

Joachim Wulfers wrote:

shaolin95 wrote:

And finally with the same FD 400mm decided to try a quick Profile pic of my wife which I think turned out pretty good.

Thanks for looking!

And she has a much kinder look than the bird in image #7. But I like them all.

LOL indeed she does. Thanks!

Amazing shots especially considering they were shot hand-held. You must be one steady shooter. I have the lens and use it with the A7R. I am shocked you were able to make those shots hand-held.

Nice work.

Smokymtnhiker wrote:

Amazing shots especially considering they were shot hand-held. You must be one steady shooter. I have the lens and use it with the A7R. I am shocked you were able to make those shots hand-held.

Nice work.

Thanks amigo! I guess all the practice has been paying off since I only shoot manual lenses these days and no stabilization of course. Then again, I am sure with that beast of details A7R I am sure is a lot harder but damn dont I wish I could afford that camera!

jtr27 wrote:

Makes perfect sense, thanks for the explanation, and thanks again for sharing your excellent shots!

Why thank you very much for the kind words as well!