Still learning

The 800mm f/5.6 E

800 E Rocks!  Nice set, and wonderful to have those opportunities, and the capabilities of such a fine lens.

The first one shows great feather detail, but some of the others have a bit of motion blur.  I sure this lens is perfectly sharp at f5.6, so I would recommend opening up and increasing the shutter speed to eliminate the motion.  Ensure your focus point is exactly where you want it, as there is little depth of field with this long focal length, even at f8.

Cheers,

Arnie

All these were with the 1.25X, so f/8 is the best it can do.  All photos were hand carrying the rig and bracing on what was available, hence still learning.

Beautiful Snow Bunting picture David.   You're right, getting closer is best.  However, the Bison at the wildlife refuge are notoriously bad tempered.  The Bears at Yellowstone have a 100 yard buffer rule.

David Lal wrote:

arniebook wrote:

The first one shows great feather detail, but some of the others have a bit of motion blur. I sure this lens is perfectly sharp at f5.6, so I would recommend opening up and increasing the shutter speed to eliminate the motion. Ensure your focus point is exactly where you want it, as there is little depth of field with this long focal length, even at f8.

Well, more than 10 years ago I took this one. It's a French snow bunting. Totally wild. I was using a D70 and Nik 50mm F1.8D. Not nearly as good as Dick's but not too shabby (hopefully?) and my kit was very much cheaper:

D70; La neige; snow bunting. Haute Savoie; Tignes

The trouble with using very long lenses for birding is that when the birds come close you can't get them all in the frame.

Dave,

Nice Bunting.  I'm sure though, you're not suggesting we grab our old D70's and a 50mm lens, and go out birding ... Ha Ha. I've got one that I used with a 70-300 5.6  Quantary, as well as a 400 5.6 Sigma Apo.

There have been more than a few occasions when I was able to get much closer than expected,  but given the choice going out the door, I'll go long.

This is from 2004 with the D70.

Your post points to a very good reason for the popularity of the Nikkor 200-500 f5.6. It's very unusual for any bird photography situation to require less than 200mm, and very beneficial to do bird photography with 500mm.

Arnie

David Lal wrote:

)arniebook wrote:

Nice Bunting. I'm sure though, you're not suggesting we grab our old D70's and a 50mm lens, and go out birding ... Ha Ha. I've got one that I used with a 70-300 5.6 Quantary, as well as a 400 5.6 Sigma Apo.

No, no Arnie. No need for a D70 for birding - one can put the Nik 50mm on a D7200 or D750!

(Joke)

I've got the 1986 AF 50mm 1.4 (screwdrive AF).  I think this model is the first Nikon  autofocus lens. Works on my D500.

I've got a Nik 200-500 mm although I don't use it longer than about 350 for image quality reasons. It's not as good as my Nik 300/F4 was but that lens needs repair/replacement unfortunately.

I like your white bird (egret?) + tree trunk picture. Where was it taken? It would make a good greetings card.

Thank You.  It's a Snowy Egret ("Golden Slippers" ... one of my favorites).  Taken on the Gulf Beach of Longboat Key just south of the north Longboat Pass.

Probably you already know because I say it often enough, I like and deliberately use short lenses for birding.

I think this one was taken with my Nik 50mm but might have been Sigma 105mm (I can't remember):

D300; SB26 flashgun; Bluetit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Incredibly fine feather detail here, and lovely colors.  Wondering how you get that close.

Arnie

David Lal wrote:

arniebook wrote:

Incredibly fine feather detail here, and lovely colors. Wondering how you get that close.

Well, first of all, I've been looking after birds (and other animals) all my life and I am no longer young. So I (think I) understand their behaviour. I feed them all the year round: scrap (human) food goes out to the foxes and badgers. I made several wooden nest boxes for the garden and then I have bird feeders which I position close to windows in the house.

The bluetit feeder is less than 30cm from my study window. Initially I made a hide by blanking off most of the window with newspaper, just leaving holes for camera lens and flashguns.

Then I noticed that they always seemed to know I was there so I abandoned the stealth approach, took down the newspaper and instead rung a small brass bell whenever I filled the feeder. The birds (all kinds) responded in typical Pavlovian style and now tend to fly towards me if they see me by the window or in the garden.

This technique works with the foxes too:

D300; Nik 18-35mm; Vixen

I buy dog biscuits for the foxes and sometimes they come to less than a metre away.

Remarkable! ... Thanks for your response, with all that great information.

Arnie