M50ii + EF-S 55-250mm STM + Kenko SHQ 1.5x Teleconverter

Larry Rexley wrote:

Tomsop wrote:

Thank you - with my efs-55-250 (non stm) even at 250 the hawks are slightly too far away. I never captured anything other than just rough detrail - very hard to make out the fact - that is how out of range I was with my setup. I never took bird pictures with serious effort before so walking around the yard and setting up for a shot I realized they had bigger boundaries then I notice if I was just walking by. My advice to anyone starting to take pictures with birds spend time learning their tendencies to fly away so you are used to it when you finally try to take pics (just in case a complete amateur like me ever reads this).

I am interested in the sigma - I really need that far reach and perhaps with the sharper results Larry is getting I arrive at roughly the same price had I just bought a new stm lens and TC and software. Who knows, I may still benefit from the software even with the 15-600. I like this idea.

BTW, for others considering the 55-250 STM setup with TC, when I was researching I found that the 1.4 Kenko dgx was about $140 and not sure about used prices but had a hard time finding the 1.5. I did find it in ebay for $55 used.

it's easy to get on the GAS train and keep upgrading to get more capability, and that's fun - I'm guilty of that myself! But I do put a lot of work into getting the maximum I can with what I do have before I upgrade. As someone pointed out, no matter what lens you have, many birds will always seem to be just out of reach of the lens! I find this with the 600 as well!

If you're just getting into it, I'd recommend focusing your efforts on what your equipment can do for as long as possible --- I found that it makes you a better, more creative photographer, and it can be lots of fun due to the challenge. The EF-S 55-250 is already good enough for birds and wildlife at close range, and for larger subjects --- so try getting as close as possible.

Shoot from a makeshift blind, or shoot birds at a bird feeder at close range for practice! If possible shoot larger birds like herons or eagles. I found that if I sat on the beach, little birds would eventually walk right by me, only feet away, so I'd shoot those to get experience, using silent electronic shutter to not scare them away.

Try different kinds of shots - environment shots of groups of birds in flight, silhouettes of birds in trees, environmental and landscape shots with a bird in the frame but a beautiful landscape with an interesting sky, lots of color, etc. A great bird image does not necessarily have to have one bird filling up most of the frame.

Sit in a spot where there are lot of birds - like a lake, a park, or the beach - in an area where any kind of birds are flying around. Some birds will likely fly close to you and you can practice shooting birds in flight - chasing the framing, practicing focus and exposure. EVen with mundane types of birds, sometimes they do things or you get a shot with an interesting action or composition that can make for a great image!

Here are lots of bird photos that were in range for the 55-250 --- including quite a few nice shots of birds at a feeder from less than 20 ft away with the 1.5x TC:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65366142

All excellent advice for general birding Larry.  Everyone should follow it!

However sometimes the birds will limit how closely they can be approached no matter your best efforts (especially raptors!).  In that case there’s no substitute for focal length .  700-800mm (FF equiv) is about what I consider to be ideal, esp when BIFs are involved (BIFs can be hard to acquire at longer focal lengths).

On the M6ii, the 375mm “Rexley Special” is the about the starting point!  Got my 1.5x from Fleabay.

R2