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02-01-2011, 09:28 AM - 1 Like   #1426
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QuoteOriginally posted by BillM Quote
I'll plead guilty Lowell,do keep radius between .1 to .7 and no more than 15% of
maximum control input.Something Ive noticed using tamron 360B and F AF1.7x
in atmospheric conditions prevalent last 2 weeks here is purple fringing,have made
adjustments in body especially regarding contrast,where Ive bumped up considerably.
Normally shy away from most PP as it detracts from time in the field.Im not the only
one that has expirenced some frustration in uploading images and seen them "mangled",
seen with immature eagle recently,uploaded image,next morning
was with a group of people,plugged my laptop into inverter,booted up and showed
them,when one of group compared my original to uploaded image,said
"why dont you just move to craigslist" Lastly,photographs are wonderful aids in teaching,you must
certainly have images of simular birds in somewhat same settings and conditions
that you could upload and demonstrate with.
I have to admit that I am woefully behind in uploading shots, as my present limit is maxed out. I need to house clean and use the photo gallery more for the real keepers as opposed to putting them in posts.

I too do a little sharpening, so don't feel too bad about it, and what I notice is that when I am concentrating on detail within the subject, I loose sight of the big picture. Usually I sharpen to the point I like for detail, then scrap the whole process because the ooutline liiks a little "unrealistic" Again, not to criticize, because these things are hard to get any shots of, let alone great ones, but the shot that captured my attention was the female horned lark.

With respect to PF. that is one reason I stayed away from the Tammy 300/2.8. I tried one with the 1.7x AF TC and found the PF and CA was much worse than my old SMC 300F4.

I will look at posting some more shots, once I have cleaned up my attachments but here are some that have beenpreviously posted.

SHot with everythign from *istD to K7, using 300F4 and 1.7x AF TC or Sigma 70-200F2.8 and siogma 2x TC All shots hand held, the chickadee was done with a flash.
K10D and Sigma 70-200F2.8 + sigma 2x TC



*istD and K300F4 plus 1.7x AF TC

PZ-1 and K300F4 plus 1.7x AF TC

unknown either sigma 70-200F2.8 +2x or smc-300F4 and 1.7x


02-01-2011, 09:59 AM   #1427
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QuoteOriginally posted by Lowell Goudge Quote
SHot with everythign from *istD to K7, using 300F4 and 1.7x AF TC or Sigma 70-200F2.8 and siogma 2x TC All shots hand held, the chickadee was done with a flash.
Wow Lowell, some great captures there. I have never seen a Red-winged BB that animated and especially like that one.
02-01-2011, 10:54 AM - 1 Like   #1428
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QuoteOriginally posted by imtheguy Quote
Wow Lowell, some great captures there. I have never seen a Red-winged BB that animated and especially like that one.
They get cranky when you get close to the nest.

I went back through my files and found a female RWBB doing a threat display similar to Lowell's shot. Not a great image but shows the behavior.





Tom G

Last edited by 8540tomg; 02-01-2011 at 11:39 AM.
02-01-2011, 11:23 AM   #1429
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QuoteOriginally posted by imtheguy Quote
Wow Lowell, some great captures there. I have never seen a Red-winged BB that animated and especially like that one.
thanks.

like all my shots, the opportunity was there as was I with a camera.

Exposure is a little tricky with a black subject, I could care less about the sky, although I managed to preserve it as well, but the risk of blowing the highlight colors is there always with darker subjects.

The best possible images I always mis, because the brids seem to know when I don't have a camera, so they come to taunt me.

I have a relitively simple approach, and mostly stalk, seldom using a tripod. I have a collection of shots, for most of my confirmed sightings (about 340 at last count) which range from shots like these, to ones that simply prove I saw the bird. Lately, my approach is, if I can't get a shot for identification purposes, I simply did not see it.

For some shots, like the chickadee, a flash is a must, although the quality of high ISO shots lately make my desire for something bigger in diameter than 77mm less these days. But on an *istD I consier that a pretty good shot, almost at minimum focus for the lens. I wish pentax would offer a newer more up to date body with TTL flash capability, as that makes wild life with legacy glass much easier.

Edit note: although I use these two combos (SMC300F4 + 1.7x AF TC and the Sigma APO 70-200F2.8EX + 2x TC) I do have an old Vivitar 400F5.6 and a celestron C90 that I have done a little with. I intend to do more with the C90 this year having spent a lot of time and greif sorting out the mount to cut vibration


Last edited by Lowell Goudge; 02-01-2011 at 11:29 AM.
02-01-2011, 11:48 AM - 1 Like   #1430
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QuoteOriginally posted by Lowell Goudge Quote
With respect to PF. that is one reason I stayed away from the Tammy 300/2.8. I tried one with the 1.7x AF TC and found the PF and CA was much worse than my old SMC 300F4.
Which one Lowell,60B or 360B?
Looked at 60B toltally agree,360B is different animal.
Have copies of "K"300/4,"M"*300/4,and "A"*300/4 have found PF and CA about
same as with 360B when using AF1.7x,best results have been with M*300/4 and AF1.7x
About same as 360B and AF1.7x. Tammy has the advantage in speed.
Alone,all 4 of those len's are extremely sharp,could throw 60B in too,havnt used one much.
Said I wouldnt upload swan pics anymore,is all I have handy.25% of sensor
resized to 801 by xxx pixels.No PP.Had contrast adjusted 75% beyond midpoint setting in body.
Does seem to minimize PF and CA.Also seems to make bird standout
from background.Something else is that having contrast bumped up does seem
to give more assertive AF lock on moving subject.(with AF1.7x)

Talked with pentax directly 2 weeks ago about ordering something that gives
me desired reach without a TC.Very competative with nikon and canon,images
every bit as well.Found out that 3rd parties are involved,adds 400 to 700 USD
in brokerage fees.Im not here to feed those people.Not something I would
even consider from ebay or something like that
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02-01-2011, 12:15 PM   #1431
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I just got a copy of the Tokina AT-X AF 400mm f5.6 in the mail today! As is usually the case the snow is flying and there is no sunlight so trying to find out what I can make it do will have to wait but it should be fun!!!
02-01-2011, 12:18 PM - 1 Like   #1432
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QuoteOriginally posted by BillM Quote
Which one Lowell,60B or 360B?
Looked at 60B toltally agree,360B is different animal.
Have copies of "K"300/4,"M"*300/4,and "A"*300/4 have found PF and CA about
same as with 360B when using AF1.7x,best results have been with M*300/4 and AF1.7x
About same as 360B and AF1.7x. Tammy has the advantage in speed.
Alone,all 4 of those len's are extremely sharp,could throw 60B in too,havnt used one much.
I looked at a 60B I believe. As for the CA on the K300F4, I agree. It is not too bad thoough, and it really needs to be shot relitively wide open to have issues, as you can see my chickadee is pretty good.

If you want a little CA, look at the following shot of a night heron with the 300F4 and 1.7x


I have posted this before in this thread I believe. there is a little CA, this was I believe F5.6 . The interesting thing is the shutter speed. 1/40. Also note shot at ISO1600 and therefore even with K7 just a little grain, but overall a pretty good shot. This was a 100% crop out of a full frame image of the bird.

I have also added a few others, some at a feeder, but any way all shot with one of my two long combos

the first two are from a thread aboout isolation of foreground subjects by using a flash and letting the background fall off into blackness. They were done to demonstrate this technique, hence the feeder, but note that the nuthatch is only about 2-3 inches long in real life.







Last edited by Lowell Goudge; 02-01-2011 at 01:22 PM.
02-01-2011, 12:25 PM   #1433
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I hope this qualifies I took them with the DA 50-200mm f4.5-5.6 and the Kenko 1.5x teleconverter. If not there are a lot of bird folks here.


02-01-2011, 01:32 PM   #1434
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QuoteOriginally posted by 8540tomg Quote
Spyder,

That Snipe has to be the best K 500/4.5 shot I've ever seen.
Ah, but how many have you seen? It's easy to be the best with a sample size of one.

QuoteOriginally posted by 8540tomg Quote
Cliff Claven of Cheers fame has been looking for that bird for years.

The great Snipe hunt is over. I too thought it was a legend but the legend comes to life.

Tom G
Cheers is a bit before my time, I had to google that reference to understand what on earth you were talking about!

QuoteOriginally posted by Lowell Goudge Quote
Is it just me, or are some of the shots over sharpened in PP?
I'm guilty of this as well, without comparing before and after it's very easy to miss parts of the image that start to look unnatural. I am curious as to which image(s) in particular you had in mind though.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lowell Goudge:
If you want a little CA, look at the following shot of a night heron with the 300F4 and 1.7x
Looks OK to me, that's a pretty minor amount of CA to deal with - especially since it's a 100% crop. I doubt you'd even notice it otherwise.
02-01-2011, 02:34 PM   #1435
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QuoteOriginally posted by Spyder Quote
Looks OK to me, that's a pretty minor amount of CA to deal with - especially since it's a 100% crop. I doubt you'd even notice it otherwise.
Like I said, a little CA

This is one reason I have not really been moved to update a 300mm in my kit. This one performs very well indeed.
02-01-2011, 03:57 PM   #1436
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QuoteOriginally posted by Lowell Goudge Quote
chickadee is pretty good
Seen it when I was "case'n da joint" over a year ago,still like it.
You guys have those Red-breasted nuthatches up there,love to have a crack at one.
Remember when my mentor(Tom) on M400/5.6 put up female Red-wing
thats why he's my mentor.
Squire,Spyder,and Skog hangin some beauties too,and so many others...
more than anything,appreciate the fraternity.Been around long enough to know
each one of those pics represents alot of hard work,have to respect and admire that.
02-01-2011, 04:58 PM   #1437
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Spyder,

“Cheers is a bit before my time, I had to google that reference to understand what on earth you were talking about!”

I guess when you have to look up the reference the joke loses a lot of its punch. Your education continues my young Padawan. Hope you don’t have to Google up that one or I’m going to give up movie and TV analogies altogether. In any case I’ve seen quite a few K 400/4.5 shots and yours remains one of the best.

Hey Lowell,

You know I agree with you on the K 300/4. I think it is a vastly underrated lens and the best buy in the used 300mm range if you don’t mind manual focusing. Sure it exhibits CAs and PF wide open but stop down a bit and it delivers.

I’ve put mine to bed for a while since I got the M 400/5.6 and its longer reach. In many ways the M 400s CAs are even worse than the K 300/4. With both lenses time and experience teaches you when and where you will get the best out of them. Time and technique can minimize these issues to some degree. Even new lenses have CAs and PFs to some degree. I think we can get a bit carried away with these things and fail to see how well some of these old lenses can perform.

BillM,

My Cheers Snipe analogy was inspired by an earlier post of yours. I didn’t think the reference was all that obscure but even though the show is in syndication I suppose it has been off the air for quite a while.

I had no idea I was your mentor? I’m not sure what I could have possibly taught you but I’m flattered.

Tom G
02-01-2011, 06:07 PM   #1438
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QuoteOriginally posted by 8540tomg Quote
Spyder,

Hey Lowell,

You know I agree with you on the K 300/4. I think it is a vastly underrated lens and the best buy in the used 300mm range if you don’t mind manual focusing. Sure it exhibits CAs and PF wide open but stop down a bit and it delivers.

I’ve put mine to bed for a while since I got the M 400/5.6 and its longer reach. In many ways the M 400s CAs are even worse than the K 300/4. With both lenses time and experience teaches you when and where you will get the best out of them. Time and technique can minimize these issues to some degree. Even new lenses have CAs and PFs to some degree. I think we can get a bit carried away with these things and fail to see how well some of these old lenses can perform.
Tom G
Tom, I agree

the issue with CA however, is not so much an issue with smaller subjects, but if you look at the heron shot, as the chest falls away from the plane of focus, you can see a widening band of lateral CA develop. It is just that with any really long lens (this with TC is 510mm) the DOF is so narrow, out of focus happens regularly within the depth of the subject.

I really couldn't care about CA in the OOF region and in the branches, WHo cares. My only problem with the heron was lack of light. I had to go to ISO 1600 and 1/40th of a second on a 500mm lens to even get the shot. Good thing I had 1) a still subject and 2) shake reduction.

I shoot regularly between 1/100 and 1/200 with this combo but 1/40 is the slowest I have ever gotten a printable shot.

The CA can easily be managed by the CA removal tool in PSP X3 I just didn;t think I needed to for the reason I posted the shot in the first place, which was "how good is the K7 SR anyway?"

Cheers
02-01-2011, 11:47 PM - 1 Like   #1439
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Todays edition.

Whimbrel


Practice stalking on this willow ptarmigan male. He froze up completely. I guess he thought he was invisible or something Maxed out the closest focus distance on my 55-300.

02-02-2011, 11:13 AM - 1 Like   #1440
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QuoteOriginally posted by Skog Quote
Whimbrel
Beautiful Skog,we have whimbrel's thru here in periodic,seasonal movements
have had my chance,but it was from land towards water,couldnt do anything with it.
Have any ideal what it was doing in scrub?
Ive noticed from my own experience that direct approach rather than across the
field of vision(at right angle) is generaly more sucessful,as you demonstrate
with both.ptarmigan "kills" me,congrats on both.
Raptors,with their skulls shaped for binocular vision,same approach pretty much
will not work,your at their mercy.

This is a Sharp-shinned hawk,if you go up to Lowell's post that starts with
sandhill crane,next bird he shows is a coopers hawk,both these are often
confused with one another,good field mark is difference in tail.
Sharp-shined is square-ish and notched(when folded) where as with cooper's
as Lowell demonstrates tail is rounded at corners.Theres other differences
but is probably most reliable field mark to go by.
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