[normhead]

That's not the case. These shots are more than 2 months old (I'm "slightly" behind with processing...).


What we have now is snow, snow with rain, rain, then snow again. And lot of wind.


(These small tits have already eaten whole 40 kg bag of sunflower seeds :-).)

I go through one of those every couple weeks. At the height of the migration I've had up to 400 finches who ate 2 forty pound bags a week. I'm going to refrain from commenting on the "small tits" however.

Im not sure why but it somehow makes me happy that your weather is as bad as ours. I guess misery loves company.
"It's bad here, but you should see it over where this guy lives."

[jacamar]

"It's bad here, but you should see it over where this guy lives."

You should have driven a few hours south for our brief moment of sunshine in Toronto yesterday. All over now of course. Low winter sun still means waiting for the right moment to take the shot - or at least using burst and hoping the "defining moment" happens before the buffer runs out.

[acoufap]

... What we have now is snow, snow with rain, rain, then snow again. And lot of wind.

The same here.







Made with K-1 and DFA150-450. I made the pictures brighter than it was.

[normhead]

Made with K-1 and DFA150-450. I made the pictures brighter than it was.

I always feel like i'm cheating. I do a white balance and adjust the levels, but honestly, that's just not the way it was.

This dog appeared to be blue. There was yellow light from a low in the sky sun just out of the frame. This is not reality, but some people who weren't there might argue it is. Really, the amateur belief that white balance is essential, would be laughable, if said in jest. I guess they have no idea why people used to use coloured filters.



---------- Post added 01-05-19 at 02:40 PM ----------

You should have driven a few hours south for our brief moment of sunshine in Toronto yesterday. All over now of course. Low winter sun still means waiting for the right moment to take the shot - or at least using burst and hoping the "defining moment" happens before the buffer runs out.

It would have been 4 hours gone by the time I got there. We've been promised shirt sun bursts for two days, but none have materialized.

---

Last edited by normhead; 01-05-2019 at 12:38 PM.

[Inteligente]

Pentax KP + DA*300 + 1.5x TC Kenko

[normhead]

Excellent images.... you might want to dial back the sharpening just bit at some point.

[alfa75ts]

Went to the park early on Friday, 7:30am and already getting warm. Topped out at 43°C (109°F).

Willie Wagtail, just hatched her second brood this summer and out hunting for insects.

And on the way home, a snap of Delilah who I'm sure had a busy day fighting fires (Had to take the TC off and shoot through a hole in the fence, 300mm was still too long).

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[tduell]

Brown Goshawk, warning me off.
K-3 II, DFA 150-450 + 1.4x TC, handheld. See exif for shot details.

Cheers,
Terry

[acoufap]

I always feel like i'm cheating. I do a white balance and adjust the levels, but honestly, that's just not the way it was.

This dog appeared to be blue. There was yellow light from a low in the sky sun just out of the frame. This is not reality, but some people who weren't there might argue it is. Really, the amateur belief that white balance is essential, would be laughable, if said in jest. I guess they have no idea why people used to use coloured filters.

Many people who don‘t know much about direct and reflected light, colors and the process of capturing an image believe that what we get from the camera’s auto functions like WB and exposure metering is something objective and „the“ reality. They don’t cast doubt on what the pure technology (hard- and software) delivers. Why? I think it’s simply easier and more comfortable not to dive deeper. So tech becomes something like an objective authority. Then if we photographers change the appearance of a capture in post we manipulate, don’t we?!

Since I don’t believe in camera’s authority I don’t feel like I’m cheating when I’m adjusting an image to my perception. But blue dogs can surely be very appealing.

[str8talk83]

My plan is for my next lens purchase to be a super telephoto. I'm having a little bit of a problem deciding whether I should go with an extremely light and portable lens like the 500mm f/4 PF or go with something heavier like a Nikon 500mm f/4G or Sigma 500mm f/4 sport.

I wanted to see how I felt about shooting with a tripod all the time and how it would be to handle the larger 500 f/4 lens before making my decision. I looked into renting one, but even the rental is very expensive and I wouldn't get my money back. I happened to see a vintage 500mm f/4 lens on a forum and decided to give it a try. Even though it is manual focus, I figured it would handle similar and help me in making my decision. Once I'm ready to move on, I should be able to recoup all (or most) of the money spent when I sell it.

I've been pleasantly surprised by this lens. I took these photos mostly with the Nikon 1.4 TCB attached, shooting wide open to test it out. The reach of 700mm at f/5.6 has me really leaning towards going with a 500 f/4 lens for my long term purchase. The older Nikon lens is also very light for what it is (around 6 lbs) so it handles fairly well and doesn't feel "that" different than my 200-500 when carrying. Manual focus is obviously very limiting, but I found the D500 to have a surprisingly good viewfinder for this and, as long as I was close to the subject, the sharpness and subject isolation allowed me to take shots without going into liveview most of the time. I plan to continue experimenting with the lens and will try it on my A7r iii next.

This is with the lens wide open at 500mm without the TC. The rest were taken with the TC attached, mostly wide open

[Canada_Rockies]

My plan is for my next lens purchase to be a super telephoto. I'm having a little bit of a problem deciding whether I should go with an extremely light and portable lens like the 500mm f/4 PF or go with something heavier like a Nikon 500mm f/4G or Sigma 500mm f/4 sport.

I wanted to see how I felt about shooting with a tripod all the time and how it would be to handle the larger 500 f/4 lens before making my decision. I looked into renting one, but even the rental is very expensive and I wouldn't get my money back. I happened to see a vintage 500mm f/4 lens on a forum and decided to give it a try. Even though it is manual focus, I figured it would handle similar and help me in making my decision. Once I'm ready to move on, I should be able to recoup all (or most) of the money spent when I sell it.

I've been pleasantly surprised by this lens. I took these photos mostly with the Nikon 1.4 TCB attached, shooting wide open to test it out. The reach of 700mm at f/5.6 has me really leaning towards going with a 500 f/4 lens for my long term purchase. The older Nikon lens is also very light for what it is (around 6 lbs) so it handles fairly well and doesn't feel "that" different than my 200-500 when carrying. Manual focus is obviously very limiting, but I found the D500 to have a surprisingly good viewfinder for this and, as long as I was close to the subject, the sharpness and subject isolation allowed me to take shots without going into liveview most of the time. I plan to continue experimenting with the lens and will try it on my A7r iii next.

This is with the lens wide open at 500mm without the TC. The rest were taken with the TC attached, mostly wide open

Those results are spectacular for shots with TC attached. That looks to me like an excellent combination. Last September I met a fellow from Köln at Elk Island National Park in Alberta. We were both chasing bison. He has a Nikon rig, including the 500/4 and TC. I was using my M 400/5.6 which isn't in the same class at all, but I was having fun. His results with the combination are nothing short of spectacular. He travels the world on his vacations (it's nice to have a good paying job!) and some of his bird photos are beyond belief.

[zzeitg]

I happened to see a vintage 500mm f/4 lens on a forum and decided to give it a try.

Seems like your decision was right. Congratulation to your new lens and beautiful pictures taken with it!

[str8talk83]

Seems like your decision was right. Congratulation to your new lens and beautiful pictures taken with it!

Thanks

[swip]

Some pictures from today. I was itching to take the 6-hour round trip to Norm's neighbourhood to see the evening grosbeaks but they decided to drop by instead.

White throat sparrow


Evening Grosbeak


Evening Grosbeak dusted by snow flakes


Evening Grosbeak

[str8talk83]

Those results are spectacular for shots with TC attached. That looks to me like an excellent combination. Last September I met a fellow from Köln at Elk Island National Park in Alberta. We were both chasing bison. He has a Nikon rig, including the 500/4 and TC. I was using my M 400/5.6 which isn't in the same class at all, but I was having fun. His results with the combination are nothing short of spectacular. He travels the world on his vacations (it's nice to have a good paying job!) and some of his bird photos are beyond belief.

I was pleasantly surprised, but it makes sense. Primes do very well with TC's in my experience. The DA 300 works nicely with a 1.4 tc for example and all the super telephotos are kind of in a league of their own with teleconverter performance from what I've seen.