[Weevil]

Petit-duc maculé (Forme rousse) / Eastern Screech Owl (Rufous Morph)
[Megascops asio]

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, CANADA
----------------------------------------------------
Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-FA* 250-600mm f5.6 ED [IF]
1/1600, ƒ/6.3, ISO 640



Petit-duc maculé (Forme rousse) / Eastern Screech Owl (Rufous Morph) [Megascops asio]

[Weevil]

Redheads don't often come in close so I took a few shots while I waited a while for this one to pop its head up. Now I think I prefer the shot with its head tucked in.





K-3, DA*300mm, 1.4x DA TC

Cool it was so close! Indeed, I saw one yesterday, and it was 500 ft away (at least) and backlit... so no can do here!
congrats!

[siva.ss.kumar]

Common kestrel. A migrant from Europe.
No cropping. 560mm.

[redpit]

Common kestrel. A migrant from Europe.
No cropping. 560mm.

Wonderful shot! Is it with the K-5IIs or FF?

[jacamar]

Cool it was so close!

Thanks Weevil - that's the closest Redhead shot I have had. If ever you are in Toronto in winter the waterfront trail leading west from Humber Bay West Park is good for the odd close-up lake duck among the Mallards. I get a lot of my shots from Humber Bay East Park as well.

Zztieg - was that a Marsh Tit you slipped in up there? Great set.

[siva.ss.kumar]

Wonderful shot! Is it with the K-5IIs or FF?

Thanks. It was with K-5iis

[pentaxfall]

I've never seen a camera focus on anything, without the photographer pointing it in the right place. I've also never had one of mine miss when I did.

It has happened to me on few occasions only when shooting flying birds. Photographer can place the AF-grid on the subject, but It is up to the camera to chose the right plane. Camera may choose background. I think this is where AF-grid size(small, wide) matters. I have to experiment on AF-grid size.

---------- Post added 02-24-19 at 11:59 AM ----------

Why so wide shots? Did you want to display the habitat?
BR hills, eh? In the sanctuary or the temple? Visiting India?

I have tried cropping too tight but did not like the over all effect. It felt like I am documenting the bird. So i crop very little.


I shot these form safari vehicle.


Not just visiting. I relocated back to India. I spent past 20years in US. Now my parents are getting old. So decided to go back to Bangalore.

[Inteligente]

Pentax KP + DA300*+kenko 1.5x

Common kestrel. A migrant from Europe.
No cropping. 560mm.

nice and sharp, too. I took mine out today to experiment some more. Everything still seems fuzzy to me. Either I lack the ability to focus it (I generally stick to manual focus), or there's something wrong with the lens. Can't get autofocus to do any better, though. This one's the best of all of 'em that I took today. Same results with the K-50 as with the K-1, too.

[siva.ss.kumar]

It has happened to me on few occasions only when shooting flying birds. Photographer can place the AF-grid on the subject, but It is up to the camera to chose the right plane. Camera may choose background. I think this is where AF-grid size(small, wide) matters. I have to experiment on AF-grid size.

---------- Post added 02-24-19 at 11:59 AM ----------



I have tried cropping too tight but did not like the over all effect. It felt like I am documenting the bird. So i crop very little.


I shot these form safari vehicle.


Not just visiting. I relocated back to India. I spent past 20years in US. Now my parents are getting old. So decided to go back to Bangalore.

I think Prashant from our Pentax India group visited you.

[riseform]

Varied thrush on snow K1 DA560
I've seen many, but always had a hard time getting a decent shot of one.

[redpit]

nice and sharp, too. I took mine out today to experiment some more. Everything still seems fuzzy to me. Either I lack the ability to focus it (I generally stick to manual focus), or there's something wrong with the lens. Can't get autofocus to do any better, though. This one's the best of all of 'em that I took today. Same results with the K-50 as with the K-1, too.

Strange... Since the K-1 shows the AF point when reviewing the photos, have you checked where (and whether) the AF has locked? Is there a red square on the subject you were aiming at? Even with MF if the camera "sees" you have nailed the focus the central square point will be red...

The Da 560 at f8 should be super sharp. Maybe you need to make AF microadjustments if your lens front or backfocuses...

[siva.ss.kumar]

Strange... Since the K-1 shows the AF point when reviewing the photos, have you checked where (and whether) the AF has locked? Is there a red square on the subject you were aiming at? Even with MF if the camera "sees" you have nailed the focus the central square point will be red...

The Da 560 at f8 should be super sharp. Maybe you need to make AF microadjustments if your lens front or backfocuses...

I think so too. The 560 should be super sharp at 8. If any issues, it is probably the purple fringing in bright objects.
Do check for front/back focus issues. If a lot of AF adjustment needed, then send it for servicing/replacement.

Strange... Since the K-1 shows the AF point when reviewing the photos, have you checked where (and whether) the AF has locked? Is there a red square on the subject you were aiming at? Even with MF if the camera "sees" you have nailed the focus the central square point will be red...

The Da 560 at f8 should be super sharp. Maybe you need to make AF microadjustments if your lens front or backfocuses...

I think so too. The 560 should be super sharp at 8. If any issues, it is probably the purple fringing in bright objects.
Do check for front/back focus issues. If a lot of AF adjustment needed, then send it for servicing/replacement.

Red square, eh? I thought that was a place in Moscow! The reason I didn't go into electical engineering was because I couldn't tell resistors apart - they're color coded and I'm color-blind. So "red" doesn't really show up for me. But now I know it's supposed to be there, I'll look for it and research its use. It might be one of those things I've turned off in the settings menu as excess gim-cracky. Incidentally, the color-blindness has an interesting effect - since I have fewer relatively huge color receptors per square inch of retina, I've got gazillions more of the tiny white/black receptors - huge increase in resolution and light-gathering capability, which is why I'm so picky about things looking sharp. (Also why I almost never mess with the colors as recorded by the camera in postprocessing.)

Here's this morning's attempt - better, I think, but it still bothers me.

I really do appreciate all the help, too.

[tim60]

Red square, eh? I thought that was a place in Moscow! The reason I didn't go into electical engineering was because I couldn't tell resistors apart - they're color coded and I'm color-blind. So "red" doesn't really show up for me. But now I know it's supposed to be there, I'll look for it and research its use. It might be one of those things I've turned off in the settings menu as excess gim-cracky. Incidentally, the color-blindness has an interesting effect - since I have fewer relatively huge color receptors per square inch of retina, I've got gazillions more of the tiny white/black receptors - huge increase in resolution and light-gathering capability, which is why I'm so picky about things looking sharp. (Also why I almost never mess with the colors as recorded by the camera in postprocessing.)

Here's this morning's attempt - better, I think, but it still bothers me.

I really do appreciate all the help, too.

Engineers do not need to tell the colours apart. Engineers do the sums and the high level bureaucracy, students, or at least one in each lab group, and technicians actually handle stuff and need to tell the colours apart.