a couple of images from todays outing

took the camera out today to one of my local spots so i thought i would post a couple of the results

Male Bullfinch


female Bullfinch


Bluetit


male Chaffinch


and finally the inevitable Robin


cheers for looking

 

Stalking the birds eh, Mark? Lovely shots.

 

Yes, beautiful shots, Mark. Is this Cute Photies Day?

 

Yippee !!! Another bird photographer, I thought I was all alone .

Nice ones Mark.

 

What setup do you use Mark,. I sometimes find my 300mm just isnt powerful enough

 

thanks for the warm replies

i used a canon 50d with the 300mm F4 L and a 1.4x converter it just about gets you close enough for the more common stuff but the species i really want to capture could do with an extra couple of hundred mm at least
for example while i was photographing the usual suspects today when a sparrow hawk kept hovering around landing about 30 yards away at about 5 - 6ft off the ground in sparse bushes unfortunately 420mm just isn't enough to get a decent capture without serious cropping 600mm would have been ideal but unless i win the lottery it won't be happening any time soon

on another note i did see some rather large hares trotting about and they didn't seem that bothered about me being there so i think i'l make that tomorrows project

 

One my friends uses a canon 7d and a 400 and shouts mainly birds and just about gets away with it I think

Flickr: Martial2010's Photostream

We have a marsh harrier floats about our local RSPB site but hes a sneaky git.

 

Great sharpness and bokeh!

 

Gorgeous colors and lovely bokeh Mark - that 1.4x keeps things nice and sharp then?

 

It sounds like you need some pretty serious kit to shoot birds. Wonderful shots, Mark!

 

well if you want to get the best out of wildlife i think you do jim but i'l struggle on

the 1.4 extender does quite a reasonable job without too much loss chris so i don't mind using it
the 300mm F 4L are pin sharp to start so you can afford i little softening i havn't tried a 2x converter to see how they cope but i'd loose auto focus in less than ideal lighting so havn't gone down that road

thanks again for the replies

 

Does auto focus work with the extender on the F4 lens?

 

Lovely shots!
I've only tried photographing birds a couple of times ... the one thing that strikes me from the last time i tried is how the satisfaction of capturing the things doesnt come across in the images ... unless you have given it a go!
good to have another twitcher on board

 

it does with the 1.4 extender because you only lose 1 stop bringing it to F5.6 but with the 2x extender you lose 2 stops making it F8 and if your using a canon 2x extender it will disable auto focus unless you mask off 3 of the pins to fool the camera
3rd party extenders however ( kenko etc.. ) still allow auto focus to function but it will just hunt like mad unless the light is perfect making it useless

i tend to look at bird photography the same way as i do with fishing Hamish you might shoot the same species a 1000 times but your never satisfied
there's always one more shot thats gonna be better or one more catch if your a fisherman

it can become quite addictive

 

My minimal experience tells me the exact same thing!
I shot a couple of birds whilst having a cup of coffee outside a cafe by a waterfall in Wales ... Took one photo, wanted to get a better one but the buggers kept moving and moving quickly ...
I guess it's quite an easy analogy for a lot of photography ... The elusive decisive moment and all that ...

 

Dug out my efforts from the above occasion

 

nothing wrong with those Hamish considering it's not something you normally photograph there pretty good

 

Hamish the bird photographer??? Well I never!!!

Definitely nowt wrong with them Hamish, you should give it another go sometime and you might get hooked.

 

Cheers Both!
I might well do that Glen!
I think if I lived in the countryside or had a big garden it would be somthing I would try more for sure ...