Show your Bird Portraits

Jack Douglas

CR for the Humour
Apr 10, 2013
6,980
2,602
Alberta, Canada
Jack, the Sony RX10IV etc already do 24 fps with AF.

Alan, I took your previous comments seriously a while back and investigated that camera. Pretty impressive but there were a few things that just made me shy away. Can't recall off hand - view finder?? It does have a lot going for it though.

Jack
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
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It is amazingly sharp all the way from 24-600mm, and in the corners. It has about the same resolution at "600mm" as the 100-400mm II at 400mm on the 5DIV. But, it has all the disadvantages of a 1" sensor - great for well-lit scenes and portraits, and wildlife, but when it gets darker, I wouldn't use it above iso 800 as the noise becomes intrusive when cropping. I simply can't believe what the Zeiss lens can do - it ourtesolves EF-M lenses on my M5 at equivalent focal lengths.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,298
22,371
Well, as usually a lot of very nice to great shots when I have no time for stopping here... I have some favorites but it's not going to be fair do bring them forward: every one has his own taste and in many cases the difference is just tiny!
Yesterday I got an opportunity to go out and shoot. First stop was around the local Zoo and I got just few Yellow-faced Canary. Second - in the Zoo: I was informed that they have new bird there and I was very curious - Hamerkop, single representative of a genus and even entire family... In the second shot it's trying to hide that faulty beak

Here's a Hamerkop my wife took in the wild in Tanzania in November with the 5DSR and 100-400mm II at 560mm. We have had a wow of a time travelling since my very delayed retirement!3Q7A0097-DxO_hamerkop.jpg
 
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ISv

"The equipment that matters, is you"
CR Pro
Apr 30, 2017
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Very nice series, ISv.

Thanks Click!
My primary goal was to check for a Red-footed Booby. I was told that one use to feed on small fish at one of Waikiki beaches (I was told by the way by couple of Canadian "tourists" - hard to say tourists because they use to spent 4 winter months in the same hotel year after year, both retired:)). Didn't see the Booby.
 
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Jack Douglas

CR for the Humour
Apr 10, 2013
6,980
2,602
Alberta, Canada
It is amazingly sharp all the way from 24-600mm, and in the corners. It has about the same resolution at "600mm" as the 100-400mm II at 400mm on the 5DIV. But, it has all the disadvantages of a 1" sensor - great for well-lit scenes and portraits, and wildlife, but when it gets darker, I wouldn't use it above iso 800 as the noise becomes intrusive when cropping. I simply can't believe what the Zeiss lens can do - it ourtesolves EF-M lenses on my M5 at equivalent focal lengths.

Alan I must live in the twilight zone because allowing for some shutter speed for motion and at least F5.6 due to lens and 1.4X or even 2X, I practically am never below 800 ISO. I'd say that my common ISO with the 6D was 1250 and now with the 1DX2 I'll go maybe 2500 without too much noise, so for birds, especially small ones with cropping, I probably wouldn't be too happy.

However, that's not to say it isn't an amazing camera. And very handy.

BTW it sounds like retirement is a blast. Look after your health.:)

Jack
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
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Alan I must live in the twilight zone because allowing for some shutter speed for motion and at least F5.6 due to lens and 1.4X or even 2X, I practically am never below 800 ISO. I'd say that my common ISO with the 6D was 1250 and now with the 1DX2 I'll go maybe 2500 without too much noise, so for birds, especially small ones with cropping, I probably wouldn't be too happy.

However, that's not to say it isn't an amazing camera. And very handy.

BTW it sounds like retirement is a blast. Look after your health.:)

Jack
It has an f/4 lens, and f/4 at iso 800 is equivalent to f/5.6 iso 1600, which covers your 6D at its usual 1250 iso and f/5.6. For me, the RX10IV is not intended to replace a 5D series but to complement it. Different cameras have different advantages. The 2.7 crop factor means that at f/4, the lens has the depth of field of a FF f/11 lens, which is very good for having groups of birds or animals in focus whereas the FF picks out one subject from the background at f/4 with a nice bokeh. Here is an example. We spotted a hyena devouring a wildebeest surrounded by a group of vultures. My 5DIV had the 400mm DO II + 2xTC on it, and was unsuitable. So I grabbed the Sony RX10 zoomed to a focal length equivalent of about 400mm, and fired a burst of shots at 1/1000s, f/4 iso 200, got the whole group in focus and one where the wildebeest had its legs lifted into the air. For such safari work, the large zoom range and depth of field are very useful, and the light tends to be good. For a small bird on a tree or in poor light, the Canon wins easily.DSC06901-DxO_hyena+wildebeest+vultures_small.jpg
 
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Jan 29, 2011
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And here is one of my favourites, taken two weeks ago when we just arrived, on Merritt Island, not far from the Kennedy Space Center, a Roseate Spoonbill, a bird that looks best face on!View attachment 182745
Alan it looks like you had a great time in my back yard! What did you end up doing as an itinerary because it seems like you were very productive. Nice work!
 
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Very nice shots Olaf and Alan! Here I have few commons from the weekend (unfortunately - nothing interesting)!
Hi ISv, they may be common to you, certainly not in my part of the world ;). V. nice, lots of detail - yet that does not make me recognize what species the young chick (third picture) is... Can you enlighten me?
W.
 
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AaronT

CR Pro
Jan 5, 2013
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Beautiful shots ISV, OlAf, Alan, Don and others. We had a nice, sunny day yesterday in Southern Ontario. It was cold outside but warm looking through the kitchen window. :geek: The following were taken with my 5DSR and 100-400L with 1.4 TC. The birds were taking advantage of seed and nut feeders. I refilled the good sized seed feeder 3-4 times. Bluejay7331web.jpgFemCardinal7357web.jpgRedBelly7348web.jpgCardinal7351web.jpg
 
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