Show your Bird Portraits

AlanF · May 30, 2019

Nat_WA said:
First try with the Bigma 60-600mm under non ideal conditions...
Hand held on 7DII, 1/200s f/6.3 (wide open) at 600mm, ISO 1250; about 12 m distance, 5-6m high in the tree
Most of the shots were suffering from motion blur... due to the bird moving
Great spotted woodpecker (male) revisiting the nest made last year:
View attachment 184819
Despite the conditions, I'm quite impressed with the lens quality - on 7DII at least better result than 100-400 with TC!
W.

Nice shot. At 12m, I would have used the bare 100-400mm II and f.5.6 at a higher shutter speed. It’s not generally appreciated that there is variation between TCs and how they pair with different lenses. Over the years I have 3 1.4xTC IIIs and 3 100-400mm IIs. My newest TC pairs beautifully with one of the zooms and is reserved for that whereas it is significantly worse on the other zoom.. luckily my other TC is the best one for the prime. Both TCs are sharp across the frame. The third was soft at the edges.

Nat_WA · May 30, 2019

AlanF said:
Nice shot. At 12m, I would have used the bare 100-400mm II and f.5.6 at a higher shutter speed. It’s not generally appreciated that there is variation between TCs and how they pair with different lenses. Over the years I have 3 1.4xTC IIIs and 3 100-400mm IIs. My newest TC pairs beautifully with one of the zooms and is reserved for that whereas it is significantly worse on the other zoom.. luckily my other TC is the best one for the prime. Both TCs are sharp across the frame. The third was soft at the edges.

That is a good point; with the 1.4x TC III that I have, on 7DII, the 100-400 which is perfect on its own, never achieves the level of sharpness / detail I see in your pictures. Yet, paired with my 70-200 sharpness / contrast remain excellent...
W.

dpc · May 30, 2019

Not sure of the identification of this bird. I think it's a house wren. It seems to have taken an interest in the upper story of our birdhouse. There were house sparrows in the apartment. When the sparrows left for an excursion for food, this fellow would move in. He seemed to be waiting for the sparrows to leave and then swept in.