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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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I knew there was a Green Woodpecker in my back garden, but always to skittish to photo. This afternoon, a male was feeding a juvenile male about 25m away and I was in shadow. I started with 100-400mm + 1.4xTC on the 5DSR and had time to changeover to the 400mm DO II + 1.4xTC.

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Jul 29, 2012
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Canada
I knew there was a Green Woodpecker in my back garden, but always to skittish to photo. This afternoon, a male was feeding a juvenile male about 25m away and I was in shadow. I started with 100-400mm + 1.4xTC on the 5DSR and had time to changeover to the 400mm DO II + 1.4xTC.

Nice series, Alan.
 
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I knew there was a Green Woodpecker in my back garden, but always to skittish to photo. This afternoon, a male was feeding a juvenile male about 25m away and I was in shadow. I started with 100-400mm + 1.4xTC on the 5DSR and had time to changeover to the 400mm DO II + 1.4xTC.
Hi Alan,
Very nice shots...! It's not often that one can witness a Green Woodpecker feeding a young - let alone have a camera ready :cool:
I like the second and third picture best, both for the 'image' and for the perception of sharpness / contrast in the birds; can you tell which ones were taken with 100-400 and which with 400 DO?
W.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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Hi Alan,
Very nice shots...! It's not often that one can witness a Green Woodpecker feeding a young - let alone have a camera ready :cool:
I like the second and third picture best, both for the 'image' and for the perception of sharpness / contrast in the birds; can you tell which ones were taken with 100-400 and which with 400 DO?
W.
Shot 1 was with the 100-400mm II (and I boosted both local and overall contrast). The rest were with the DO (I leave the EXIFs on the images if you want to download). Here are my observations of relative sharpness and contrast (based on zillions of shots, and with 3 copies of the zoom): bare lens, the 100-400mm II at f/5.6 is very close to the prime at f/4 but slightly behind; put on a 1.4xTC and the prime is noticeably sharper and more contrasty. But, to put in perspective: 5DSR + 100-400mm II +1.4xTC f/8 is slightly sharper and more contrasty than the 5DIV 400mm DO II + 2xTC at f8 and with faster AF. I think by absolute standards, the 1.4xTC gives very acceptable results on the 100-400mm II.

I nearly didn't buy the 400mm DO II because TDP has the zoom sharper than it on its charts. For that reason and my experience on several other lenses, I take those TDP charts with a big pinch of salt. (Lensrentals, lenstip have the lenses tMTFs the right way around). These lenses keep me with Canon (aside from other factors)!
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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All the others I saw with fish were in flight too. This one was the only one that I saw that landed (luckily near me) for just long enough for me to grab about 8 shots of him before he took off again. This was from Grimsey Is. Great place to spend several days to a week photographing or just walking the paths and birdwatching.
Catherine
I have looked carefully at mixed groups of Guillemots and Razorbills in flight and have found two with a Guillemot with a single fish in its beak, fishtail forward. Look at the lead Guillemot in this flock in the one below - you can just make out the fish. And in the one above, both have fish - just visible.
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digigal

Traveling the world one step at a time.
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Aug 26, 2014
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I have looked carefully at mixed groups of Guillemots and Razorbills in flight and have found two with a Guillemot with a single fish in its beak, fishtail forward. Look at the lead Guillemot in this flock in the one below - you can just make out the fish. And in the one above, both have fish - just visible
There were several of the guys who were really into getting flying birds with or without fish and spent a lot of time photographing the Razorbills flying by with mouthfuls of fish, much of the time at a distance that it didn't make sense for me to shoot because I don't have the luxury to crop so I have to try to get a full frame picture. They were shooting with longer lenses and the D850 or with the 400/2.8 with a 2x. It was interesting that there was the same Razorbill that flew around in a big circle by the cliff with fish for about 15 min--they were beginning to fell like he was an old friend! When they landed it was below, so was difficult to get other pictures. There were only a few up on top with the Puffins.
Catherine

But I've got plenty of puffins with fish--this one from the Farnes

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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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There were several of the guys who were really into getting flying birds with or without fish and spent a lot of time photographing the Razorbills flying by with mouthfuls of fish, much of the time at a distance that it didn't make sense for me to shoot because I don't have the luxury to crop so I have to try to get a full frame picture. They were shooting with longer lenses and the D850 or with the 400/2.8 with a 2x. It was interesting that there was the same Razorbill that flew around in a big circle by the cliff with fish for about 15 min--they were beginning to fell like he was an old friend! When they landed it was below, so was difficult to get other pictures. There were only a few up on top with the Puffins.
Catherine

But I've got plenty of puffins with fish--this one from the Farnes

View attachment 185723
Some puffins are not as successful at fishing.

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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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There were several of the guys who were really into getting flying birds with or without fish and spent a lot of time photographing the Razorbills flying by with mouthfuls of fish, much of the time at a distance that it didn't make sense for me to shoot because I don't have the luxury to crop so I have to try to get a full frame picture. They were shooting with longer lenses and the D850 or with the 400/2.8 with a 2x.
It's a macho thing, big lenses on gimbals, and even more macho to hand hold them. On my trip this year and a couple of years ago I got better shots than the gimbal guys as I was using the 5DIV and the bare 400mm DO II. I was able to track them as they came really close whereas they couldn't move the gear fast enough and got only long distance shots. This was where the 5DIV came into its own, it has very fast AF and tracks superbly well, and the field of view of 400mm on full frame is as narrow as I can handle for fast birds. You can achieve much more interesting and artistic static images than the BIF, but it is fun getting some good shot of them flying.
 
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Aussie shooter

https://brettguyphotography.picfair.com/
Dec 6, 2016
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brettguyphotography.picfair.com
Aussie, I have dug out one for you of a Noisy Myna I took in Sydney last year. It knew I was from the antipodes so it posed the right way for me.
View attachment 185743
You have it all wrong mate. We aren't the ones who are upside down. We are just waiting in the right place for when the magnetic poles flip
 
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