Barn owl , quite disapointed

den

den

Messages
9,603
Name
Dennis
Edit My Images
No
Hi, on my way home tonight i spotted this barn owl hunting,i used a 7d with my 100-400 and even though he was hunting pretty close i thought i got some decent shots , alas after going through them i have only managed to get a couple worth keeping ,, i have found the 100-400 to be fine for quite staionary subjects but BIF shots with me is just a no no,i am not trying to blame the tools as i know as the user i have to get it right in camera but i am quite disapointed , would i be wiser to purchase the 400mm 5.6 to improve my technique and hit rate ,just annoyed at getting this special moment and not being able to get the best out of it...
barn owl by den9112, on Flickr
 
Go back for another go Den, i've taken hundreds of Barn owl picks but not every ones a keeper (y)
 
in decent light you can get away with using a 1.4tc if you tape the contacts.

apart from that - tracking autofocus/AI servo , burst mode, and try to get it flying towards you or into the frame rather than out of it.

and get a copy of photographing wild birds by Chris Gomersal ;)
 
Thanks i think i am expecting to much but i was so close and i think a bit overexcited as i was not expecting to come across it so close .....and i suppose i can only improve ...and i just hope he returns .
 
also that shot could be improved by cropping to portrait removing much of the dead space on the right - it also probably wants a little bump on the saturation (not too much )
 
"in decent light you can get away with using a 1.4tc if you tape the contacts."

please explain this.
thanks
 
When you say the shots were not good, what exactly do you mean? Front/back focusing, soft images because of slow shutter or both?
I used to have both 100-400mm and 400 f/5.6. 400 f/5.6 is better for BIF as the 100-400 is slower to aquire initial focus. I only used the 100-400 for larger mammals really.
Ultimately though, if you want the best, you will have to fork out on a 300 2.8 or 500 f/4 ! !
 
I think i had a knee jerk reaction to my disapointment at not getting a bang on full frame shot,when i got out the car the owl was literaly feet from me ,i panicked and just started firing away without thinking,the camera was set to my earlier shots of stationary brown hares ,i know my camera and lens capabilities and realy should have known better as i normaly set the settings to the current available light......one shot was full frame looking at me ,perfect if it was in focus(will post to show) but because i had not upped the iso etc i learnt a lesson ,and as i have said earlier i think i was more annoyed with myself and chose to blame the tools and not the user.
 
jackbauer said:
"in decent light you can get away with using a 1.4tc if you tape the contacts."

please explain this.
thanks
Click to expand...

usually the canon AF system requires a max app of f5.6 to autofocus (on 1 series its F8) , therefore if you put a canon 1.4tc on a 100-400 f5.6 lens you wind up with an effective 140-560 f8 and the AF wont work - however by taping over certain contacts on the canon tc you can fool the firmware and get the AF to function - however it only works properly if theres a decent ammount of light available

note that if you are using a cheaper TC like the kenko it doesnt have the same contacts anyway so taping may be unnecessary

as to which contacts to tape google is your freind and will give loads of how to instructions and videos that it explain it more clearly than i have space to here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top