Birding with the nifty fifty

[chromatin64]

I went to Bass Rock a few weeks ago. The diving gannets were too close to accurately frame and follow with the 70-200 but luckily I had my trusty Nikon 50/1.8G in the bag. It was on my D800E so I could crop when needed, too.
.
.
bass-rock-gannets by Russell Watkins, on Flickr
.
.
bass-rock-gannets by Russell Watkins, on Flickr
.
.
bass-rock-gannets by Russell Watkins, on Flickr
.
.
bass-rock-gannets by Russell Watkins, on Flickr
.
.
bass-rock-gannets by Russell Watkins, on Flickr

 

[Siltyg]

Who needs a massive lens? That first one is a belter

 

[gramps]

Good set, I would not have attempted them with a 50mm ... just goes to show
A couple give evidence of being heavy crops and #1 seems to show over-sharpening & halos but overall they are good and I particularly like what you have done in #2

 

[chopsie]

First is beautiful

 

[dean messenger]

great shots.. would never have even considered shooting birds on my nifty fifty.

 

[TIP-TOP]

First has the WOW Factor

 

[Romany]

Some good images there..not much chance of getting these diving gannets with anything big lens wise, the gannets drop so close to the boat..
Great exposure and detail on these, and excellent control of the whites

Well done
Bill

 

[new2me]

Nice selection take from a really good set on your flickr

 

[mulch]

Great set of images. The 1st is a cracker and I really like the 2nd. All with a nifty fifty....wow!

 

[chromatin64]

Thanks for the kind comments, all.

It was a happy accident that I was "forced" into using my 50. I was helped by the reasonably good weather which meant I could shoot high shutter speeds at f/8 and low ISOs.

In future, doing the same trip again (and I will be; it's great), I'd take my 24-70.

I agree about the first one looking over-sharpened. I used a fair whack of the clarity slider to enhance the textures but it's made worse by either Flickr's or TP's display sharpening algorithm.

 

[pooley]

Some nice timing there Russell, 1 and 3 stand out for me

 

[minnnt]

Great set. #1 is awesome!!

 

[Nawty]

They really are great, #1 particularly.

 

[Tonto]

Thats true photography - its not what ya got its what ya do with it. She said

Beautiful work Russell

 

[Chris Wilson]

That's a really impressive set Russell - I also have an emergency fifty in my bag but have never put it to such good use!!

cheers, cw