Beautiful but unwelcome visitor

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mincie

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William
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Here are a couple of shots taken from my garden this morning. A beautiful bird but not good for all the other small birds that visit. Light was not great but I had to post them. It stayed for a while but didn't manage to catch anything.

hawk2.jpg


hawk1.jpg
 
I know what you mean about unwelcome, but they are a stunning looking bird. Well done on grabbing a few shots, they dont hang around for long usually. Were these taken through glass by any chance.
 
Thanks for taking the time to comment. They were not taken through glass. I have been asked that before with this lens it is a 300m F4 Nikon the older one perhaps not fully suited to the D300s.
 
mincie said:
Thanks for taking the time to comment. They were not taken through glass. I have been asked that before with this lens it is a 300m F4 Nikon the older one perhaps not fully suited to the D300s.
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May be worth tweaking the fine tuning, as they had a good reputation optically
 
Fantastic..I had one in my garden a few weeks ago but the pics I took are not worthy...Once landed they wont catch anything anyway as they attack from above so its nice to see them like this, although the garden is quiet of birds for ages afterwards. (y)
 
Welcome to me as about 30/40 years ago all raptors were on the decline. Anyway it’s a nice shot of a magnificent male sparrowhawk. I guess it's been a tough winter for all wild animals so it's good to see one in such good condition. As awkmoon says they won't catch anything from a perch normally as they take there prey by fast surprise attacks low to the ground in & out of cover.
 
mincie said:
How do I tweak the fine tuning.
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You will have 'AF Fine Tune" in the menu, the camera knows what lens is mounted and will store the adjustment for that lens, so every time you mount that particular lens it applies the stored settings.

You have a range from +20 to - 20, basically set up the camera on a tripod, aim at a target subject, tweak the setting and see what effect it has, once focus is crisp, store that setting and turn on 'AF Fine tune'

Plenty of info if you Google it, but here is one to get you started LINK its' for a D300 but should be the same for your D300s (it is for the D700) (y)
 
Lucky you having a garden raptor! I'd raise your shutter speed to 1/500 and see if that helps;) 1/100 is a bit slow.
 
Wonderfull capture, you did well to get close to him. As Chiho Miles says he is in good nick.
Keep up the good work.
 
Thanks for all the comments. The bird was swooping from the fence and chasing small birds. However the light was no where near good enough to get any shots of that. A special thanks to Martyn. I am about to go out on night shift but I had a quick look at the fine tune on the camera and will give it a go tomorrow.
 
mincie said:
Thanks for all the comments. The bird was swooping from the fence and chasing small birds. However the light was no where near good enough to get any shots of that. A special thanks to Martyn. I am about to go out on night shift but I had a quick look at the fine tune on the camera and will give it a go tomorrow.
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You are welcome, make sure you have some decent light when you carry out the fine tuning.
 
2 good captures, iv'e always thought them exciting birds to get in the garden as they appear so rarely.
 
Well spotted and captured William (y) For some bizzare reason I am struggling to look at his feet :thinking:
 
I've got a 300mm f4 on a D300s and the lens is really sharp. Just had a new SW motor put in it, and full service and clean, at the massive cost of £350. The lens is good enough to warrant even that repair tag. You did well to draw a bead on the hawk. (y)
 
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