Winter birds from Edinburgh

Cap'n Fishy

Cap'n Fishy

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123
Name
Colin
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I only get one chance each year to have a go at the garden birds up here in Edinburgh and yesterday was it for '09. It was 2 in the afternoon before I was able to start and the light was going by 3 p.m. I used ISO 800 throughout to give me any chance of a decent shutter speed, and even then I was getting 1/60 s at times (full open, obviously). The snow on the ground helped, providing some nice uplighting (I have a whole series of uplit shots of the robin and dunnock - I have just put one of each on here - let me know if you would like to see the others.)

Nothing exotic - there is a great-spotted woodpecker around, but he didn't put in an appearance, nor did the greenfinches or male chaffinch (female chaffinch didn't make the shortlist!). The coal tit was the most difficult to get one of. They stay still just about long enough to get them in view and focused, but then dart away before you get the shutter pressed.

Cheers,

Col

blue tit

1062.jpg



robin

1253.jpg



coal tit

1285.jpg



great tit

1296.jpg



tree sparrow

1309.jpg



dunnock

1374.jpg


All shots taken through a window with Canon 40D and 100-400 mm IS lens at 400 mm, f5.6, ISO 800. Shutter speeds 1/60s to 1/350s. Judicious cropping required.
 
A nice set of shots love the Robin image
Regards
Lost
 
Nice set of shots, yes it's annoying when they don't stop long enough for the shot. Makes you wonder if some of these birds ever stand still anywhere for a spell.
 
awp said:
very sharp - but very noisy.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. D'you reckon I should be getting less noise from a 40D at ISO 800? As I said, I couldn't really go any lower as the light was so poor and any slower shutter speeds were catching too much blur as the birds were moving all the time. I've sometimes used ISO 1600 and got away with acceptable noise, and other times seen more noise at 800. Certainly the faster the shutter speed, the less noise at higher ISOs.

I eventually got round to posting the whole set on a page here...

Winter birds

Col
 
Nice series, love the coal tit,

How much of a crop are they? that exaggerates noise. But yes, I would expect a little less noise at ISO 800.
 
What a nice set of shots, I love the Robin shot; really stands out to me :clap:
 
RichardtheSane said:
Nice series, love the coal tit,

How much of a crop are they? that exaggerates noise. But yes, I would expect a little less noise at ISO 800.
Click to expand...

Aye, good thinking. They are quite heavy crops. Taken with 100-400 mm IS at 400 mm, but still a wee bit too far to fill the frame. I had a 2x extender with me, but only one close-up of the tree sparrow was taken with it - the shutter speed was just too slow with the extra 2 stops bitten off, added to which the extra time taken on manual focus was costing shots with them moving off before my old eyes convinced me I had a lock!

Also, they were taken through a glass window. Don't know if that might add to the noise?

Col
 
toonamp said:
Ouch! It certainly wont help. You've done extremely well for taken through glass.
Click to expand...

No option, I'm afraid. It's a Portakabin, and it only opens as a tilt-and-(no)turn, about 6 inches. I just give it a good clean inside and out with 'Windolene', then keep the front element as close as pos to the glass. No option either in terms of having to angle it, rather than being able to keep it adjacent.

All good fun trying to get a presentable result, though ;)

Col
 
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