??? Merganser ???

Gallery: AvianPosted November 26, 2011145 views6 comments

Took this, this foggy morning and the light was terribly dim. It has been processed alot and is showing some distortions but I'm satisfied with it enough to post and hope for verification of ID. This is no more than 25% to 30% of FF. My guess is that this is an immature bird. Please let me know what you think of the image quality or lack thereof.

Olympus E-5
50-200mm W/ 1.4 TC
Aperture priority
1/160 sec @ F5, +0.3 EV
ISO 500
manual focus
tripod

Large view

Appreciate all comments and critiques/

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on November 26, 2011 at 7:31 PM

Yes, this is a Hooded Merganser. Probably a female.

For my tastes this is too much processing and too little image quality. The larger version shows the effects of noise reduction via the loss of important detail in the plumage (the classic "melted" or "plastic" look). There's also some minor haloing around the bill.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on November 26, 2011 at 8:24 PM

Female Common Merganser, Charlie. I'm forced to agree with Richard's assessment. In addition to the otehr challenges you faced, it's my experience it's really hard – nearly impossible – to get a really sharp image using the 1.4TC with the 50-200mm zoom.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on November 26, 2011 at 9:59 PM

I thought I had indicated adequately that this was not optimum or even decent. It was for ID help.
This is a jpg of the RAW.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on November 26, 2011 at 10:08 PM

Dewfinitely a femaile Hooded Merganser

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on November 26, 2011 at 10:12 PM

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on November 27, 2011 at 7:55 PM

I thought I had indicated adequately that this was not optimum or even decent. It was for ID help.

Charlie,you also asked for feedback on image quality.

Please let me know what you think of the image quality or lack thereof.

I can't help you with authoritative ID on your bird but agree with the assessments of Richard and Jim on the image.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments