Pair of Mallards

Gallery: AvianPosted January 14, 201597 views3 comments

Lac Léman, Switzerland
D300s 300mm f2.8 G ED VR2 with 2TC series 3 attached
ISO 400 1/1640 at f /9.0 EV +0-33 WB Auto Centre weighted average
Hand held
RAW file original ACR Defaults No sharpening or noise reduction Bit depth 16
66% of original frame
Photoshop PS6

Tis as twas BG. The composition was intended to be straight forward and apart from a moderate crop, the original file was untouched. What worries me is the mediocre IQ.

Your suggestions are most welcome

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on January 14, 2015 at 11:20 AM

Hi David:
I like the concept of photographing with simple compositions. This image fulfills that goal. The overall image quality as you noted is not what I would expect from a straight forward shot like this. I don't know if the focus was a bit off, or of the 2X TC is hurting the quality or a combination?? At 66% of the original frame I would have expected to see excellent detail in the plumage of both the male and the female and I don't see it. With no NR applied, that also isn't the problem. Sorry I can't provide a guess on the issue.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on January 14, 2015 at 11:36 AM

Just a guess but I have always gotten good results with Nikon TCs so I would suggest you just slightly missed the focus. Occasionally when I handhold my 200-400 I fumble around and accidentally turn the VR off causing a little unwanted lens movement. Just a very slight bit of lens movement could have caused the loss of critical sharpness.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on January 14, 2015 at 12:29 PM

My guess would be focus. I use a Nikon program, Nikon View X2, (a free download) which has a convenient feature of showing the POF.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments