Since B&H was offering an instant rebate, I broke down and picked up a Cannon 100-400 IS lens this week. Naturally, that means we haven't seen the sun since.
Since it was at least dry, if not bright yesterday, I went out and started putting the new lens through its paces. Jolly good thing I did, too! A couple of eagle pairs . . . a bit too far away for really good images, seals on rocks . . . sporting the same distance problem, and all kinds of birds along the spit at low tide on the south side of Port Townsend Bay.
Lots of birds, some seals herding fish for lunch, oystercatchers, brants, different kinds of sandpipers, a loon, many differnt kinds of ducks, cormorants, and some grebes. There was even a huge uproar when a gull caught a crab . . . or maybe it was the other way around, since the crab had the gull by the chest once the gull was actually able to get out of the water!
I thought I'd pass this one along for comment. Yes, I do actually take photos of things other than herons, but they do offer so much opportunity around here . . . the challenge was to convince the turnstones to get in on the act with a finger-two flyby as the heron moved downshore. It was dim lighting, and the turnstones were a bit too close to me in the end, but perhaps we can repeat someday with the help of a touch of sun.
I do very much like the new lens, I really, really do. Everything was hand-held, and even the 400mm shots were clean and as detailed as you could expect, given the p-poor lighting.
Posted by Cliff Dodge on January 20, 2008 at 3:27 PM
Good directing on the birds......:) Nice work on keeping them flying into the picture. Cliff
Posted by Tom Kloster on January 20, 2008 at 7:36 PM
That's a cool image! You mention the pair of bird being too close, so do I take that to mean that you were focused on the heron, and took whatever DOF you could get? I've done exactly zero bird photography, and I've always wondered how to focus on moving subjects, short of using auto-focus..?
Posted by John Williams on January 20, 2008 at 8:12 PM
That lens sounds fun! It looks like the focus didn't quite include the turnstones, otherwise looks good.
Discussion
4 repliesSince it was at least dry, if not bright yesterday, I went out and started putting the new lens through its paces. Jolly good thing I did, too! A couple of eagle pairs . . . a bit too far away for really good images, seals on rocks . . . sporting the same distance problem, and all kinds of birds along the spit at low tide on the south side of Port Townsend Bay.
Lots of birds, some seals herding fish for lunch, oystercatchers, brants, different kinds of sandpipers, a loon, many differnt kinds of ducks, cormorants, and some grebes. There was even a huge uproar when a gull caught a crab . . . or maybe it was the other way around, since the crab had the gull by the chest once the gull was actually able to get out of the water!
I thought I'd pass this one along for comment. Yes, I do actually take photos of things other than herons, but they do offer so much opportunity around here . . . the challenge was to convince the turnstones to get in on the act with a finger-two flyby as the heron moved downshore. It was dim lighting, and the turnstones were a bit too close to me in the end, but perhaps we can repeat someday with the help of a touch of sun.
I do very much like the new lens, I really, really do. Everything was hand-held, and even the 400mm shots were clean and as detailed as you could expect, given the p-poor lighting.