The eye doesn't look sharp unfortunately. With a shutter speed of 1/10 of a second you may get away with sharp images of birds that remain stationary for long periods such as herons,kingfishers (if you're lucky), but with a bird such as a Dunnock you're really pushing your luck.
I'm not familiar with the Nikon D2XS's ability at higher iso settings, but even so I think you would have been better using a slightly larger aperture and upping the iso.
An image with a little noise can be corrected, an out of focus image through too low a shutter speed is irrepairable.
Hope this helps and a good attempt all the same. They're not the easiest of birds to get to pose nicely in the open at the best of times.
I thik your pushing the combo a little, i think the 200-400 is fine with the 1.4 but the 1.7x i think is pushing the lens a little over the edge.
The breast feathers look sharp enough, but as Justin says the eye isnt so i think its just out of DOF. Also some would say its a little tight on the left.
Looks a touch soft around the eyes, and I can't make up my mind whether it is feather detail or moire patterning again especially in the zone between the buff and grey breast feathers or perhaps a bit of both
Mike
Posted by Paul Inglis on March 13, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Thanks for your comments - this is a slighty different image - does this work better!
Posted by Paul Inglis on March 14, 2008 at 8:45 AM
Thanks everyone for your comments – as always they are appreciated!
Justin – I was using the lowest aperture in both shots. The lens is f/4 and with the TC it makes it f/6.7. You’re right about pushing my luck with this bird – I was shooting in the shade on a cloudy say hence the shutter speed the repost was at 1/15. I did think about upping the ISO but though I’d give it a try just to see if I could basically get away with it!
Paul – In good lighting the combo of the 200-400mm + 1.7 TC works very well with shutter speeds over 1/500 any lower and the set-up needs to be rock solid. As you said the 1.4 TC is a dream. I’ve only had the 1.7 TC for a couple of months and I’m really pushing it to see what it can do! I still had auto focus even in the poor lighting I had that day - it was slow and it did struggle a lot! I have to admit!
Discussion
12 repliesBody: Nikon D2Xs
Lens: Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR & TC 17E II
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Spot
Exposure Comp: 0.0 EV
AF Mode: AF-C
Sensitivity: ISO 200
White Balance: Cloudy
Shutter Speed: 1/10 sec
Aperture: f6.7
Focal Length: 650mm
Tripod: Gitzo G1548
Head: Wimberley Gimbal V2
90% of Full Frame, Adjustments in Lightroom and then Photoshop.
C&C welcome! Thanks for looking!
Hi Everyone,
I shot this the same day as the Robin. I cropped so it wasn’t too central!
Many thanks,
The eye doesn't look sharp unfortunately. With a shutter speed of 1/10 of a second you may get away with sharp images of birds that remain stationary for long periods such as herons,kingfishers (if you're lucky), but with a bird such as a Dunnock you're really pushing your luck.
I'm not familiar with the Nikon D2XS's ability at higher iso settings, but even so I think you would have been better using a slightly larger aperture and upping the iso.
An image with a little noise can be corrected, an out of focus image through too low a shutter speed is irrepairable.
Hope this helps and a good attempt all the same. They're not the easiest of birds to get to pose nicely in the open at the best of times.
The breast feathers look sharp enough, but as Justin says the eye isnt so i think its just out of DOF. Also some would say its a little tight on the left.
Mike
Matt
John
Justin – I was using the lowest aperture in both shots. The lens is f/4 and with the TC it makes it f/6.7. You’re right about pushing my luck with this bird – I was shooting in the shade on a cloudy say hence the shutter speed the repost was at 1/15. I did think about upping the ISO but though I’d give it a try just to see if I could basically get away with it!
Paul – In good lighting the combo of the 200-400mm + 1.7 TC works very well with shutter speeds over 1/500 any lower and the set-up needs to be rock solid. As you said the 1.4 TC is a dream. I’ve only had the 1.7 TC for a couple of months and I’m really pushing it to see what it can do!