Canon 20D, Canon 500mm f4 with Canon 2X Extender & 1.4X Extender,
1/3 sec @ f16, +1 stop exposure compensation.
ISO 100, Raw, Mirror locked up, Remote release.
Gitzo 1548 and Manfrotto 501 video head.
Hi,
I thought I'd post this shot just for a bit of fun really.
I went out last week to my Short-eared Owl location hoping for a good session with the birds.
At 2.45pm one of the birds showed up nice and early and perched on a favourite fence post prior to begining his afternoon hunting session.
I mistakenly thought I'd be in for a wealth of flight oppurtunities, what with the bird turning up so early and with plenty of hours of daylight still left and best of all, clear blue skies and lots of warm Winter sunshine. My enthusiasm didn't last long, I turned to my right and the thickest fog began approaching across the field next to me.
Within seconds the whole area was engulfed in this thick fog with visibility down to just a couple of hundred feet at most.
That was the end of any planned flight photography so I decided to sit it out in case it cleared. It didn't unfortunately, so the only thing I could really do was try and get close enough to get some portraits, assuming I could even see the bird in the poor visibility.
Anyway,I managed to get just 100 feet directly opposite this lovely bird and spent an enjoyable hour or so getting lots of portraits.
I ran out of things to do so I thought I'd have a play around with stacking the 2X and 1.4X extenders. I'm probably the last person on the forum to have tried it . I was quite suprised at how acceptable the resulting sharpness was, especially considering such a slow shutter speed and such poor visibility (the background is actually a field, believe it or not)
Posted by Dave Bartlett on February 25, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Stacked extenders, fog and 1/3sec .. you should indeed be pleased with this!! I've tried the same combination as well and also found it better than I was expecting, certainly for static subjects.
Dave
Posted by Richard Peters on February 25, 2009 at 6:36 PM
that's mighty impressive!!! How sharp is this at native res - looks like it would be printable!? And look at that shutter speed!! show off
I'm off to a location in Bucks tomorrow to try my hand at getting some SEO pictures. The forecast isn't great but this shot shows what can be achieved when the odds are stacked (no pun intended) against you!
Posted by John Varley on February 25, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Lovely Justin.
Your owl knows how to sit still
John
Posted by Vincent Jones on February 25, 2009 at 6:40 PM
1/3rd of a sec
One sec, (excuse the pun) is that movement/camera shake I see in the fog Justin
Nope
Just checking lol
Brilliant & what a great image & experience
Posted by Graham Goddard on February 26, 2009 at 3:07 AM
An excellent capture, the flat light has helped you here with the shadows. Nice one.
Posted by Ian Macdermott on February 26, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Lovely shot well done
regards
Ian
Posted by Barry Southon on February 26, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Justin
A cracking shot if ever there was one.
Barry
Posted by David Kjaer on February 26, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Hi Justin
Amazing quality for 'stacked' extenders resulting in a nice image!
David
Posted by Ian Mason on February 26, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Quality is excellent indeed! I've tried stacking once or twice and this makes me want to try again. I think I failed due to movement of the setup rather than any problem with the optical quality of the gear.
Discussion
17 replies1/3 sec @ f16, +1 stop exposure compensation.
ISO 100, Raw, Mirror locked up, Remote release.
Gitzo 1548 and Manfrotto 501 video head.
Hi,
I thought I'd post this shot just for a bit of fun really.
I went out last week to my Short-eared Owl location hoping for a good session with the birds.
At 2.45pm one of the birds showed up nice and early and perched on a favourite fence post prior to begining his afternoon hunting session.
I mistakenly thought I'd be in for a wealth of flight oppurtunities, what with the bird turning up so early and with plenty of hours of daylight still left and best of all, clear blue skies and lots of warm Winter sunshine. My enthusiasm didn't last long, I turned to my right and the thickest fog began approaching across the field next to me.
Within seconds the whole area was engulfed in this thick fog with visibility down to just a couple of hundred feet at most.
That was the end of any planned flight photography so I decided to sit it out in case it cleared. It didn't unfortunately, so the only thing I could really do was try and get close enough to get some portraits, assuming I could even see the bird in the poor visibility.
Anyway,I managed to get just 100 feet directly opposite this lovely bird and spent an enjoyable hour or so getting lots of portraits.
I ran out of things to do so I thought I'd have a play around with stacking the 2X and 1.4X extenders. I'm probably the last person on the forum to have tried it . I was quite suprised at how acceptable the resulting sharpness was, especially considering such a slow shutter speed and such poor visibility (the background is actually a field, believe it or not)
LARGER VERSION
Dave
I'm off to a location in Bucks tomorrow to try my hand at getting some SEO pictures. The forecast isn't great but this shot shows what can be achieved when the odds are stacked (no pun intended) against you!
Your owl knows how to sit still
John
One sec, (excuse the pun) is that movement/camera shake I see in the fog Justin
Nope
Just checking lol
Brilliant & what a great image & experience
Stunning result Justin
Bob.
regards
Ian
A cracking shot if ever there was one.
Barry
Amazing quality for 'stacked' extenders resulting in a nice image!
David
I've just printed it at A4 and I think it looks fine.
A very nice sharp image