Thats a frame filler for sure..... think I would have dropped the extender, some of the blacks look like they could do with just a little bit of a lift (could be down to compression) and a head turn towards you would have been nice (which you probably have)....
Looking at this image I think you may have a focus issue with your lens/tc set-up, the only parts of the image that are in critical focus seem to be the bottom left and right corners, so I think you may have a front focus issue, [either that or you were using "ring of fire"/45point AF enabled and it only hooked up on contrast in those areas?]. Only the bottom left wing tip seems to be critically sharp. If it were a camera shake issue from low shutter speed even that area would be mushy, so I now think you have some focus issues affecting subject sharpness - the back and extending to the head is mushy compared to the primary wing tip feathers and the pale tree trunk area and so are out of plain of focus? - I would have expected the back white feathers to be critically sharp if plain of focus were at the central AF point, and compared to the wing tip feather they are soft and mushy
Looks to me like you might have a front focusing problem with that combination, the diagonal branch on the right bottom corner looks to be focused sharper than the rest, I would try some test shots with a +ve microadjustment of say 5-10 just to make sure.
I had the same problem which turned out to be the camera as it happened with all my lenses, took up canon's recent offer of a free AF test and adjustment, now it's working great.
Like the pose, woodpeckers seem to do that one a lot, just as if they knew they were going to have their picture taken.
Dani
Edit: Mike just beat me to the post, some thing else I just noticed is what looks like 3 dust spots in the top left corner.
Posted by Barry Southon on April 16, 2009 at 9:51 AM
This one caught me on the hop as my primary objective was the Great Horned Owl much further away.
If I have as suggested a focus issue is it a good idea to build a small block of varying format approaches to the same shot to illustrate the problem?
Dust is a problem nine months of the year in this location.
to test focus use a ruler set at an angle and a focus target, the expensive way of doing this is Lensalign, but you can make something similar out of stiff card, a felt tip pen and some ingenuity as long as your focus target is set to a whole step ruler marking - you'll soon figure out what to do from the review
Hi Barry,
A bit too tight for me above and in front of the bird and a head turn slightly towards the camera would have been beneficial here.
No harm in testing your lenses focus accuracy anyway but are you sure it's not just user error in this instance. For instance how did you focus? Manually selecting a focus point, if so which one and how many? AI Servo or One Shot mode?
Discussion
6 repliesCanon 1D3 canon 800mm tripod remote trigger. Dull overcast.
ISO 800 1.12m F/8.0 1/200 sec 800mm + 1.4X. Full Frame.
Critique Advice Comments most welcome.
Thanks for looking.
Looking at this image I think you may have a focus issue with your lens/tc set-up, the only parts of the image that are in critical focus seem to be the bottom left and right corners, so I think you may have a front focus issue, [either that or you were using "ring of fire"/45point AF enabled and it only hooked up on contrast in those areas?]. Only the bottom left wing tip seems to be critically sharp. If it were a camera shake issue from low shutter speed even that area would be mushy, so I now think you have some focus issues affecting subject sharpness - the back and extending to the head is mushy compared to the primary wing tip feathers and the pale tree trunk area and so are out of plain of focus? - I would have expected the back white feathers to be critically sharp if plain of focus were at the central AF point, and compared to the wing tip feather they are soft and mushy
I had the same problem which turned out to be the camera as it happened with all my lenses, took up canon's recent offer of a free AF test and adjustment, now it's working great.
Like the pose, woodpeckers seem to do that one a lot, just as if they knew they were going to have their picture taken.
Dani
Edit: Mike just beat me to the post, some thing else I just noticed is what looks like 3 dust spots in the top left corner.
If I have as suggested a focus issue is it a good idea to build a small block of varying format approaches to the same shot to illustrate the problem?
Dust is a problem nine months of the year in this location.
Thanks for the comments it all helps.
A bit too tight for me above and in front of the bird and a head turn slightly towards the camera would have been beneficial here.
No harm in testing your lenses focus accuracy anyway but are you sure it's not just user error in this instance. For instance how did you focus? Manually selecting a focus point, if so which one and how many? AI Servo or One Shot mode?