Have been trying to find Frankie and Janet for days, but no luck. Just this afternoon, there they were sitting on the horse feeder, two Rosellas in tow.
I managed to get close enough to get a few photos. But every time I took a photo, this Yellow Robin sat right in front or behind me, as if it was saying: hey you, take a photo of me. So I did.
But best of all, to my surprise Frankie’s beak is almost back to normal, and the net has obviously not done any harm. And I don’t think he is more scared of me either. As my daughter (the vet nurse said, Parrot beaks grow back rather quickly)
Here are some photos of all of them.
Almost forgot, Janet was there too
M-L
Good to see, M-L. And great pics as always
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
For Elsie and Lachlan, I had a look what my camera used for the Janet photo. The bird was sitting in a "very dark spot".
On this one I used my short Sony lens,
Aperture was F. 5.6 Focal length 82mm (yes the camera was almost in her face, I'm a good at sneaking up)
Shutter speed was 1/60 ISO 1600.
The Yellow Robin was taken with the 70-400mm lens
Focal length 400mm Shutter speed 1/200 ISO 1600
Does that help? I don't use a tripod, I can hold my camera very still
, I stop breathing
M-L
Thanks; sometimes I forget just how still some people can be- I have loose muscles, and shake the camera everywhere. They're all wonderful photos, and I wish I was able to sneak up on stuff like that- you can hear me crashing through the bush from a mile away. You certainly got close enough, I can see you reflected in the parrot's eye! You sure there was not trick in getting the Yellow Robin to stay in one place? It actually cooperated?
Thanks very much Araminta :) That helps heaps!
Haha Lachlan, there are Robins everywhere at the moment, when I planted some shrubs last week, they sat on my shovel. (have a photo of it somewhere).
Sorry to hear about your shake
, have you tried using "sports mode"? (continuous shooting?)
M-L
Yeah, there do seem to be lots of robins (and birds in general) around at the moment. I just can't seem to get close enough to them! Did you put something on the shovel that made it attractive to the robin?
Would be funny to see the photo, the closest I've had to anything like that is a Satin Bowerbird perching on the open door of my Dad's new car. He was torn between trying to take a photo of it and shooing in away before it ruined that new car look!
I've tried Continuous Autofocus (if thats the same thing; why couldn't all Camera companies use the same names?), but I haven't really gotten good at using it yet as it seems to frequently miss the focus. Also, Pentax as a brand isn't really aimed at shooting fast moving things- the processor and sensor in the K-5 (and K-5 II) is a generation behind that in other cameras, and multiple shooting really slows down after a second or two as the camera tries to process it. So sad.
Maybe I should try a monopod, do you know if they improve things at all?
I did have one, only used it for five minutes, then gave it to my husband. I carry my camera under my arm, all the time and everywhere
, couldn't do that with a monopod attached to it
. (I always think I might miss a great shot) Will look for the photo.
M-L
Found it Lachlan.
sits on the handle of my shovel.
M-L
Yes, they seem somewhat impractical- the bird flies around while you're trying to lift and point a 6ft stick of metal and plastic with 2kg of camera on the end. Thanks for the photo, the robins are wonderful!
My imagination keeps turning it into a hand trowel rather than a shovel, which would look truly absurd with a robin hanging off the end of it!
Lachlan, to answer your question on bird of the week my camera lense is a 75-300mm canon lense. Is that what you meant? Sorry, I'm not a very technical person
Pretty much. I was just wondering, as you were mentioning that you were having trouble with focusing, and some equipment does have a reputation for being bad at focusing. For instance, Sigma stuff is usually very good, but can have massive forward or back focusing issues (where it doesn't focus where you point it). Things like that can be identified with test charts and corrected in the camera. But as I'm not a Canon person, I probably shouldn't give you any suggestions- there are other people here who would know way more than me about it all! But if the problem worries you, talk to the local camera people, they can usually say if there is a problem, or if the issue is within design specifications of the lens.
Oh, and sorry Araminta for hijacking your thread! I had better not make a habit of it... Those photos of the robins are amazing!
I too use an older canon (a 40D... only 10mp) with the 75-300mm and I have trouble with the autofocus. Don't get me wrong it works perfectly for clear shots free of branches or foliage and slow or static birds but if there is a branch or twig in the foreground (which there invariably is when shooting wild birds in the bush) The auto focus struggles to find a focal point and wizzsz back and forth. I use the centre point focus method and know the published tricks. I find that manual focus is faster and easier except my eyes are starting to let me down a bit. Especially after a long trek.
I tested one of the new small Sony's NEX-7 when they came out and found the shots were great but I didn't like using the LCD screen for focus. The light weight of it was great and portable, The size was a little too compact for my increasingly clumsy fingers and I find the larger DSLR size a better fit for grip.
Hmm, my husband has that problem with his Pentax. Don't you have a grid , I have those green squares over my screen, they tell me exactly where the focus is, so I can shift it, let's say to they eye of the bird. Sometimes I use "centre focus", but mostly I don't bother. As for using the screen, I find it very good for shooting birds. With the big lens, I can look much better at the wider field the bird is in, and it doesn't disappear out of sight, as I can quickly look either side of the screen. It takes a bit of practice, but works for me.
M-L
Thanks so much for your help everyone! I'll give the center focus method a go
Took some photos this morning. My Sony A-77V has no problem to focus, even with foliage and twigs. You be the judge.
Here is what my camera did on AF: shutter speed 1/1000 ISO 500
M-L
Thats lovely M-L!
(I mean the photo
)
M-L... Now you are just rubbing salt into my wounds. I have always looked at the razor sharpness of your images and turned a bit green (with envy)
Just as a matter of interest, the buzz is that Sony has a "revolutionary" new offering coming soon with 5 way Image stabilisation which is sensor based. that means all lenses are image stabilised. Plus both Nikon ans Canon are releasing new 36Mp and over cameras on October,
The Sony is one of the mirrorless NEX series as I discussed earlier but it is sure to be a apart of their flagship ranges.
As I said, I can get sharp images if the subject is quite static.
36 mp? Wouldn't that make the RAW files excessively big? Besides, for posting stuff online and bar blowing it up beyond A3 size, isn't a 16mp sensor adequate? My camera has a 16mp crop sensor, and images from it usually are sharp enough unless you go and start pixel peeping. Mind you, some detail is lost at 500KB
Exactly right Lachlan it would make the raw files rather large. These days with the cheaper prices for large inkjet prints a professional photographer needs to be able to blow up much larger than A3 with pin sharp images. There is also the need for print sizes up to billboard size (also for the professionals or stock image suppliers) I think the top of the range stuff now is 36mp. If the Nikon D800 is I'm sure there are more.
I do large prints for people all the time and it is amazing how many people think that images they have downloaded from web pages are good enough for large posters. The mantra is "it looked fine on the screen". Can't you just photoshop it or something.
Obviously we are only hobbyists but it doesn't stop some of us (me) wanting better whizz bangs and more bells and whistles. Wouldn't you say?
I'm happy that these new cameras are coming out in 36 mp and above that means I might be able to pick up a 24mp camera for cheap.
Hmm. Do I want better whiz bang and more bells and whistles?
It was only a few days ago I was reading the review for the $7000 Pentax 560mm lens and looking for info on the promised 1.4x teleconverter... The former is waay out of my price range, but its nice to have dreams!
And wasn't I just earlier bemoaning the state of Pentax's autofocus? Sure, it works fine, and I really don't have that much of a problem with it. But still, the bells and whistles look (brassier?) greener on the other side of the fence!
As for Pentax, they might jump from 16mp to 36, but the hopefully forthcoming K-3 will probably have a 24mp Sony sensor. So no chance of cheap stock!
Continue camera chat here
http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/forum/M-Ls-Thread
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/