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A Fledgling for Johngs.

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Author Topic: A Fledgling for Johngs.  (Read 715 times)
John9929
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« on: June 03, 2009, 12:42:13 am »

Got a shot or two of this fledgling thrush sitting gasping on the bird bath yesterday. This is slightly cropped from a 300mm shot hand held. It's going to take a while to come near your standard John Wink

« Last Edit: June 03, 2009, 12:45:26 am by John9929 » Report Spam   Logged

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JohnC
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« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2009, 02:23:03 pm »

They're nice shots John , well caught. - too many Johns here lol. Jgs001 John normally puts up the macros . He's not been online since yesterday's posting of the damselflies.  The young starling are eating all the fat balls here which are meant  for the blue tit that is feeding young in a nest next door but one. Went to the clay/gravel pits at 8.30 this morning- in situ. at that time and got a heron flying and swans  etc. Got a few jobs to do before I download and see how they turned out.   
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John9929
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« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2009, 02:35:40 pm »

Sorry JohnC, yeah all the John's get confusing, but it's a lovely name Grin
Thanks, they are my first go at birds with the 300mm, it's very hard to hold without a tripod it's so heavy. However I couldn't resist that young thrush. In fact I was able to walk right up to it within a couple of feet before it moved. Look forward to seeing your images later.
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« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2009, 10:51:42 pm »

A 300mm ? A cracking lens F4 or f2.8  ?  I know the f2.8 is heavy- I think Brian has one. You'll do very well with either but the photos look fine to me. I know what you mean re. hand held. My 100-400 is 3.1 lbs. and I had the right settings today but still some were out of focus and it's down to not mastering holding it properly whilst panning because I've seen some great shots of BIF with it.I'll go through mine in the morning.
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« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2009, 10:20:04 am »

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A 300mm ? A cracking lens F4 or f2.8  ?  I know the f2.8 is heavy- I think Brian has one.
Yeas, it's a real pain to lug around. (well over 3 Kg) The f/4 is considerably more manageable but I still wouldn't like to use it without a support of some kind. For wildlife photography you're going to need a fair degree of "flexibility" in the support (i.e. being able to move freely in any direction), a solid monopod fitted with a gimbal head (Manfrotto 393) is probably about as good as you'll get without spending silly money on a Wimberley gimbal like the ones pro sports togs use.
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JohnC
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« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2009, 11:23:34 pm »

Cheers for that, Brian. I'll look at that Manfrotto 393  then. Maybe  these BIF photographers are actually using the likes of the 393 or a Wimberley ( I think a Wimberley is £200) and I'm trying to do the impossible. I've been so busy today- all day too -I've uploaded the BIF (swans mainly) photos but I need to edit them and then I'll post them here and see what you think re, hand held - I have a battery grip on the 40D so the unit is even heavier than would otherwise be the case. No jobs tomorrow so I'll make an early start on here in the morning.

Do you think these photos were taken using a support, Gimbal head, wimberley or whatever- ? All his setting are there to see and he's using my lens, the 100-400 (it's f4.5:5.6) 

http://www.pbase.com/tim32225/image/111980844

Here's the home page too..Some wonderful photos on his site   http://www.pbase.com/tim32225
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John9929
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« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2009, 11:33:10 pm »

John, the one I have was bought to me by a member of this forum, it's a Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 DG Macro. A very good lens for daylight and twilight work but not just fast enough for night work. It's probably not as heavy as Brian's but heavy enough for my shaky old hands. I do have a Manfrotto Silver Jubilee tripod but with only the little flat plate on, but it's a very solid tripod, but I didn't have time to set it up for those shots.
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« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2009, 11:56:34 pm »

Yes, my tripod just has the regular sized plate too  and tbh. I wonder if it's big enough for the 100-400. The lens sits on the plate not the camera because all that weight pulling down on the camera could      damage the lens/camera contacts.  I bet these profs. have  what Brian's mentioned or  a video head but maybe  even the video head doesn't have the  maneuverability required . This is something I need to sort out.
The Sigma 70-300 has a good reputation.It weighs 550 gms.   ( about one pound I think- a kilo is 2.2.lbs) .

Just checked Brian's 300mm f2.8 It weighs a hefty 5.6 lbs. I can't see anyone handholding that tbh. when photographing birds in flight.
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« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2009, 01:50:28 pm »

Its almost impossible to quickly get the angle you need for good wildlife photography while the camera is on a tripod. You'd probably miss more shots than you actually get. I reckon two cameras might be the way to go, one on a tripod and the other handheld. Now where did I leave that extra couple thousand quid? must've fallen down the back of the sofa.  Grin
By the way, your right there's far too many Johns, its getting hard to keep track of which of us is being addressed. Tongue
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brianb
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« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2009, 02:26:54 pm »

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Its almost impossible to quickly get the angle you need for good wildlife photography while the camera is on a tripod.
Maybe but a monopod is different.

BTW last time I looked at a Wimberley it was $595!
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« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2009, 10:22:33 am »

John is such a great name  Grin A couple of well caught shots, what a poser  Grin... Is it the same bird ? The wb looks different between the shots... I prefer the second one with the warmer feather colours.
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« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2009, 11:27:27 am »

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your right there's far too many Johns, its getting hard to keep track of which of us is being addressed.
At school we discovered that most of us boys had John as a second name, so tried to confuse the teachers by insisting on being referred to as "John".
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John9929
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« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2009, 04:30:43 pm »

Thanks jgs001, "John" Grin

It was only a test to see what I could get. Yes it was the same bird, the first shot was on full auto and the second on manual. I agree, the colours are more natural using the later, and if I had used the tripod so would the focus Embarrassed He was back this morning sunbathing and I nearly walked on him!

Brian - we did something similar, there was about half a dozen Johns in my class, it was harmless craic!
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