American Goldfinch

[geoffs]

This is probably the best I've gotten so far of any bird given that I don't own a DSLR and some longer lenses. My Oly C-8080WZ only has 5x optical zoom and that is pretty darn limiting. Maybe next year I'll finally have that DSLR!

[Normcar]

Nice pose geoff. And pretty bird. I'd love to see a goldfinch, but to date I haven't.

[zoomn]

Nice picture, thanks for sharing.

Love the colors on that bird. Hope to see one in the wild someday.

[geoffs]

Thanks, guys. It was the best I could do with the limited reach of my equipment. It can't even compare with Eric CAN's goldfinch shots that were posted, but will have to do for me until I can get telextenders or lenses that give me better reach.

[photosbyvito]

oh man...i took some with my 11x zoom....and this beats the crap out of my shot! lol...

nicely done

[geoffs]

Vito, with your knowledge of photography, that 11x zoom, and a little learning about bird habits, you'll easily take photos better than this one. I expect to see some up here soon! :-)

[zoomn]

Geoffs,

I feel your pain man.

I don't have the best stuff either but I do have some serious zoom.

I have a dmc-fz1 with 12x optical 36x digital and put a c-210 1.9x teleconverter on it.

Takes surprisingly good pictures all the way out to 36x digital. There is some vignetting to deal with up to 12x but I just crop it out. Of course it can't compare with quality of the photos/equipment some of the folks here have, but I am very happy with it.

The whole package was $290. Max zoom for the budget minded. I have been having a blast with it.

I think the pictures you have been posting are great to look at and really like the info you supply with them. Keep em coming!

[photosbyvito]

thanks geoff....i'll just have to sit somewhere for a couple hours...

if anyone would care to PM me with the best exposure settings...like the best shutter speed for birding..i would appreciateit

Vito

[jackrussell]

Nice one geoffs, i haven't tried to shoot a bird yet. They move around too much and i don't think i have the patience to sit still waiting for them to sit still. :-)

[geoffs]

photosbyvito wrote:

if anyone would care to PM me with the best exposure settings...like the best shutter speed for birding..i would appreciateit

Vito, the saying "different strokes for different folks" is as true in birding as it is for people. There are birds (like hawks) that will perch on a post for minutes (if not seemingly hours) without hardly moving. Then there are the birds that flit about everywhere, changing position from second to second. Each subject is going to require different techniques.

For specifics I think that you'd want to inquire of the "experts": normcar, eric s, eric CAN, hummer, darrell1, to name a few. I'll read what they write back to you because I am just as interested.