A few backyard bird friends

[shene]

First of all, I must say that I hate this new software update because any use of the Back button will erase all previous tyiping. For example, when I need some help by clicking on the Help button, and then click on the Back button to go back, none of my input is preserved. Moreover, it took a LONG LONG time to load because the system has to load so many non-essential icones and small images. I am not sure this upgrade isn worth it.

Although these images were posted elsewhere as demonstrations of the capabilities of cameras and lenses, I'd like to re-post them here to share with you. These images were taken with a Panasonic FZ-10 with various teleconverters, or a Nikon D70 with AFS 70-200VR F2.8 plus TC-14E II 1.4X converter. The images were cropped, resized, slightly leveled if necessary and slightly USM-ed for web posting. No other image editing actions were applied to preserve the quality of the original. Keep in mind that I am only into shooting bird in less than two months, and my skill is still improving.

The following is a wookpecker taken with my FZ-10 and a TCON-14B 1.45X teleconverter (I hope my recollection is correct):



The following images are common redpoll, white throated sparrow and goldfinsh. They were taken with FZ-10 with a Canon TL-55 1.4X teleconverter.







The following images are brown-headed cowbird and northern flicker. They were taken with a FZ-10 and a Sonly VCL HGD1758 1.7X teleconverter. Both birds were very far away, and the high contrast caused significant purple fringing in the cowbird image. The flicker's head was moving when I took the image, and this was the only image I can get as that guy was jumping around constantly.





The following images were taken with a Nikon D70, AFS 70-200 F2.8VR and TC-14E II 1.4 teleconverter. They are goldfinsh, robin, male evening grosbeak, female evening grosbeak and male red-winged blackbird.











There are more frequent visitors. After I will be able to collect more, I will post their images here.

CK

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam

Nikon Coolpix 950/990/995/2500/4500/5700 User Guide

[checklg]

You've got some realy nice subjects there. More please ! I particularly like the White Throated Sparrow and the male Evening Grossbeak.

I usea 70-200 VR myself but on a D100, and Ialso hadthe 1.4 teleconverter. HoweverI thought that the teleconverter softened the70-200's otherwise tack-sharp images a bit too much and ended up selling it. Do you notice much difference with and without it on the D70 ?

Regards, Graham.

Please visit www.pbase.com/grahamcheckley

[shene]

checklg wrote:

I usea 70-200 VR myself but on a D100, and Ialso hadthe 1.4 teleconverter. HoweverI thought that the teleconverter softened the70-200's otherwise tack-sharp images a bit too much and ended up selling it. Do you notice much difference with and without it on the D70 ?

Yes, the image quality of the 70-200VR is degraded a little bit. But, I think it should be less than 10% and higher than 5% (with both D100 and D70), although I do not hard data to back it up. The 70-200VR plus TC-14E II is only for my initial "practice". I hope to get a AFS 300 F4 soon for portability purpose, and am think to get a AFS 200-400VF F4 or AFS 500 F4 in a yearIF bird shooting will become my regular pro work or hobby. I am very new to birding and shooting bird for just < 2 months, :-(. So, I don't know if I will finally get some long lenses to replace my 70-200 plus TC-14E II.

CK

[checklg]

Shene, I ended up buying a Nikon AF-I 500 f4 secondhand, simply because the AF-S was outside of my budget. I find that the 500 gives me just enough reach for co-operative small birds but realy changes the way that I tackle bird photography, basically going from carrying a couple of pounds weight of gear to nearly 20.

I still take the 70-200 out with me when I'm anticipating reasonably close subjects and high speed flight action. It's a very flexible lens and very sharp.

Regards, Graham.

Please visit www.pbase.com/grahamcheckley