First birds with the 300f/4

This morning I went out into the grasslands to the west of the campus where I work. I was amazed at the variety of birds I saw. All taken with the 300f/4 + 1.7TC

Lewis Woodpecker:



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Magpie:

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American Kestrel:

NIKON D2H    ---    500mm    f/7.1    1/320s    ISO 200

Northern Flicker:

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I also captured a Clark's Nutcracker, but it was too far away to make a decent picture. These birds are normally found high up in the mountains, but my NGS Field Guide says that they come down into the deserts and grassland about every 10 to 15 years, so it was neat to see one. I also missed the focus a bit on a Cedar Waxwing. I can't blame anyone but myself for that - I was manual focusing at the time (also for the flicker) since the AF was hitting on the leaves and not the bird. Maybe I'll have better luck another day with those two.

 

Thanks, Jonathan. I was looking at the head when I sharpened and didn't notice the halo on the back wing. I'll have another go at it.

 

Keith,

Thanks for looking. I cropped the kestrel a chunk. Those birds are pretty small for the hawk family and hawks and eagles always seem to perch near the top of the taller trees - which are pretty da**ed tall here. I lugged that combo around all morning together with the sidekick and tripod - with the rest of my gear on my back. Worked up a pretty good sweat as it got pretty hot here today - up to 34C. I think it will be a while before I get a decent flight shot using that combo.

 

Kevin,

I don't think its the compression. I've been using an FM plug-in that I bought from Keith for that and it seems to do a pretty good job. The last couple of days I've been trying a new sharpening procedure which I thought worked pretty well on the dragonflies I posted yesterday. However, I don't think it does a very good job on dark and light boundaries. I reposted the magpie also because I could really see it there. I might try the FM Intellisharpen II plugin, but I'd like to get some feedback from somebody who has used it.

I like the 1.7 a lot, but have one issue. It seems a little loose on the camera and the 70-200VR also seems a tiny bit loose on it. I can wiggle it back and forth a bit on the camera after its locked on. It doesn't affect the picture quality - but I might take it in to the Nikon service center the next time I'm down in Vancouver and see what they have to say about it.

 

Frank,

Thanks for the info on the FM Intellisharpen plugin. It certainly seems to do the job from what I've seen of your posts. My birthday is tomorrow so its a good excuse to order it!