800mm first shots! :)

Overread · Jul 18, 2008

shot lost to infinty - just imagine a long lens with a lot of teleconverters, flash and a tripod

Ok its not a real 800mm its a 70-200 + two 2*Teleconverters (canon and sigma). Turns out to get the 1.4s on needs an extension tube due to silly protuding parts!

The results are not as bad as I thought they would be - light is key for this and very bright light out is definatly needed. Couple that with manual mode to get a little more control and a rocksteady support. Focusing is all manual and the depth of field is fine, but not too fine. Its not got the speed to capture movement - not tried in direct sunlight but then it might work - so its a stattic sniper!

Test shot - taken from a beanbag support out of a window - resized, edited and sharpened.

f9,1/6,ISO 400
flash on
link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3487/3263751879_a41f01bda5_o.jpg

web serviceable, a little less than sharp fullsized:
100% crop from centre with no sharpening:

with more practice and stronger light (evening overcast grey at the moment here) I recon I can get a little more out of this combo!

icassell · Jul 18, 2008

I stack my Sigma 1.4X and Sigma 2X convertors ... they only go together one way due to the protruding parts -- but I forget off the top of my head which one has to go in front. I don't use an extension tube. It makes a useable but slow and somewhat (but not badly) degraded 280-840mm out of my Sigma 100-300mm EX f4.

Overread · Jul 18, 2008

I reckon is the 1.4 that goes first - the 2.8 has a good deep insert space to it - only problem is that the size of that hole is too small for the canon 1.4 -- and my 1.4sigma was not in the shop

Any shots from the 840mm?
be interesting to see them

icassell · Jul 18, 2008

... I'm not home, so can't get into my archive ... I haven't taken many, so maybe I'll go out this weekend and get a few ...

laughing here ... would be funny if you could add that 1.4 to your stack ... an 1120mm would be interesting ... you could take wildlife images with it cuz you wouldn't have to worry about movement ... they wouldn't know you were watching them from a mile away

Overread · Jul 18, 2008

Yah - and I was also thinking of adding an extension tube and then attaching the other 1.4 (canon) 1568mm lens

though with that I might need the sun to move closer!
Would be good with crocodiles though! They never move - till they strike!

icassell · Jul 18, 2008

... not many crocs here in Arizona ...

maybe you can get pics of the crew of the space station ...

Big Mike · Jul 18, 2008

I've seen a Canon 1.4TC coupled with a 2XTC...I think the 1.4 has to go first.

Either way, the results were better than I would have expected.

I've got a Sigma 2X (or is it Tamron :scratch

and I'll be trying it out with my new 70-200 shortly.

kundalini · Jul 18, 2008

Just out of curiosity, what was the approximate distance from camera to subject in the test shot?

Overread · Jul 18, 2008

I am hopless with guessing distances - give my till tomorrow and I will try to measure the distance (or at least get someone with a better sense of distance than me)

kundalini · Jul 18, 2008

If you do the John Cleese steps, as in Monty Python, then you're talkin' about 3 meters per step, otherwise, it's about a meter per stretched step.

BTW, nice looking kit. The only way to improve upon it is to have it all black with a Gold Ring. :lol:

icassell · Jul 18, 2008

kundalini said:
stretched step.

BTW, nice looking kit. The only way to improve upon it is to have it all black with a Gold Ring.

Yep ... love my Sigma EX stuff

aliaks · Jul 18, 2008

o-oh-my-god

matt-l · Jul 19, 2008

looking good!

take some real shots now!

i mean right now..like leave your home and go shoot.

:mrgreen:

Overread · Jul 19, 2008

kundalini said:
If you do the John Cleese steps, as in Monty Python, then you're talkin' about 3 meters per step, otherwise, it's about a meter per stretched step.

BTW, nice looking kit. The only way to improve upon it is to have it all black with a Gold Ring.

tricky part is I was shooting from 2 floors up - so pacing it out is rather tricky

But at a guess (from a better set of measuring eyes) 85ish feet away.

I have also thought of pointing this contraption up at the sky and shooting the moon at night!

Overread · Jul 31, 2008

Update:

Peregrine Falcon shots - first is bare with no TC whilst the rest are with both:

link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3470/3255651559_3f8a70ff46_o.jpg

link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3255652253_aa46d20345_o.jpg

link to larger: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/3255652819_11cce40cce_o.jpg

very kind of him to sit still so long - and one of the few cases where only a 500mm or longer would have been fully justified - there was no way I was climbing the cliffface!