Heron

snerd

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Just when I think I'm getting a little better, I can't seem to get it right! This is with the 150-500 Sigma that I can't seem to get adjusted. Then again, I also know my technique needs a lot of practice. Hand-held Av 6.3 ISO 800 1/1000 +2/3 Ev using Partial Metering (a little larger than Spot). It's just out of focus, plain and simple.


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Same setup but 1/3200 SS I guess the sun came out a little.

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Out of focus too. Now I just need to figure out if it's the lens, me, or both! These were the better of about 8 that I kept.

I've got 5 images of a small egret I took with the 5D3 and my 70-200 II the other day that I'll post in a bit. They are much farther away in photo cause it ain't no 500mm, but seem much sharper. So I'm thinking it is more this lens. But that doesn't mean I rule ME out yet! Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!!
 
The sigma sweet spot for sharpness seems to be F/8 and f/6.3 tends to be softer especially at the long end. Just a suggestion but set your aperture @ f/8 and let the camera determine the shutter speeds and get as close to something as you can @ 500M. Pick something that has detail texture and if not a bird then maybe tree branches.If its sharp with lots of detail then I would say your shooting from to far away and also maybe missing focus a bit. Most if not all my sharpest birds are no more then maybe twenty feet or so and some much closer then that.
 
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f/8 it is next time! I really never even thought to stop it down a little. DOH!!

And yes, I'm ALWAYS too far away LOL!!
 
You mean the 150-500 can't reach the bird a mile away? WTF it can see the MOON!!!
 
I agree with Dark, F8 is almost a must on the Siggy, and filling the frame helps a lot too... Also have you tried any fine tune? It looks like a bit of front focus, but hard to tell without much in front of the heron. Another thing, I would not shoot a GBH at +.66. The whites are a little hot which makes detail disappear.. Just for the heck of it try a bracketed sequence and compare the results.. I used to do that to figure out what exposure I liked best.
 
Waiting for the new version that reaches china and zooms around corners.Oh wait! maybe that was the smart bullet.
 
I agree with Dark, F8 is almost a must on the Siggy, and filling the frame helps a lot too... Also have you tried any fine tune? It looks like a bit of front focus, but hard to tell without much in front of the heron. Another thing, I would not shoot a GBH at +.66. The whites are a little hot which makes detail disappear.. Just for the heck of it try a bracketed sequence and compare the results.. I used to do that to figure out what exposure I liked best.

I spent an hour this morning doing the fine tune. Finally settled on -5 looked closest. I'm going to try it again tomorrow, and play with different tunes.
 
Oh, another thing, turn off OS at those high shutter speeds... sometimes it can smear the pixels in certain situations!
 
All good advice in here for sure Mike. Warning, I'm going to get long and boring here :)

I know this is strange, but here's how I MF. Find a bird of course (static or BIF) hand held and I fire off a slow burst, not fast, three shots while turning the focus ring on the lens. All settings are locked, ISO, SS and aperture is always wide open. Why tell you this, well that's how I would test any lens, MF or AF. In the case of a new lens I didn't know, I would fire off a slow burst in MF (AF turned off) with around 5 shots forward and 5 shots back again. Now one of those shots just have to be in sharp focus Mike. I would mount the set up on a tripod.

What we have with birds is fine feathering that is more detailed than any chart out there. Grab a seagull feather or the like, set it back a good distance and try that MF trick. If none of those shots look sharp, something is wrong that even micro adjustments won't fix. If one or a couple of those shots is sharp and showing good feathering details, then its time to try the micro adjustments. Use a tripod and in good daylight.

Kris is right, after time you learn at what distance vs the size of the bird you can shoot at and get away with. Often I just flag a shot because I already know that at that distance, with that sized bird and the lens and sensor I use, I can't get what I want out of it in Lightroom. That's a time thing though and saves you a lot of wasted shots.

Then with long tele lenses as Kris, Jaca, Dave, etc, will tell you, they pick up heat haze at longer distances. That's a real pain when you get it and its always at a long distance as well. Its plain nasty when it happens. So try and keep the distances tight. It makes fine details and backgrounds totally impossible to deal with.

All the best Mike.

Danny.
 
You've gotten a lot of good advice but personally I would strongly recommend using a good, solid tripod. A 500mm lens is not forgiving when it comes to camera shake and 1/800 to 1/1000 is not always enough shutter speed to overcome it. If the longest lens you've used is 200mm there is a HUGE difference between that and 500mm. The 500 will show motion blur that wouldn't even be noticeable when using a 200.
 
This^^ to, no doubt about. In fact I read around the inter webs that some people are just having trouble hand holding no matter how good the OS Is,Glad I am not one of them.:wink: or it could just be a sig softy,it happens.
 
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When I had that lens I found f8 and 150-400mm got the best pictures. The closer to 500 the more the results fell off.
 
This is mine @ f/8 1/800th ISO 500 @ 500mm but do keep in mind this is pretty close up.No post sharpening but in camera jpeg set to 5 from the default level of 3 sharpening on the 60D.

IMG_1497 by DarkShadow191145, on Flickr
 
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^^^^^^ That's fricking amazing!!

I just so happened to have shot a few sparrows this morning while trying to fine tune the MFA on this lens. Then I used a tripod and mirror lockup. Nothing remotely close to that good!! I'll post them in a bit.
 

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