Pheasant, Coot, and Grebe

[Aloicious]

Not much out today, but I got a few...

Male Ring-necked Pheasant (I know I clipped the tail feathers d'oh!)

American Coot

Harshly lit Pied-billed Grebe in winter plumage (possibly a Juvi?)

I saw 1 baldie way off in the distance, I'm hoping more will arrive in the coming weeks....

 

[John_Olexa]

I like all 3. Well done!! Good luck with the Eagle.

 

[wyogirl]

wow, that first bird is beautiful.

 

[matthewo]

very colorful pheasant there, it really pops out from the white snow. are these with the 500mm f4? how you liking it? I borrowed a tc17e ii from a friend and finally got it dialed in pretty good and he wanted it back, I think im going to have to buy it from him after examining some photos taken with it, it works good on the 500, especially if you can shoot at f9.

can you tell me non technically how you would judge the IQ vs your old 600, I know you may have not had enough time with it, and I know the MTF values are higher on the 600 but real world I wonder if its even noticeable if you were to go back and compare images in real world shooting

 

[Aloicious]

I like all 3. Well done!! Good luck with the Eagle.

Thanks, we have a large population of wintering eagles around here, but their numbers typically don't peak until later in the winter, usually mid-late feb to around early march, and they're usually gone by mid to late march. so I'm expecting to get some good eagle shots in the next few months.

wow, that first bird is beautiful.

thanks, yeah, he was strutting his stuff for the 3-4 females in the area. I'm still looking through them but I don't think I got a good shot of the females...

 

[Aloicious]

very colorful pheasant there, it really pops out from the white snow. are these with the 500mm f4? how you liking it? I borrowed a tc17e ii from a friend and finally got it dialed in pretty good and he wanted it back, I think im going to have to buy it from him after examining some photos taken with it, it works good on the 500, especially if you can shoot at f9.

can you tell me non technically how you would judge the IQ vs your old 600, I know you may have not had enough time with it, and I know the MTF values are higher on the 600 but real world I wonder if its even noticeable if you were to go back and compare images in real world shooting

yeah this is all with the 500, and I think all these were with the 1.4x too...this was my first time testing it in the field. IQ is pretty much indistinguishable from the 600 in a real life situation IMO, and the 500 is VASTLY easier to move around/hand hold, etc...really only slightly more cumbersome/weighty than the 300f2.8 + TC was, but still manageable...so far I'm liking it pretty well...

I was actually working on getting things dialed in on this outing, I've got the bare lens pretty well setup, but still need to tweak with the TC's on, I took some with the 1.7 but didn't get many keepers, I really need to dial it in more. these were the better shots with the 1.4 on, but I think it still needs some adjustment.

 

[matthewo]

yeah adjustment is really key with the teleconverters, even my bare lens, I think is +5.

with and without the adjustments with the teleconverter can go from hate to love. usually the IQ is there just getting the adjustment correct, I thought I had figured out a good adjustment a while ago, then did some testing in my backyard and changed it a week or so ago and its a totally different lens. heck I have my 70-200 set at like -20 with the 1.7 and like -12 with the lens by itself, and its amazing sharp now, I didn't know what I was missing. I was able to see the pixels printed on a water bottle logo. at 100%.

sorry, back to your images...

 

[Aloicious]

yup, the bare lens (on my 500+D800e combo) is spot on at like +1 IIRC, but the TC's are a bit different. one throws it much further positive, and the other is deeper in the negative realm it was the same way with my 300f2.8 and 600f4. I'll get 'em it just takes some time, I had them adjusted about right while not-in-the-field, but out in the wild things change a bit, I need to adjust them a bit more for further distance, I was too close to MFD when I tested them indoors I think...I really wish Nikon had something like the sigma dock for these setups since the AF accuracy can differ at various focusing distances. oh well.