Problem with clear focus

Guffie · Aug 19, 2017

Hello!

I have a question, since I have been taking a lot of photoes of birds for the last couple of months.. But I seem to have a huge problem with getting sharp images, when the birds are like 15-20 meters away and more..

I have a Nikon D3100 and a brand new Tamron 16-300 optic...

Below I have attached an example of my problem.. This picture is actually the best of them all.. It's taken from around 20 meters distance, handheld, but with support from a pillar, and with 300mm zoom, 1/3200 and f/8 and ISO-800...

I have tried many different setting, around 150 pictures all in all today, with a many of different settings, but this was the best actually... Isn't it possible to get a clear image of something so "small" as a bird around 20 meters away with a 300mm?

Any input appreciated!

Thanks!

tirediron · Aug 19, 2017

I'm guessing not with that 300mm. Unfortunately "super-zooms" are the Swiss Army knives of lenses; they do a lot of things, but they don't do any of them terribly well and they do them even less well at the far ends of the focal range. I would guess that is about as good as it's going to get for you with that lens.

SCraig · Aug 19, 2017

If you want good, clear bird photos with a 300mm lens on a 14mp camera body you're going to have to get a lot closer than 20 meters. Something around 4 or 5 meters might work.

Guffie · Aug 20, 2017

Thanks for the replies, guys...

Can you tell me, since I was planning to invest in some "heavier equipment" soon, so I was wondering what can be achived?... What type of equipment are you using and what distance are you able to get clear shoots from ?

Thanks you very much!

dxqcanada · Aug 20, 2017

You can get good images from 14MP sensor ... the lens let you down.
As Old Ironsides stated ... the all-in-one lenses make sacrifices in IQ to get that focal range.

I was shooting wildlife with a Sony A100, which has a 10MP sensor, and it did pretty good with a Sigma 100-300mm f/4.0 ... that particular old Sigma is noted for high IQ.

dxqcanada · Aug 20, 2017

... I forgot to mention ... I went through four different telephoto zoom lenses to improve the image quality/sharpness with my A100.
IMO, the lens has more IQ weight than the camera.

Derrel · Aug 20, 2017

You need a GOOD lens. A 16-300mm superzoom will most likely not give the kind of crisp,cleare shots you want. And on small, songbird-sized objects, 20 meters is very far away; on a big bird, like an egret or GBH, you'd likely get a biut better shot, but...20M is some distance away!

A tele-zoom, like a Nikon 200-500, or 80-400mm AF-S, or one of the Sigma or Tamron 150-600mm tele-zooms might be a better choice; a single focal length Nikkor 300mm f/4 AF-S with the Nikon TC-14e (a 1.4x factor multiplier) would be an affordable, used choice, yielding a 420mm f/5.6 lens of pretty good optical quality.

Casey08 · Aug 21, 2017

From further than 50 feet away or so, and shooting something smaller like a bird, I would suggest something in the 300-400 range which starts to get extremely pricey. Both Canon and Nikon make consumer level 300's that open up to around 100, but you will have to live with a much smaller maximum aperture of between 4.0-5.6.

trinidadgonzalezsardi · Aug 30, 2017

Maybe if you get closer? I agree with everyone on the fact that you should buy a really good 200 or higher lens, but they are really expensive.

Guffie · Aug 30, 2017

It's often hard to get closer... But yes, I'm planning in the spring to buy a "Nikkor 200–500mm f/5.6E ED VR".. I have read many places, that it's a really good lens for "bird shooting"...