The best that I can do with song birds

[shefjr]

These are what I would call the "best you're gonna get" from me anyway. I think that I have got the most I possibly can out of my current set up. (D7000 and Sigma 150-500) I have fine tuned the focus on the Sigma all the way to -20. WOW!!! It really did help a lot! I should also note that if it could take it further like -25 it would probably have made the photos look even better. I did one of those online things where you print out the test sheet. I know they aren't the most accurate but, it really did help me. NO QUESTION!

I'm happy that I was able to get these as clear as they are. With that said, I still want better. That to me means eventually full frame and much better glass=$$$$$$$. I don't have it.

Anyway, here is what I got judge or don't. I hope you at least like them. Thanks for looking.:thumbup:

All, 1/800, ISO 800, 400mm, f/9

1.White Breasted Nuthatch

White Breasted Nuthatch by Shefjr, on Flickr

2.Cardinal (he kept hiding behind the baffle for the feeder system thus the reason for the front blur on the right)

Cardinal playing hide and seek by Shefjr, on Flickr

3.Blue jay

Blue Jay on feeder by Shefjr, on Flickr

4.Red Bellied woodpecker

Red Bellied Woodpecker by Shefjr, on Flickr

 

[cgipson1]

Pretty darn nice! That lens will do nice things if you can get one that works well, and get it zeroed in...

 

[SCraig]

Nothing wrong with those! Very well done.

 

[jjphotos]

Nice set!!
Nice captures.

#3 would be my favourite.
#2 would also be a favourite, but it has that weird grey empty space on the right of the Cardinal.
Did you smudge that out or is that a wall? It seems the branches just disappear into it...

 

[MSnowy]

very nice set

 

[Mully]

Tack sharp...very nice

 

[sm4him]

I'd be thrilled to have that 15-500, and those results!
I have serious lens envy, for basically anything over the 70-300 I've got. :lmao:

Now, if you can set up kind of a "staging area", somewhere more "natural" for them to land before heading to/from the feeders, you'll be golden!

EDIT: 150-500, NOT 15-500, lol!! Stupid keyboard.

 

[shefjr]

Thanks everyone for the comments! :hail: I do appreciate it.:thumbup:

Pretty darn nice! That lens will do nice things if you can get one that works well, and get it zeroed in...

Charlie,
Yeah I'm not sure if there is anything that I can do. I was thinking about contacting Sigma just to see if there is anything that I can do. Scott's (Scraig) IMO has a great lens with no fine tuning on his focus at all. His images are great. I would love it if I didn't have to fine tune the lens all the way to -20. That to me is a little silly. I don't feel like a lens should need that much adjustment. Also, I did the online test (i know it's not perfect) and according to it I could have probably gone to -25.

Nice set!!
Nice captures.

#3 would be my favourite.
#2 would also be a favourite, but it has that weird grey empty space on the right of the Cardinal.
Did you smudge that out or is that a wall? It seems the branches just disappear into it...

The Cardinal kept behind the baffle of the bird feeder. I was on a tripod and anytime I made any movement all the birds would scatter so that was the best I could do.

Cardinal in full view by Shefjr, on Flickr

 

[shefjr]

I unfortunately don't have a back yard that is where my house is. So the problem is that my neighbors would think that I'm nuts if I set up a blind. LOL!:lmao: I have thought about it though.

 

[jrasche2003]

well.. for me the noob of noob.. I love them.. I think they are perfect and I am in awe.

 

[cgipson1]

Thanks everyone for the comments! :hail: I do appreciate it.:thumbup:

Pretty darn nice! That lens will do nice things if you can get one that works well, and get it zeroed in...

Charlie,
Yeah I'm not sure if there is anything that I can do. I was thinking about contacting Sigma just to see if there is anything that I can do. Scott's (Scraig) IMO has a great lens with no fine tuning on his focus at all. His images are great. I would love it if I didn't have to fine tune the lens all the way to -20. That to me is a little silly. I don't feel like a lens should need that much adjustment. Also, I did the online test (i know it's not perfect) and according to it I could have probably gone to -25.

I tried two of the 50-500's... and couldn't get either one zeroed in well enough to make me happy... so I gave up. Maybe I will try again one of these days.. lol! be a inexpensive route to 500mm at least. I am seriously thinking about getting the F4 300mm and the 1.4 Nikon TC. Be something to play with at least.

 

[coastalconn]

Nice job Shef! Looks very good for the amount of crop. Of course my curiosity has to know why you shot at 400 not 500mm? Can you get them as sharp wide open? I'm thinking it would be F5.6 at 400? If your the original owner Sigma should calibrate it for free minus shipping. Especially if you show them you are at -20 to get these shots.

BTW NOOOOOO not full frame! As a birder the last thing in the world I want is full frame. I want a mythical D400. Right now the D7000 is really the best deal for nikon birders with the exception of the AF and buffer. Yes you would get better ISO performance, but take a D800 for example at 36 MP, to get the same coverage as your D7000 your back to 16 MP. The D600 I believe comes in around 10 mp I think for the same field of view as crop sensor... So to get your same field of view at 500mm you need to add a 1.4x tc and you loose your 1 stop advantage! Just saying..

Anyways your birds look great!!!

 

[cgipson1]

Nice job Shef! Looks very good for the amount of crop. Of course my curiosity has to know why you shot at 400 not 500mm? Can you get them as sharp wide open? I'm thinking it would be F5.6 at 400? If your the original owner Sigma should calibrate it for free minus shipping. Especially if you show them you are at -20 to get these shots.

BTW NOOOOOO not full frame! As a birder the last thing in the world I want is full frame. I want a mythical D400. Right now the D7000 is really the best deal for nikon birders with the exception of the AF and buffer. Yes you would get better ISO performance, but take a D800 for example at 36 MP, to get the same coverage as your D7000 your back to 16 MP. The D600 I believe comes in around 10 mp I think for the same field of view as crop sensor... So to get your same field of view at 500mm you need to add a 1.4x tc and you loose your 1 stop advantage! Just saying..

Anyways your birds look great!!!

Hey Coastal, check this out!

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...rop-70-200-2-8-vrii-handheld.html#post2640436

 

[SCraig]

Nice job Shef! Looks very good for the amount of crop. Of course my curiosity has to know why you shot at 400 not 500mm? Can you get them as sharp wide open? I'm thinking it would be F5.6 at 400? If your the original owner Sigma should calibrate it for free minus shipping. Especially if you show them you are at -20 to get these shots.

BTW NOOOOOO not full frame! As a birder the last thing in the world I want is full frame. I want a mythical D400. Right now the D7000 is really the best deal for nikon birders with the exception of the AF and buffer. Yes you would get better ISO performance, but take a D800 for example at 36 MP, to get the same coverage as your D7000 your back to 16 MP. The D600 I believe comes in around 10 mp I think for the same field of view as crop sensor... So to get your same field of view at 500mm you need to add a 1.4x tc and you loose your 1 stop advantage! Just saying..

Anyways your birds look great!!!

I'm with him. I like my crop-sensor body for birds and wildlife because I like having 16mp covering that area. If I shot landscapes or portraits or something like that I'd be interested in full-frame but for what I shoot I'm perfectly content with my D7000.

Just an FYI I did play with my 1.4 TC on my 150-500 last weekend, and it worked pretty decently. Not as sharp as the lens alone, but not as bad as I expected either.

 

[coastalconn]

Charlie that does look great, my contention would be that if you took the same shot side by side with a D7000, you would have the same resolution at 1/3 the cost, and if you took the same shot with a D600 you would actually have less resolution People do need to understand that. I have already seen it in other places like "I had a D3100 and I got a D600 why do my birds look smaller?" Believe me I would love to shoot a D800 and I know that the resolution is awesome, but for me being a full time birder I would rather have a crop sensor in a D300 body with D4 AF. The D800 also is more of a studio/landscape type camera and doesn't have the frame rate I like for capturing diving Ospreys for instance... Just saying...