(no subject)
So the man in the Great Brown Truck came today and made life win! XD Spent the afternoon at Marymoor Park, playing with the new lens on bird photos... and OMG!LOVE.
This sucker is NICE. Quick focus, sharp detail. It's a bit heavy (2.8 lbs) and it's long (around 10"), but that's to be expected from a long lens. I didn't really have trouble holding or carrying it, but I was only out for a couple of hours.
Not having used a USM lens before, I was surprised at how quickly and quietly it focused. The one quirk I did find was that, if the background is really busy (say, there's a lot of tree branches behind the subject) it has trouble picking out the subject. I found that it tended to focus on the background rather than the bird. Not really a big issue, though, as I tend to use manual focus when I'm birding because of branches in the way and all.
As for the sharpness... well, I'll let the pics speak for themselves...
No spectacular species today. The weather was a bit icky, so I wasn't expecting anything great. But all I really needed was test subjects, and I certainly got them! You can click on any photo below to be taken to a full-size version to see just how sharp this thing really is. All photos were taken by hand-holding the camera - I did not use a tripod or monopod on these shots. They also have not been touched up at all. They are straight off the camera, and compressed for easier uploading.
Mallard (male and female)
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec
Two Anna's hummingbirds in a territory dispute (the second is bottom, center, obscured by a branch)
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/4000 sec
Bald eagle nest
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec
Unidentified bird (I think it may have been one of the resident eagles, based on its large size, but by the time I spotted it, it was in sharp contrast and I could not make out the head)
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/4000 sec
Mallard pair - check out the sharpness on the male!
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec
American robin male
ISO 800, f/11, 1/2000 sec
American robin male
ISO 800, f/11, 1/640 sec
American robin female
ISO 800, f/11, 1/2000 sec
All of the day's photos can be found here: http://xfkirsten.smugmug.com/gallery/2578415
The total confirmed bird sightings for the day:
American Robin
American Coot
Song Sparrow
Mallard
American Crow
Seagull sp.
Black-capped Chickadee
Anna's Hummingbird
(There were a billion others that I heard or suspected, but I'm not counting those here. I wasn't looking very hard. :P)
Bottom line? This lens owns my soul.
This sucker is NICE. Quick focus, sharp detail. It's a bit heavy (2.8 lbs) and it's long (around 10"), but that's to be expected from a long lens. I didn't really have trouble holding or carrying it, but I was only out for a couple of hours.
Not having used a USM lens before, I was surprised at how quickly and quietly it focused. The one quirk I did find was that, if the background is really busy (say, there's a lot of tree branches behind the subject) it has trouble picking out the subject. I found that it tended to focus on the background rather than the bird. Not really a big issue, though, as I tend to use manual focus when I'm birding because of branches in the way and all.
As for the sharpness... well, I'll let the pics speak for themselves...
No spectacular species today. The weather was a bit icky, so I wasn't expecting anything great. But all I really needed was test subjects, and I certainly got them! You can click on any photo below to be taken to a full-size version to see just how sharp this thing really is. All photos were taken by hand-holding the camera - I did not use a tripod or monopod on these shots. They also have not been touched up at all. They are straight off the camera, and compressed for easier uploading.
Mallard (male and female)
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec
Two Anna's hummingbirds in a territory dispute (the second is bottom, center, obscured by a branch)
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/4000 sec
Bald eagle nest
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec
Unidentified bird (I think it may have been one of the resident eagles, based on its large size, but by the time I spotted it, it was in sharp contrast and I could not make out the head)
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/4000 sec
Mallard pair - check out the sharpness on the male!
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec
American robin male
ISO 800, f/11, 1/2000 sec
American robin male
ISO 800, f/11, 1/640 sec
American robin female
ISO 800, f/11, 1/2000 sec
All of the day's photos can be found here: http://xfkirsten.smugmug.com/gallery/2578415
The total confirmed bird sightings for the day:
American Robin
American Coot
Song Sparrow
Mallard
American Crow
Seagull sp.
Black-capped Chickadee
Anna's Hummingbird
(There were a billion others that I heard or suspected, but I'm not counting those here. I wasn't looking very hard. :P)
Bottom line? This lens owns my soul.