Uknown hawk plus BIF

kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
edited February 26, 2011 in Wildlife
Okay! Finally after seeing many hawks around here and them flying away by the time I get stopped and in position, I finally caught one today and by pure luck got my first BIF as well. I think I'm addicted to BIF Shots, so amazingly cool, in my opinion.

Before flight.
s_DSC_8768.jpg

First flight shot.
s_DSC_8771.jpg

And he's a little hard to see in this shot but he's flying too.
s_DSC_8772.jpg

Sorry I don't have more of him in-shot when I shot the flight shots, there was a feeder-road and freeway and cars between me and him and my zoom lens only goes to 200mm currently. I just kind of did my best to track his movements with the camera, zoomed all the way and shoot a lot of continuous shots as he was flying. Sure enough, I got lucky and two came out okay!
Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR

Comments

  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited February 24, 2011
    Looks like a juvenile red tail hawk to me. Good job. It's always a thrill to capture a hawk. thumb.gif

    -joel
    Moderator of Landscapes forum
    Link to my Smugmug site
  • kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2011
    kdog wrote: »
    Looks like a juvenile red tail hawk to me. Good job. It's always a thrill to capture a hawk. thumb.gif

    -joel

    At least I finally got one, I've been trying, and yeah it is pretty interesting to capture a real bird of prey up close like that. The shot of him on the pole I got too close and he flew off.
    Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
    Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
    Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
    Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited February 24, 2011
    Yeah, that's what they do. I suggest going here and clicking the Buy button. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/520642-USA/Nikon_2172_AF_S_Nikkor_500mm_f_4G.html
    Moderator of Landscapes forum
    Link to my Smugmug site
  • kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2011
    kdog wrote: »
    Yeah, that's what they do. I suggest going here and clicking the Buy button. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/520642-USA/Nikon_2172_AF_S_Nikkor_500mm_f_4G.html

    That's on my To-Do list, right below "Rob a bank".
    Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
    Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
    Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
    Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited February 24, 2011
    rolleyes1.gif
    Moderator of Landscapes forum
    Link to my Smugmug site
  • PGMPGM Registered Users Posts: 2,007 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2011
    Great job, Kathylin! (Taking the photo, not your to do list!) Best, Pam
  • kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2011
    PGM wrote: »
    Great job, Kathylin! (Taking the photo, not your to do list!) Best, Pam

    Thanks for the comments. I won't hold it against you about misspelling my forum name.. it's odd and everyone gets it wrong pretty often for me.biggrinbounce2.gif
    Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
    Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
    Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
    Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR
  • kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2011
    kdog wrote: »
    rolleyes1.gif

    More realistically I've got my eye on a Tamron 2x tele-converter on ebay for $60, probably sell my F/1.8 lens soon and try that.
    Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
    Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
    Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
    Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
    edited February 24, 2011
    kithylin wrote: »
    More realistically I've got my eye on a Tamron 2x tele-converter on ebay for $60, probably sell my F/1.8 lens soon and try that.
    It will substantially degrade your image quality, plus I don't believe it will autofocus with that combination on your body. I think you're better off keeping the F1.8.
    Moderator of Landscapes forum
    Link to my Smugmug site
  • kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited February 24, 2011
    kdog wrote: »
    It will substantially degrade your image quality, plus I don't believe it will autofocus with that combination on your body. I think you're better off keeping the F1.8.

    Meh, it's an older 1.8 and it has purple fringing, and fringing in general, and not close to the quality I get with my Tamron lens, so I'm selling it. We'll see how the tele-converter works. I want to at least try one, then if I don't like it, I can just sell it again.
    Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
    Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
    Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
    Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR
  • HarrybHarryb Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 22,708 Major grins
    edited February 25, 2011
    kithylin wrote: »
    Meh, it's an older 1.8 and it has purple fringing, and fringing in general, and not close to the quality I get with my Tamron lens, so I'm selling it. We'll see how the tele-converter works. I want to at least try one, then if I don't like it, I can just sell it again.


    First point - when trying to sell a lens its not a good business practice to talk about "purple fringing". :D

    Second point- You will never have enough reach. I would go for a 1.4 TC and see how that works before going to a 2X. I've noticed a significant loss of AF speed between my 1.4 and 1.7 TCs.
    Harry
    http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
    How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
  • kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited February 25, 2011
    Harryb wrote: »
    First point - when trying to sell a lens its not a good business practice to talk about "purple fringing". :D

    Second point- You will never have enough reach. I would go for a 1.4 TC and see how that works before going to a 2X. I've noticed a significant loss of AF speed between my 1.4 and 1.7 TCs.

    I'm fairly sure there's nothing wrong with it, it takes pictures fine, and the fringing is resolved by stepping down 2 f-stops from 1.8.

    I'll take your suggestion in the TC's into chosing the one i want, I was looking at a 1.7 earlier that looked interesting. it's only 1 f-stop of aperture loss for 1.7's or 1.5's right?
    Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
    Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
    Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
    Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR
  • AforApertureAforAperture Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
    edited February 26, 2011
    kdog wrote: »
    Yeah, that's what they do. I suggest going here and clicking the Buy button. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/520642-USA/Nikon_2172_AF_S_Nikkor_500mm_f_4G.html

    What a tease, it's not even in stock! Not that I use Nikon or could afford a lens for that much right now. However, I would love some 500mm glass.

    Btw - great shots, I would love to catch a hawk in action like that! I'll just have to keep looking and live vicariously through this forum. :D
    Blog | A for Aperture | Twitter
  • kithylinkithylin Registered Users Posts: 229 Major grins
    edited February 26, 2011
    AforAperture wrote: »
    What a tease, it's not even in stock! Not that I use Nikon or could afford a lens for that much right now. However, I would love some 500mm glass.

    Btw - great shots, I would love to catch a hawk in action like that! I'll just have to keep looking and live vicariously through this forum. :D

    Good luck :) I've seen several sightings near where I live, and usually had been in bad situations. One time I was driving down the main thoroughfare through this long section of no turn-offs and there was a big hawk right on top of the street light, I couldn't stop without causing a wreck. Later that week I saw another one at an abandoned parking lot on top of a pole, and by the time i got pulled over, it flew off right when I was getting out of the car.
    This one up here in this thread, was in the corner of a Wal-Mart parking lot and stood there long enough for me to get out of the car and get my camera out. :D
    Sony Alpha SLT-A35 16.5 MP DSLR
    Minolta AF Zoom 70-210 F/4.5-5.6
    Minolta AF Zoom 35-70 F/3.5-4.5
    Places I post my work DeviantArt & FLICKR
  • AforApertureAforAperture Registered Users Posts: 20 Big grins
    edited February 26, 2011
    kithylin wrote: »
    Good luck :) I've seen several sightings near where I live, and usually had been in bad situations. One time I was driving down the main thoroughfare through this long section of no turn-offs and there was a big hawk right on top of the street light, I couldn't stop without causing a wreck. Later that week I saw another one at an abandoned parking lot on top of a pole, and by the time i got pulled over, it flew off right when I was getting out of the car.
    This one up here in this thread, was in the corner of a Wal-Mart parking lot and stood there long enough for me to get out of the car and get my camera out. :D

    Hmm. Just a thought about him flying off when you got out of the car. I've read that a lot of animals care less about your car when it's on, running and you slowly stop by them - then if you turn it off or get out of the car. Although he might just take off on you anyways. :D

    If I can't catch any Hawks by this summer I might be going to Alaska for a week or two of hiking / camping. So maybe I'll at least have bald eagle luck on my side!
    Blog | A for Aperture | Twitter
Sign In or Register to comment.