Is this the best I can do?

largelylivin

I know....I'm leaving myself wide open with that question. Go ahead. I can take it.

My brief but addictive furay into bird photography has been and continues to be the greatest frustration of any photographic arena in my experience. Add to that: I have less than one year experience with any DLSR and digital in general. Now I find myself wondering if maybe I have reached the limits of my equipment, pixels and post processing. Lord knows there's always lenses and technique. and "Yes, I would just love to have this guy cover a third of my viewfinder!"

So, here is an original of a red-tailed hawk from this weekend and the 'best' I could do with it. K10D, Sigma 50-500, monopod, ISO 400, 1/3000, f6.7. Noise processing with NeatImage, used separately on subject and sky. There is just a bit of shake in there. Fire away.

Giphsub

I also use the sigma 50-500 and often get similar results. But you need to realise that for birds, you really need to just give up if they are past a certain range. They just don't fill enough of the frame to even give a decent crop. Even with a monopod, you are still panning, so it is not completely still. Practice, practice, and practice some more. And take lots of shots! One in ten might get you a good clear shot!

Maestro

Getting a good BIF is difficult and add to that the fact that the bird needs to fly near you and, well, BIFs are a work in frustration at times. It takes lots of patience, skill and luck! Keep putting yourself in situations where a bird will fly by and one of these days it will happen for you. However, the Bigma is not a BIF lens at all. You will probably be using the Bigma near of the end of its focal length much of the time with BIFs and without image stabilization, it will be hard to get a decent shot unless it is on a sturdy tripod.

Anyhow, don't feel bad. I have exactly ONE set of red tailed hawk BIFs with which I am satisfied and that set is from Nov. 2006 so you can see that for most of us, decent BIFs are few and far between.

On side note, you have a lot of dust on your sensor. Do you see those small spots in your wide angle image? That is a common problem and easily remedied. Check out this company for some great products on how to fix those dust bunnies.

Mark Edell

Keep working on it, you will get better. Challenge yourself, put some bird feeders out and practice with them. Take it to the next level… I took a bag of unsalted peanuts and put a few at a time on a perch in my front yard and waited for the crows (not an easy bird to get good exposure and detail on) .

largelylivin

Thanks for the input everyone.

What I didn't hear is that I should be able to to better within the contraints of the shot and equipment. I didn't hear that there are better noise removing products or that I over filtered it. SO I think I hear: practice, patience, and of course, better lenses.

In response to your specific points:

1. I did use a monopod for this shot, and try to use it whenever possible. The K10D does have stabilization in the body and it was on. Who really knows if that's as good as in the lens stabilization?
2. Yes, I know the sensor needs cleaned. I'm a little nervous about cleaning it myself. I would like to send the camera to Pentax to get CLA'd (except I only have one camera body).
3. I got off about 12 shots of this guy, probably 3 or 4 after I went to manual focusing. This was a manual focused shot and really the only keeper (or nearly so) of the bunch.
4. Right, the EXIF says 500m, full extension.

Pentaxians? Here's a rare one: I found I guy in Harrisburg PA that's selling his Pentax FA 600m/f4. Want's $5800 - way out of my league.

largelylivin

Should I turn off image stablization when I'm using a monopod or tripod?
I have been practicing at the bird feeder. Here's a few from the weekend. Naturally, the last visitor pretty much ended the day. All k10D, Sigma 50-500, monopod, ISO 400. f5.6-6.7.

One bothersome thing is that every one seems just a bit out of focus.

Giphsub

Yes, it seems that the bigma is one lens that requires a lot of patience and shooting. It is a bit of a compromise considering the difference in price between it and the expensive lenses, but you should be able to get good shots with it. I find even with a monopod it can get some blur. You really need a very sturdy tripod to eliminate that totally.

That first pic of these last three seems more focused on the branch to the bird's right. Could it be a focusing problem?? The last one looks pretty good at that size. Does it look worse at a larger size?

Harryb

Your shots will improve as you gain experience with your equipment. I look back at the shots that I thought were fine 3 years ago and I cringe and hope no one views them.

I haven't used in-body stablization but I know that with my VR lenses I have to wait a second or so for the VR take hold before I can get a good focus lock.

Another key factor in getting good BIFs etc, is location. If you're not getting clos enough at your current shooting site start doing some research about other locations where you can get to your subjects.

largelylivin

Giphsub wrote:

Yes, it seems that the bigma is one lens that requires a lot of patience and shooting. It is a bit of a compromise considering the difference in price between it and the expensive lenses, but you should be able to get good shots with it. I find even with a monopod it can get some blur. You really need a very sturdy tripod to eliminate that totally.

That first pic of these last three seems more focused on the branch to the bird's right. Could it be a focusing problem?? The last one looks pretty good at that size. Does it look worse at a larger size?

I should have mentioned that all of these were taken using autofocus.

Looking at the last image, which was so close its only a 20% crop, (Exif says 300mm) I get the impression that the focal depth is not centered on the focal point (bird), that its focused forward of there. Do you see it too?

The focus seems to get more critical and more unreliable when the lens is near its 500mm limit, and that seems to be true with or without autofocus. In anything less than bright light the autofocus frequently 'hunts'. I almost always shoot wide open since I came to understand that autofocus needs maximum light.

One last point, I assume this is due to the Sigma, at high scale enlargements like the Red-Tail photo, there is really a lot of red and blue fringing. I haven't figured out if its because of the sky, light angles, mediocur lens quality, etc, since I have nothing equivalent for comparison.

largelylivin

Xtra Large

yezzer

Hello DGers, first post and all that..

Just thought i'd chip in as i've just got a Bigma. I've got a number of shots here - some are ok, some are not. The ones on the feeders, like the one below, are in my garden, and my D200 and Bigma are mounted on a Velbon Sherpa 750r.



This is cropped. 500mm, 1/200, f/6.3, ISO 800. Some noise reduction.So far, i *love* this lens! Only bought it at the weekend. I haven't got a monopod to try it on, so i'll get one of those soon.

I did try to hand-hold this lens for a few shots - but I ended up damaging my wrist, so I had to go buy a new tripod (the Velbon).

I must say I do find it tricky to get it exactly in focus.

zoomer

These are with the bigma.
You need good light, use f8 and a tripod..always... and you will get good results. Even with 500mm you will need to be with 20 feet or so for best results.

Giphsub

Some good shots there guys.

I think I see what you mean in that red tail shot. Again, it looks to be focusing on the branch to the right (and forward) of the bird, which seems to be the same as the other bird shot. What focus setting are you using? Is the camera automatically choosing the target to focus on? Prehaps it is choosing the wrong point... Are you using center/single point focus? Check that. Also, as mentioned above, perhaps you need to increase the depth of field a little by going up to f8. I agree that this lens needs a lot of light, so bright conditions are a must. It's gonna be tough getting good shots consistently in less than optimal light.

zoomer

As far as focusing use the spot focus and also spot metering, with stationary birds always focus on the eyes.
For birds in flight the Bigma is not fast enough for getting consistent in focus shots. I am sure someone will dispute that comment but I have been using that lens for 4 years for birds so have a lot of experience with it.
Use continuous focus for in flight shots but be sure to change it back to single for static shots.

You can also use it for macro, this shot taken at 500mm