Sunny day Mallards!

[buzzsaw]

Solo Mallard........

Mallards in flight.............

Mallards in a flock...............

Dual Drakes..................

Mallards fighting!

[caseymcq]

WOW! Those are the best mallard photos I have ever seen.

[buzzsaw]

Casey, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the compliment, there are alot of great Mallard and other pictures on here and that just made my night! Believe it or not, all of those were shot on the same day. Thanks again!

[Quackaddict9]

nothing beats the last pictures with 2 drakes fighting. thats a sweet picture.

[RussDaBuss]

Outstanding!! More for the desktop!!

[buzzsaw]

I saw a Drake Widgeon down at the watering hole today... I took a few pics as well.

[igotem]

Wow, those are awesome! I love the second photo. I've just started looking at this forum today and can't stop going through all the posts. Can't wait to see what's to come. Keep up the good work, all of you.

igotem

[merganser]

Outstanding photos!!! What kind of a set up were you using??? Or is that classified info? Do you have other photos? If so, please direct me in the right direction. Keep up the good work.

[Steve Foss]

Merganser, you can simply run over to the bird watching board. Lots of Buzz's fine work is posted there.

[metrojoe]

Great Photos.

Seems like no matter where I'm ice fishing this year, I'm seeing flocks of mallards and geese. I guess the milder weather is allowing them to stick around.

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

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What kind of a set up were you using??? Or is that classified info?

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First off, Thank you! I appreciate the compliment and I have the Nikon D50, I use three different lenses.... a Nikon 18-55mm for family and closer pictures, a Nikon 70-210mm for the mid-range shots and a Tamron 200-500mm for those farther away shots. It helps alot to have good light and it's amazing how many photographs I delete to get to the good ones... thank goodness for digital technology! Like Stve said, go to the "bird watching" forum and you will uncover many very good pictures as well as good educational reading. Hope to hear more from you.

[bullyfish]

Hey Buzzsaw,

How is that Tamron working for you?

I've narrowed down my choices to three lenses:

50-500mm Sigma (Bigma)

100-400mm Canon IS lens (which I think Steve uses?)

Or

400mm L Prime lens (I just worry about not having a zoom with a Prime lens)

OH the choices!!!!!! Of course seeing all the great pics here only makes me more eager to get one and go out and shoot some more!

[buzzsaw]

Bully, it's working out great! I think if you go through the pictures you will see the quality. I'm not big on fixed lenses, I like the flexibility of a zoom. Make a choice and start posting.... do a Google search on each of the camera's strengths and weeknesses as well as cost... it may help you make a decision. What type of camera do you have? or are you going to buy?

[bullyfish]

I have the Rebel XT.

All the pictures I posted so far I have used a 75-300mm lens. I just want one bigger now!

[Steve Foss]

The 400 L prime IS is some of Canon's best glass. So is the 100-400 L IS. While the 400 is faster because it opens to a wider f-stop, the money pulled me toward the 100-400 IS. The 100-400 is actually slightly sharper, in many pros opinions, than the 400 prime. I've had great luck with it, and though it only opens to 5.6 at 400 mm, the IS gains you at least two stops, and that zoom capability is huge. Coupled with a monopod, the IS lets me take sharp images in low light conditions. With the XT's sensor, it's no problem to shoot at 400 iso. Grain and noise are very low at that setting, as long as you don't underexpose the image, which with any sensor will fill the shadows with lots of digital noise.

I shoot the 20D, with the 8.2 megapixel sensor. The Rebel XT has an 8 megapixel sensor that's nearly the same as the 20D. You can make prints up to (and beyond, with the right printing/processing technology) 2 feet by 3 feet with those sensors and get them quite sharp. It also helps to have that many pixels when you have to crop to get your image.

I also recommend picking up the optional battery grip. It has controls for your right hand on the vertical corner so you're not reaching up and over the camera to change things, and it's ergonomically far easier to take sharp vertical shots with the battery grip. Also, IS (or Vibration Reduction for Nikon) eats batteries about 30 percent faster than non IS, and doubling your battery power can make a big difference when you're in the middle of filling that 1 Gb card.

Good luck, and show us some work as soon as you can.

[bullyfish]

Steve,

Have you used a tele-converter on that 100-400?

Also, what do you think of the push/pull zoom compared to the twist on most zooms?

[Steve Foss]

I used the 1.4 for awhile, but I wasn't confident of my eye's ability to manual focus (the teleconverters only allow autofocus on Canon lenses opening to 2.8), and no matter how good the teleconverter, there's a slight degradation in the image. If you're talking just about posting online images, with the low resolution of a computer monitor screen, that degredation is not noticeable. With larger prints it is. That's not acceptible to me, so I sold my 1.4.

As far as power, the 400 (really the equivalent of 640 with the 1.6 converstion factor in the 20D and XT), is plenty unless you're shooting shy small birds you can't get too close to. Woodscraft, as with the hunter, is more important to a photographer than always striving for the maximum strength lens.

Push/pull telephotos, even those built to the weather/rough handling specs of the wonderful L series, can invite dust into the lens. Sending the lens in for cleaning once a year is a good idea anyway, so that's not a problem for me. And unless you have several camera bodies and you can leave specific lenses mated to specific bodies, you'll be getting dust particles on your sensors and the lens glass a bit more often.

I have no problem with a push/pull. In fact, when I'm concentrating on the animal or bird, I like the push/pull better because I don't have to fumble with the zoom ring, like I occasionally do on my 17-40 mm L. The 100-400 gets quite long when it's pushed out, but since my monopod/tripod mounts on the lens ring, not the camera, balance isn't a problem.

[bullyfish]

Thanks for the info Steve!

I think it will boil down to the 100-400mm and the Sigma.

While I'd love to get Prime lens, right now I think I will be better off with a zoom.

Thanks again!

[Steve Foss]

The 100-400 has better glass and a stronger build than the Sigma. It will give you sharper images. Any general brand lens (Tamron, Sigma, etc.) will not perform as well as top glass from Canon or Nikon. Again, online only? Who cares, then. If you want professionally sharp prints, however (and let's assume all shooters will want that at some time or another), the Canon L series and top Nikon glass will be sharper (and almost certainly operate faster) than the general brands.

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

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I also recommend, whichever body you get, picking up the optional battery grip. It has controls for your right hand on the vertical corner so you're not reaching up and over the camera to change things

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That must be a Canon design issue I assume. I noticed the grip on the canon's is absolutely horrible. I've actually read a few complaints on P-base and Fred Miranda regarding this issue. Does a grip add much weight to the camera?

[Steve Foss]

Hey Buzz:

Um, well, any camera I've ever picked up in the last many years has the main shutter controls and some other control functions on the right hand top corner of the body. The shutter release is in the front/top in all the brands I've picked up. When you shoot vertically with that setup, one tends to tilt the camera 90 degrees counterclockwise, which means your right hand is twisting up higher and at an uncomfortable angle, making it harder to keep the gear stable. I guess I don't know how that would be a design flaw unique to Canon, since Nikon and all the other SLRs, both film and digital, use that type of system.

Or maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to say. It wasn't clear to me.

As far as the optional grip, grip comfort is a matter of opinion and individual preference. You can't find out in a review if a camera sits right in your grip, so I never pay attention to reviews about things like that, whether they are for or against what works for me.

The 20D's body fits my hand sweetly, and the add-on grip feels right too, to me. The Rebel XT, on the other hand, is too small for my hands, though it might fit better with the add-on grip. The Nikon D series feels very nice to me, too, the ones I've hefted.

The Canon 1Ds Mark II and ID Mark IIn fit my hand wonderfully. Wish they fit my budget!

I don't doubt there are people who don't like the feel of Canon cameras, and I have no problem with that. There is no right and wrong, simply what works for each individual. As long as whatever a person shoots is good for them, it's all good.

When you flip the Canon camera equipped with the battery grip counterclockwise to shoot vertically, the grip's controls are in the same place as the main body's are when you are shooting horizontally. A good deal because there's no new learning curve to use the grip's controls.

The add-on battery grip for the 20D adds very little weight, because it's of lighter construction than the body. While I fit well with the ergonomics of the grip, I wish it were of the same construction as the body. Camera body weight is not an issue with me. And for my taste, the 20D's add-on grip is too light (plastic-like), but I've shot 15,000 frames through it while banging around the wilderness in canoes, on foot and in airplanes with no problems. Correction, one time when it was -35 degrees, the vertical grip's controls were a bit sluggish, taking longer to change camera settings than the main body's conrols. I guess time will tell whether it'll hold up for the full 100,000 frames the camera's good for.

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

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Or maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to say. It wasn't clear to me.

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it was mainly in reference to the hand grip on the Canon Rebel XT.

[bullyfish]

I have had the XT now for about 2 months and one of the reasons I got it was because the body was smaller and fit my hands better.

I thought about getting the extended battery/grip but the battery life is so long with my XT and since the size doesnt matter to me I opted not to get it.

Saving those pennies to get the big glass.

This weekend I hope to go to a lake close to Dallas here that is suppose to have three nesting pair of eagles. It sure will be odd to see Bald Eagles in Dallas!!!

Thanks for all the great comments.

Glen

[Steve Foss]

Hey Glen:

Shoot those eagles fine, man! Let us see how you do.

Once you've enough pennies saved for the big glass, whichever you choose, have a blast using it. Once you've spent the money on digital, you're far more done spending money than if you were shooting film, so shoot like crazy. It's almost free, after all.

And the telephoto you have right now will work nicely. Just make sure you anchor it the best you can to lessen the shake. Some of my earlier images were shot with a Tamron 70-300 macro. It's a $150 consumer lens. And you know, those shots are very nice. Though I can't blow them up as big as I can with my current equipment, I got some very nice 13x19s out of that lens. They sold like hotcakes.

[bullyfish]

Steve,

I'll see if I have any luck this weekend finding those Eagles down here. If so I'll let you know how I did.

Heard ya on net this morning with Mickey! Glad he is doing well with his new radio/internet show!

I found a great little site on the net. Lots of Canon stuff...great little forum and picture site. Thought you might like to check it out.

FYI for all the birders out there...this site also has some pretty great birding shots.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/index.php

Take care

Glen