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Can't tell if my lens is broke or if I'm rubbish (1 Viewer)

Interesting thread. I'll be honest I don't know the first thing about photography and am just a point and shoot person. There's a few messages on here that have made me question whether I could be more experimental.
I use a Canon 7D with a Sigma 150-500. As I've been told the lens has a sweet spot of f.8, I always leave it on that. Should I or should I experiment? I also leave iso on Auto again should I? I shoot in AV and alter between spot and spot area. Happy with most results and I think for me if anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate help in lower light scenarios and where there's a lot of movement, as otherwise in good light what I do pretty much works for me.
Thanks.
 
Here's my latest attempt.
Shot in AV
1/100
F5.6
Iso 800
IMG_4747.jpg

It was a really overcast day and I had ISO on auto.
I was right on top of it and it's still not looking sharp. I really don't know what I'm doing wrong :(
 
Well, something you can improve is to pick more suitable speed. Even on a tripod with a stationary bird, 1/125 is slow on a 400mm lens (relying on teh bird not to move at all). I assume that this is hand-held? The lens does not have image stabilization either, as far as I know (I don't use Canon).

Of course that would have meant further increasing the Iso, but that's a problem with the kind of light we get in the UK at this time of year.

I would also suggest that in future you crop the picture before posting it if you want people to judge sharpness. For the parameters you were using it doesn't look bad to me in the size supplied.

Andrea
 
Here's my latest shot. It was a rubbish day due to poor light, so I upped the iso. I think the detail is decent here though.

AV
F5.6
Shutterspeed 1/1600
ISO 800
stoine chat male.jpg
 
Retrodaz said:
Here's my latest attempt.
Shot in AV
1/100
F5.6
Iso 800
View attachment 520189

It was a really overcast day and I had ISO on auto.
I was right on top of it and it's still not looking sharp. I really don't know what I'm doing wrong :(
Click to expand...

I don't think you have done anything wrong just taken a photo in very poor light. Looking through the thread you have some good shots taken in good light, some OK shots in OK light and some poor shots in poor light.

This kingfisher shot was never going to turn out great given the distance and light levels. You could sharpen it for some improvement but my advice would be learn more about the bird's habits and turn up when there is better light and wait patiently. You need to understand the limitations of your gear before you can really push them.

Light is king though especially with a f5.6 lens
 
Here's the exif of a shot of a kingfisher that I took. You will see that I have cropped the image but because I have used iso 200 at f8, the slowest shutter speed I could get away with, a bean bag on a hide window for support and reasonable light, there is more detail - add that I am using a 70D with a newer sensor which makes a difference too but it's light and technique that are the main improvements.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/43324529@N04/14520575035/meta/in/photostream
 
Last edited:
I agree that the stonechat has some nice feather detail. I would now try to lighten the shadows in post-processing to see whether I can make the eye more visible. I assume there's detail in what currently looks very black.

Humans are always drawn to the eye of a creature, so making sure the eye is discernible can make a difference in the impact of a photo.

As a side note you probably didn't need quite such a fast shutter speed but it seems the Iso800 hasn't hurt the picture too much.

Now you just need a holiday somewhere sunny so that you don't have to struggle with conditions quite so much!

Andrea
 
Here's some of my latest shoots. Picked up a Canon 7D for £250 and I've been trying to practice my getting closer technique.
IMG_3549.jpg

black tailed godwit.jpg

moorhen.jpg

IMG_3547.jpg
 
What you are after is an even light, a ‘modeling’ light, if you look at the latest images there’s heat and light reflection off the bird’s feathers, as these were shot in bright sunshine. Whereas the Stonechat, although the light wasn’t good, it gave you detail, because the light hitting the stonechat was even.

A lens hood is always a good idea in harsh sunshine, plus tries bracketing the exposure when the light is this harsh. I know that we want bright light, but as with dim conditions it can be the worst conditions for photographing birds, because of the light reflection.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I've been using the lens hood that's built into the actual lens. Are you suggesting that I need a bigger one? I will look at the bracketing as well as that should help. I think there's certainly an improvement, but I do find it funny that regardless of the lens size you want to get as close to the bird as possible :) I must have been within 17 feet of the Godwit for example.
 
The Godwit is very nice so is the second Egret shot even with the highlights being so bright. Even the moorhen has good detail - I find them very hard work to get a decent shot of. Keep practising and trying different things - the more you do the more you will know what does or doesn't suit you. Most of all, enjoy yourself and the wildlife!
 
I went for a trip to Longham today, this is the best stuff I took. I'm wondering if I need to practice my post processing as I do very little other than up the brightness.

Greenfinch
AV
ISO 100
Shutterspeed 1/800
F 5.6
Green Finch.jpg

Grey Wagtail
TV
ISO 400
Shutterspeed 1/2000
F 6.3
Grey Wagtail foraging.jpg

Kestrel
AV
ISO 200
Shutterspeed 1/1600
F 5.6
My original crop was too big, so I've resized the original pre-cropped image in photoshop as I don't know how to do it after.
IMG_3774.jpg

Robin
TV
ISO 500
Shutterspeed 1/2000
F 5.6
Robin.jpg
 
Hi Daz, looking at the shots they are looking good - certainly the Kestrel is better than any shot I have got of that species. The Grey Wag looks a little flat; the blacks aren't black and the Robin shot the same so I think that you are right when you wonder if processing is the next step, however I am wondering if you are shooting in Jpeg or RAW - I am guessing it is Jpeg and if so you should switch. You should have a copy of Digital Photo Professional that came with the camera so take some shots of anything in RAW and then open them in DPP and have a play with the settings. It's very easy to get the hang of and once you like the adjustments just select convert and save to Jpeg (TIFF is bigger and better but having never worked that way I can't advise you on how to work that format).

N.B. if you are using RAW already you need to look at how you are converting the RAW files

Happy New Year mate

Paul
 
I am using raw. I have just found my dpp disc, so will start looking into using that. I know roy uses it and he gets incredible results.
 
That's good to hear, there is so much more detail in a RAW file that it's a waste not to use it. The grey wag and robin both are quite noisy though which seems odd for the low iso you have used - particularly the robin seems to have plenty of detail in it that could be brought out. The grey wag I am a little lost with - I photograph them in very similar conditions and your shot should be very punchy?? It reminds me of shots that I used to get with a Sigma zoom before switching to the Canon - the Canon lenses give much better colour and contrast.
 
I was so close to that wagtail as well, about 20 feet away. I always find it kind of ironic that despite the need for insanely expensive lenses you still need to get as close as possible in oder to capture any half decent feather detail. I will try and set up dpp today and hopefully tweak some of the images.
 
Here are my latest shots. Been practising on ducks.
Hooded Merganser
AV
F/5.6
Shutterspeed 1/500
ISO 400

HOODED MERGAnser.jpg

Tufted Duck
AV
F/5.6
Shutterspeed 1/2500
ISO 1000
Turrfted duck-radipole Feb 2015.jpg
 
Did some practice with gulls and ducks today at Moors Valley
_MG_6224.jpg
Shutter Speed 1/2000
ISO 250
Aperture f5.6

_MG_6042.jpg
Shutter Speed 1/1600
ISO 250
Aperture f5.6

_MG_6051.jpg
Shutter Speed 1/1600
ISO 320
Aperture f5.6

Overall I think these look quite decent. Happy with the sharpness.
 
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