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Greetings Everyone! Question for Canon 100x400 users (1 Viewer)

Hi John
Here's one of the practice shots this morning here are some details 1/1600 F5.6 ISO400.

Jules

Whoah....................on a dark day (I'm assuming it was darkish looking at your pic) you'd need to either cut your shutter speed or raise your ISO.

You could have gotten away with 1/800, 1/640 or even 1/500 here and it wouldn't have looked so dark. Or you could have raided the ISO to 800 but this may introduce noise into the equation..............
 
Whoah....................on a dark day (I'm assuming it was darkish looking at your pic) you'd need to either cut your shutter speed or raise your ISO.

You could have gotten away with 1/800, 1/640 or even 1/500 here and it wouldn't have looked so dark. Or you could have raided the ISO to 800 but this may introduce noise into the equation..............

Cheers

It is only my second day with the new lens so hopefully they can only improve;)
 
Try shooting in AV mode.
Set your aperture to f5.6 and let your camera select the shutter speed, if it's too low for a steady shot up the ISO. If you're shooting in low light use a tripod to help with slow shutter speeds.
 
Canon 100 - 400

Thank you all for a very interesting thread and some great pictures.
I've been considering switching to this lense.
Is anyone able to comment on the affect of t.c.'s and how to get the best out of them?
Thanks
Mick
 
Mick, unless you're using the 100-400mm on a 1d body, TCs are pretty much a non starter.

You can "persuade" the lens to work on older bodies (20D, 30D) by taping the pins in the TC, and some non-reporting TCs work too. But from the 40D onwards, revisions in the AF module mean that unless you're one of the very rare individuals that hits lucky, you won't get AF on the centre AF point, taped pins/non-reporting TC or not.

Related.
 
Most bird photos in my gallery are taken with 100-400L.
99% my settings are:
Av mode
Center focusing point (first I lock focus and then recompose).
ISO400 as minimum, mostly 800-1600
Metering: [(o)] or [ ]

Just keep on eye that shutter speed, it should be at least 1/200s.
100-400 has two stop stabilizer, so theoretically 1/100s should be enough for sharp images. But it requires steady hands and optimum conditions.
For birds, 1/200s should be the minimum.

Still love my 100-400, its just great and reliable lens for general nature photography.
 
From experience:

The 100-400mm with the 1.4x Kenko DGX auto-focuses with all points on the 550D VERY well and remains very sharp even open wide

It only auto-focuses on peripheral points on the 60D and 7D
 
I just kept on trying to increase the shutter speed!3:)
Jules

Jules, if you increase the shutter speed that will let less light in because the shutter is quicker. You need a slower speed. There are no hard and fast rules as light is changing all the time. Increasing your ISO to around 800 or more will also help on a dull day but picture quality starts to get grainy. Practice, practice, practice.
 
Jules, if you increase the shutter speed that will let less light in because the shutter is quicker. You need a slower speed. There are no hard and fast rules as light is changing all the time. Increasing your ISO to around 800 or more will also help on a dull day but picture quality starts to get grainy. Practice, practice, practice.

John
Thanks for that:t: I realize that I jumped in at the deep end with the 400D being my first SLR and then getting the 100-400 lens, I think it's called running before you can walk!:eek!: However, I have plenty of time to do as you say, practice, practice, practice;) It is reassuring to know that there are so many kind people on BF ready to answer my queries. I'm sure that there will be many more yet;)

Jules
 
Help Please

Hi everyone

I hope you can help with advice on how to improve these two pics I've not had the camera and lens long and I am improving very very slowly so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks:t:

PS I've had to crop to get them to download but that's all I've done!
 

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Yorkie, it looks like you've got a decent grasp of handling the camera.

I don't know how much you've cropped, but the more you can fill the frame the better. I would think that filling the frame with a coot should not be too hard with a 400mm lens. Maybe a little more patience to wait for a better opportunity. However, the main area for improvement is in the light and your angle of view onto the bird. I'd try to get lower down, nearer to eye level with the bird (or any animal). I also usually prefer creatures to be heading towards me rather than away. The eyes are very important. You need to be able to see them. For the coot it is practically invisible. It needs some light in it, and a catchlight ideally to add to the spark and sense of life.

For the greylag, given you've cropped, it seems an unusual crop to me. When a subject has a front end and a back end, be it a person, car, train, plane or animal it is common practice to leave more space ahead of the subject than behind. It is more interesting to see where the thing is heading rather than where it has been. It's a rule that can be broken, sometimes to good effect, but in this shot I think a more traditional composition would work better. The exposure looks OK but the light appears to be very flat once again - not the light I would seek for wildlife photography. Others may hold a different view.

Just as examples here are a coot and greylag in what I would regard as better light. No edits on these except slight crops. They might benefit from a little tweaking, but I just want to show the sparkle in the eyes....
 

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Tim

Thanks for that and I now drooling over your shots:t: Both were taken from a hide so I didn't have a lot of room as it was quite full and the light was not good. The BIF is only the second I've taken that is anything like clear so let's hope I can only improve with time and getting more familiar with my equipment. Thanks again for taking time for answering my post and for your advice much appreciated:t:
 
Tim

I know this is bird is not in focus and the bird is flying away but if you get my drift if the space had been at the front of the bird and some sparkle in the eye is that what you meant in your last post?...:t:
 

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Tim

I know this is bird is not in focus and the bird is flying away but if you get my drift if the space had been at the front of the bird and some sparkle in the eye is that what you meant in your last post?...:t:
I don't really understand your question.

Here the bird is very close to exiting the frame. It looks as though it is trying to escape, rather than simply flying to somewhere else because it wanted to. That's not necessarily wrong. It could be a very powerful technique to convey that exact feeling. Whether that was indeed the situation at the time, a deliberate compositional choice, or simply because your panning didn't keep up with the bird I don't know. As the bird is small in the frame, had you centred the bird when you took the shot you would have had more options for cropping to achieve different compositions. As it is almost at the edge those options are reduced. But it's your photo and your choice. How do you want it to look?

This side of the bird is well lit, which personally I lilke, and the eye stands out in good contrast from the rest of the bird. The image is too small to work out if there is a catchlight or not, but at this size it does not matter. The important thing is that the eye stands out nicely. It really is about the eyes when it comes to living things. That's where the soul is. If the eye vanishes, or shows no light/life then for me it's hard to be excited by the image.

Here's an example where a little flash just gave the image some kick. No edits on this except white balance. Without the catchlight from the flash I think this would have been dull as ditchwater and not worth keeping....
 

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Tim

I think the bird's position is simply because my panning didn't keep up with the bird which was being chased. I purchased the DSLR and telephoto lens the end of March!! I had only digiscoped until then and this robin is the best I managed to achieve doing it that way.

Thank you again for your in depth reply it is all starting to make some sense to me. :t:
 

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Nowt wrong with that robin. Tis very nice indeed. :)

Panning talent comes with practice. There is no doubt about it. Almost every time I try panning I start out a bit rusty and then the knack comes back. Sort of. I'm not the world's greatest panner by a long stretch. Unfortunately it shows in my miserable keeper rate for BIF. I don't give up, but I don't seem to be getting any better either.
 
I agree with Tim. Your Robin is a well composed and sharp picture. The eye sparkle is also there. Tim has made some good points there for you and the rules apply nearly every time. Sharpness of the eye, filling the frame as much as possible and catching the light right. Although all these are not always possible in a split second. Keep practicing, you will get almost there. We are all still practicing and never get a perfect picture every time! But that's what keeps us coming back.
 

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Popped out today with my 7D and 100-400 whilst walking the dog. Managed to grab a couple of lucky shots. EXIF intact...
 

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