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Those are such nice birds. We have traveled all over to places where they are supposed to be, but have never seen them. That is to say, we didn't jump in our helicopter and fly there extra, but were where they SHOULD have been anyway. ;-)
 
Those are such nice birds. We have traveled all over to places where they are supposed to be, but have never seen them. That is to say, we didn't jump in our helicopter and fly there extra, but were where they SHOULD have been anyway. ;-)

I reported them to my local Dorset Bird Club website and my end of the road where they have been visiting was filled with twitchers for three days solid. Cars lined both sides of the street and big lenses and spotting scopes were everywhere. Didn't tell the neighbours I was the cause of all the chaos. ;) After seeing all their huge lenses, it was my photos they used on the club website. One up for the telescope. :)

Paul.
 
I reported them to my local Dorset Bird Club website and my end of the road where they have been visiting was filled with twitchers for three days solid. Cars lined both sides of the street and big lenses and spotting scopes were everywhere. Didn't tell the neighbours I was the cause of all the chaos. ;) After seeing all their huge lenses, it was my photos they used on the club website. One up for the telescope. :)

Paul.

Nice photos Paul. You guys should come and visit us in Quebec. We have lots of them: Cedar and Bohemian Waxwing.
 

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Stunning shot, Jules.... the one on the left! (Details?)


P.S. Will be looking at a Mark II tomorrow... hmmmmm.... ;-)
 
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Stunning shot, Jules.... the one on the left! (Details?)


P.S. Will be looking at a Mark II tomorrow... hmmmmm.... ;-)

Thanks Dan ! E-M1 Mk I and Pana/Leica 100-400mm at 400mm - ISO 800, 1/640 S., f/6.3.

Here are a couple more with the same equipment. As you can see on the second photo, the DOF is very narrow when the lens is wide opened and the bokeh is superb.

Good luck with your purchase.

Regards
J
 

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I tested a MkII yesterday for a short while. As the MkI, it didn´t function well with the FT Olympus Zuiko 70-300mm (with adapter from Pana).

I tried it with Sigma C 150-600mm, Ext2x and MB. It mostly autofocused a bit better than the MkI, especially when using all focuspoints.
When doing the focus speed test only at 600mm, from infinity to zero and back it didn´t go smoothly, it stopped erratically so I couldn´t get a good reading of time s t s.
It is possible to dial in 1200mm and higher as info to IBIS-system.
I would like to try the Mk II some more.
 
Nice photos Jules. It's a shame they weren't feeding in my area, they were just spending a few hours at a time perched at the top of a tall Beech tree. Even at 1200mm I was only able to get these images that are just good enough for record shots. I guess there were places in the vicinity they were going off to feed. Nice to see them though, especially on the other side of my garden fence. First time I've seen them for about 10 years or more, fairly rare here in the UK but they do come over to somewhere in the UK most winters.

Paul.
 
Nice photos Jules. It's a shame they weren't feeding in my area, they were just spending a few hours at a time perched at the top of a tall Beech tree. Even at 1200mm I was only able to get these images that are just good enough for record shots. I guess there were places in the vicinity they were going off to feed. Nice to see them though, especially on the other side of my garden fence. First time I've seen them for about 10 years or more, fairly rare here in the UK but they do come over to somewhere in the UK most winters.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

Here, they come and go, in groups. In Winter time, we see them in trees that have frozen fruits. In the Spring, they like to eat new flowers and apple orchards are a sure bet. In the Summer and Fall, they like small fruits and berries in trees, not on the ground.
 
Anders,
You can set the IS anyway you like, but it will have no effect. The camera gets the focal length from the lens unless it is a totally manual lens, like a scope.
 
After not seeing any for a few days we had a small group of 4 Waxwings here this morning. Still just perching at a distance and not feeding anywhere that I can get close to. The Dunnock was watching me take photos from around 3m away, surprised I managed to focus on it but I had extension tube plus the adjustable Kenko 2X TC which gave some extra travel.

Waxwings were photographed with the Fujinon TN, about 1.7X.

All images Nikon D3300, SW80ED and ISO1600 Unfortunately all shot in JPEG Fine mode instead of RAW.

Paul.
 

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Waxwings still turning up here almost daily. Sun is in a decent spot today but the birds are still a way off. Probably at around 2.5X to 3X with the TN and SW80ED for this photo and I had the camera set in jpeg mode (must remember to put it in RAW). Photo uncropped, just resized.

Paul.
 

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Waxwings here with a nice sunrise this morning which rises at 90° to their position and so lights them up perfectly.

All at 600mm with the SW80ED and Nikon D3300.

Paul.
 

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Due to the Waxwing, I've had loads of birdwatchers outside my house over the last couple of weeks, a lot with very long expensive lenses so I thought I'd do a comparison.

One of these photos is taken with the SW80ED, Nikon D3300 and 1.4XTN at ISO800 - 1/160. Camera was in jpeg mode.

The other is taken with a Canon 600mm f4 IS USM Mk1, Canon 7D Mk2 and Canon 1.4X TC at ISO400 - 1/1250.

Slightly different weather conditions but similar distances, mine would be a few meters further as I'm in my garden and the birdwatchers are a little nearer on the other side of my garden fence.

One rig cost around £600 and the other around £10,000.

Paul.
 

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I was photographing Waxwing in the drizzle today and got this really nice Robin close up. I got the whole bird but went for a crop.

Nikon D3300 + SW80ED + 2X Vivitar TC assembly from Pentax 645 medium format.

Paul.
 

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Finally remembered to put my camera into RAW. Waxwing still here, been here since 14th February now.

My tripod is still being used in my art studio so I took this resting the scope on top of a flower pot in a 20mph wind.

Nikon D3300 + SW80ED + Fujinon 1.8X TN.

Paul.
 

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A little bit of eyepiece projection just for fun. The eyepiece is a microfiche lens assembly and these lenses project a very flat image onto the cameras sensor. Projecting a very flat image is very important with this method. Provides a lot of magnification too, these photos are mostly uncropped and range is around 25m.

Paul.
 

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Hmmmm.... good flower pot!
:t:

Yes, and the rotary washing line is really good too. The washing line is the style that opens out like an upturned umbrella. With the four arms in the folded up position it holds the scope perfectly and I can rotate 360° as well as going from flat to pointing almost vertically up. It's a good alternative when my tripod is being used elsewhere.

Some more eyepiece projection yesterday with a small microfilm lens. This greenfinch was at the top of a tall Beech tree just across the road from my house. Taken with the SW80ED mounted on the washing line. :)

Won a nice Olympus microfilm lens on ebay yesterday, lower mag than my current one but also much bigger diameter. This new one is 35mm diameter which is quite large for a microfilm lens, normally they are only about 20mm. They make good extreme macro lenses too, google microfilm macro photography and see the microscopic levels of detail that can be captured.

Paul.
 

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Here are some photos I took late January. Brought the TLAPO804 with me on a bicycle ride with the intention to check out a small stream running through outskirts of town and one of the two resident Kingfishers showed up within a few minutes. Got a flat tire and had to walk home but that's another story.
 

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