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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Roy C" data-source="post: 1693495" data-attributes="member: 18798">Your lens is certainly capable of capturing very fine detail Ryan - it is one of the sharpest around with great IQ.To capture really good detail you need to get as close as you can to the bird and for hand held shots, make sure that you have a good shutter speed to eliminate camera shake -  at least 1/500 sec but this varies with different people depend on the technique used, some people require 1/1000 sec or faster while other can get away with less than 1/500 sec. With a good tripod and head you can get away with much slower shutter speeds. The 400/5.6 can be used wide open at f5.6. so that helps with the shutter speed.I see you took the reed bunting shot at ISO 200 and 1/500 sec, you may be better trying ISO 400 which will give you 1/1000 sec. For what it is worth I rarely went below ISO 400 when I had the 400/5.6.Do you shoot in RAW? and do you crop your shots?, most shots you see with the cracking feather details are where the bird is large in the frame.  Processing also plays a part in producing the finished article.Hope this helps.p.s. using  500 or 600mm focal length does not in its self give the fine detail but the bird will be larger in the frame if shot from the same distance as say, a 400mm lens. With a 400mm lens it just means that you have to get a bit closer to get the same amount of detail.</blockquote>