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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Roy C" data-source="post: 1693918" data-attributes="member: 18798">Ryan, just one small thing with your particular lens - hand holding a non IS 400mm lens means that you MUST have a fast shutter speed and the only way to acheive this is to up the ISO until you get a speed you require (assuming you are shooting wide open) If this means a bit more noise than so be it, you can control noise but not image blur through Camera shake.Of course we would all like to take our shots at ISO 100 but in my experience of using the 400/5.6 (over three years and probably 80,000 + shots) I rarely got below ISO 400 when hand holding as the light was just not good enough. It will cost you nothing to try some shots at ISO 400 and 1/1000 sec instead of ISO 200 and 1/500 sec - you never know you may well be pleasantly surprised at the results <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" />As previously stated your particular lens is capable of capturing very fine detail, even when hand holding but you must be Close to the bird and have a fast shutter speed.BTW I agree entirely with Tim about Exposing to the right, as long as the important parts are not entirely blown, then it is far better to overexpose rather than underexpose IMO.EDIT: I would not get too hung up about taking super detailed close-ups Ryan, while they may look impressive their artistic merit is often very marginal. If you look at the shots of some of the very best bird photographers around the world you will see that they very rarely display close-up images. I know for sure that my main failing is making the bird too large in the frame but I am more of a birder than a photograher and my artistic levels are almost zero!</blockquote>

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