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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Overread" data-source="post: 1372518" data-attributes="member: 68571">Well I am out trying for some bird photography and am currently experimenting on the birds in my garden. My longest lens is a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS which is just not long enough to capture shots of small birds as I would like - so out with the teleconverters. I have used a 1.4 a lot in the past with good effect, but small birds needs more range I find - so its out with the more tricky 2*TC.So far the weather has been cloudy, but a good bright day just went by and I got a few moments out to get some shots. I don't like using the 2*TC in anything but bright weather otherwise it tends to perform badly, even with flash support. For the following shots I used this method:Kit - Canon 400D, canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS, 2*TC, speedlite 580M2+lumiquest softboxManual mode settings - f8, ISO 400, 1/100, flash exposure compensation -2/3I don't like pushing my ISO above 400 if I can help it because of noise on the 400D; I used the softbox and the exposure compensation on the flash to reduce the chances of overexposing highlights, though next time I might do without the exposure compensation. Infact I have been wondering if a better beamer and flash exposure compensation might be a more suitable alternative than the softbox and no compensation.Here are the results I got (exif is attached)1<a href="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my%20works/little%20birds%201/1000/IMG_0075.jpg" target="_blank">http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my works/little birds 1/1000/IMG_0075.jpg</a>100% crop:<a href="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my%20works/little%20birds%201/100%20percent%20crops/IMG_0075.jpg" target="_blank">http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my works/little birds 1/100 percent crops/IMG_0075.jpg</a>2<a href="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my%20works/little%20birds%201/1000/IMG_0077.jpg" target="_blank">http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my works/little birds 1/1000/IMG_0077.jpg</a>100% crop<a href="http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my%20works/little%20birds%201/100%20percent%20crops/IMG_0077.jpg" target="_blank">http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u275/overmind_2000/my works/little birds 1/100 percent crops/IMG_0077.jpg</a>I would be gratefull for any advice on my setup and settings. So far these were shot handheld (with IS on) and I hope to try from a hide with a tripod (hoping for good lighting) at a later date.</blockquote>

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