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hawky Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #1 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl More practice and testing   NIKON D300    550 mm    f/9.0    1/100 sec    640 ISO    0.0 EV     NIKON D300    550 mm    f/8.0    1/125 sec    800 ISO    +0.3 EV   Edited on Feb 09, 2010 at 06:03 PM · View previous versions Feb 08, 2010 at 09:30 PM

GSteele Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #2 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Jim, I read your previous post where you set the focus on the 200-400mm for a back focusing problem. I don't believe that is your problem as the Owl is showing too much detail far in front of it, meaning you are now front focusing, however there is some motion blur in the overall scene. Many things can contribute to obtaining a good sharp picture, from shutter speed to shooting style and post processing. If you want, supply more info on how these were taken and the people around here probably would be willing to help out or if you want to, you can pm me and I would be glad to work with you the best that I can across the internet. I am not trying to be critical, just trying to extend a helping hand. Gary Feb 09, 2010 at 05:18 PM

hawky Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #3 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Gary Thank you for the info. The owl shot was taken with no calibration.................. the chickadee with -7 calibration I can email you some shots of the lensalign unit with various settings for lens calibration. This lens has been horrible since it came out the box--it is a replacement for one that got damaged and that lens was superb. Both of these shots were taken with lens on Gitzo 3541 XLS tripod, Wimberley II head with arm adjusted per instructions (45 degree swing each direction will hold without the swing arm tightened.) The swing arm and pan functions were locked tight on the wimberley, the shots were shot in mirror up mode with cable release. I appreciate the advice and input. Jim Feb 09, 2010 at 05:27 PM

GSteele Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #4 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl I do not like shooting a longer telephoto without having one hand on the lens and one on the camera body, mirror lockup or not. You body is a natural vibration damping tool, well some bodies (like mine) have more dampening mass than others. Where you using spot focusing? If you were using spot focusing, at what point were you focusing on? What ISO and shutter speed were these shot at? I do not have one of those exif readers. What sharpening level did you use? Were these post processed using something other than NX2? Gary Feb 09, 2010 at 05:43 PM

hawky Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #5 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl I have talked with Nikon and the 200-400 is likely to go back next week. In the meantime I have made arrangements to get with someone not too far from me that takes very sharp pictures (like I used to) and he is going to take pictures with the outfit with calibration on and off using his shooting techniques. Just for reference and input here are some shots of lensalign tool taken with the 200-400 uncalibrated on two camera bodies and then calibrated on 1 of those bodies. Even though it moved the focus closer to the desired focal plane--the images are still not sharp and these were taken on tripod indoors with locked wimberley II, mirror up and cable release. I hope I ma not violating any forum rules by posting these-If I am I am quite sure someone will let me know. I am open minded and take constructive critique like what I have been getting here well.   NIKON D300    350 mm    f/4.0    1/60 sec    400 ISO    0.0 EV     NIKON D300    400 mm    f/4.0    1/40 sec    200 ISO    0.0 EV     NIKON D300    350 mm    f/4.0    1/80 sec    400 ISO    0.0 EV   Feb 09, 2010 at 05:49 PM

hawky Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #6 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Gary The photos are taken in raw and then I use Photoshop CS4 for post processing. I edited the picture post to show the exif info. I use spot focus. Owl was spot focused on bridge of nose. Chickadee on the head Thanks for any input you can give--I appreciate it Jim Feb 09, 2010 at 06:03 PM

GSteele Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #7 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Jim, I do not believe in trying to re-invent the wheel. His discussion really covers the bases well. You may have read this but, just in case you have not here is the link to Moose Peterson writeup. It's just past half way down the page. Moose Peterson I know that you locked down you wimberly and used mirror lockup with cable release but, this will introduce vibration from just the shutter opening and closing. Good sharp pictures are all about removing any motion within a system. The way you described your setup 1/125 sec shutter speed is just too slow, now had you been holding on to it, it would have been fine. Don't be afraid to open your aperture up on the 200-400, they are sharp even at f4. Gary Feb 09, 2010 at 07:39 PM

Lil Judd Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #8 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Jim your shutter speeds are far too slow. Do you have the VR on or off. Are you on a tripod or not? Either way - 1/100 s on a chickadee is far too slow. In what mode are you shooting? Lil Feb 09, 2010 at 10:29 PM

b.a.smith Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl the owls a neat shot Jim, the dees are always good subjects, you have already been give advise on the SS, heres a little tip that might help you. When you have a bird such as in shot #1 if the bird is parrallel to you. You can drop the f stop down to f5.6 you will get all the bird in focus becuase he is parrallel to the focal plane and you can gain some much needed SS. If the bird was facing you or away from you then f9 might be more approiate, it depends how far away the bird is from you. the closer the bird the more DOF you will need. (higher f/stop) alan Feb 09, 2010 at 10:39 PM

hawky Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #10 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Lil VR is on. Wimberley II on Gitzo 3541XLS I will take shutter speed up. Alan Thanks for the tips. I will use them. Jim Feb 10, 2010 at 12:50 AM

GSteele Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #11 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Jim, turn the VR off when on a tripod. OMMV. Feb 10, 2010 at 01:23 AM

Lil Judd Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #12 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Jim - read GSteele's comment - - VR off on a tripod & your shutter speed should be approximately 1/800s - but I'd bump it to 1/1000s with the Chickadee. Little birds move fast - your shutter needs to be as well. And I think you can shoot that lens wide open. May I ask - - are you in Aperture Mode or Program mode? You should either be in Aperture or Shutter - - or if you know how - Manual. Lil Feb 10, 2010 at 06:03 AM

hawky Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #13 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Lil Thanks--I will do that. I usually shoot aperture mode, but occasionally shoot manual when I need to control the situation like moving animal or bird with changing background. (yep-I know how-been using SLR cameras for wildlife since the early 70's) Guess I have gotten overconfident with the VR. I have lots of very crisp elk and moose pictures with my previous 200-400-but they do not move around like a little chickadee I am going to practice more this weekend using the "Long Lens Technique" and not be so cautious about wide open aperture and higher ISO. Lens is going back to Nikon next week based on the calibration shots I took with the lensalign. Thanks-I will let you folks know how all this works out for me. I appreciate the openness and help. Jim Feb 10, 2010 at 01:21 PM

OldProf Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #14 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Hi Jim, Before returning the lens back remember that is the combination of the lens and the D300 that produce the pictures. Make sure that you get sharp pictures with the D300 and other lenses of comparable focal length before sending the lens back. My D300 is consistently off by -7 units. However, by fine AF tunning I manage to get very sharp pictures with all my lenses. Therefore I have not felt compelled to return the D300 for recalibration. By the way, you do not need the "lens alignpro" to calibrate the camera-lens combo. Just vary the auto fine tune from -20 to +20 and shoot at a target on a wall that is parallel to you camera sensor. Look at the pictures with PS at "actual pixel" magnification. Choose the setting that gives the sharpest image on the screen. Hope this helps. Saba Feb 10, 2010 at 06:49 PM

OldProf Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #15 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Dear Jim, My sincerest apologies. I had not realized that you had already AF fine tuned the lens with two different camera bodies. I guess the lens probably needs expert Nikon attention and maybe calibration. It would be nice if they gave you a brand-new one Saba Feb 10, 2010 at 09:46 PM

hawky Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #16 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Saba Thanks, It is good to hear I am not the only one that has had to do a calibration for a Nikon! My 70-200 works great on both D300 bodies with no af fine tuning. What is bothersome about this lens is that the af fine tuning is non-linear. Different tune for different distances Jim Feb 10, 2010 at 09:52 PM

OldProf Offline Upload & Sell: On p.1 #17 · Chickadee and Long Ear Owl Jim You are absolutely right! For a zoom lens the fine tuning should be nonlinear. You probably have to select a most commonly used focal length and calibrate for that. Hopefully when it comes back from Nikon everything will be OK! Feb 11, 2010 at 01:02 AM

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