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I posted a few images of landing peregrine falcons and also some of them taking off. Here is a female falcon that showed off what she could do. These images are from a sequence that included the falcon flew towards me at a high speed towards the end. I had the focusing limiter on and the falcon did get closer than that and of course, it was out of focus . It turned around to my right and flew away from me. While doing that, it turned her head a little, as if it was saying "Did you see that?"Just FYI, the land mass in the background in some images is the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a posh community.
I took more images than these; some are fairly similar to each other. Only selected images are presented here mostly to show the various wing positions. In some, the falcon looks like a jet fighter... well, almost .
As always, thank you for stopping by and please feel free to leave any feedback,
Joshua
Amazing shots as always Joshua! I'm curious about your use of the 200-600 and when/why you choose it over the 600 f4. I assume it's based on weight and circumstances of where you are that day when taking your beautiful photographs. I've been tempted to pick one up for my A9, but have resisted so far.
aae991 wrote:
Amazing shots as always Joshua! I'm curious about your use of the 200-600 and when/why you choose it over the 600 f4. I assume it's based on weight and circumstances of where you are that day when taking your beautiful photographs. I've been tempted to pick one up for my A9, but have resisted so far.
Stuart, thank you very much for your kind words! Yes, it depends on the shooting circumstances and how “greedy” I feel. There were situations where I setup my 600mm with the A7r IV on a tripod for static or semi-static images, while I handhold (with support at my age) the 200-600mm with the A9 for more in-flight cases and when I need to be more mobile. That’s what I meant with me being “greedy”.
There are 2 falcons families some 10 mile apart that I was monitoring and photographing. At one site, the falcons were really close that a 600mm FL would be too much. That’s when the 200-600mm zoom comes in, of course. Optically, there is almost no difference between the two that I could notice. The difference is more in the bokeh, which in this case doesn’t play much of a role anyway since the background is either the sky or miles away. FYI, the AF performance of the prime lens is more consistent.
AGeoJO wrote:
Stuart, thank you very much for your kind words! Yes, it depends on the shooting circumstances and how “greedy” I feel. There were situations where I setup my 600mm with the A7r IV on a tripod for static or semi-static images, while I handhold (with support at my age) the 200-600mm with the A9 for more in-flight cases and when I need to be more mobile. That’s what I meant with me being “greedy”.
There are 2 falcons families some 10 mile apart that I was monitoring and photographing. At one site, the falcons were really close that a 600mm FL would be too much. That’s when the 200-600mm zoom comes in, of course. Optically, there is almost no difference between the two that I could notice. The difference is more in the bokeh, which in this case doesn’t play much of a role anyway since the background is either the sky or miles away. FYI, the AF performance of the prime lens is more consistent. ...Show more →
Thanks Joshua. It still amazes me how well Sony did with the 200-600. I'm in the midst of setting up the system shown in this video in hopes of getting my 600mm f4 mkII out into the field more easily. As you mention, at our age these factors come into play.
aae991 wrote:
Thanks Joshua. It still amazes me how well Sony did with the 200-600. I'm in the midst of setting up the system shown in this video in hopes of getting my 600mm f4 mkII out into the field more easily. As you mention, at our age these factors come into play.
Stuart, I am not sure whether you read my post on a different thread on the Sony forum. On the next page, somebody posted that YouTube clip. The contraption I was referring to is a leftover from an old Lowepro bag. It was a tripod carrying cup, call it that way.
Here it is: nandadevieast wrote:
Thanks for the inputs.
What is that support you talk about in the context of 200-600?
Thanks,
The first one is a shoulder stock like this one: https://bifbullseye.com or similar. It works great but just one tiny problem with the zoom lens; you need a 3rd hand to zoom . For that I have been using a monopod with a tillable monopod head but I put the end of the shortened monopod on a contraption similar to a flag pole carrier on a parade in combo with a belt. You stick the end there and you become mobile just handholding the camera/lens but without the weight that your hand has to support otherwise. This thing works like magic. A little bit too cumbersome for the GM 600mm though and for that I would rather use with the shoulder stock. Keep in mind that I always use a strap as a safety guard around my body.
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Now, I am using that In combination with my double BlackRapid strap, originally designed to carry two cameras. That works even better since the weight is distributed over a wider area of the shoulder. I can manage the 600mm lens that way. As you know, you have to be ready to shoot in a jiffy and the waiting part while the action to take place can be loooong and that’s really, really tough on us. The actual action is very short, just a few seconds.
With that “flag pole” carrier harness, it is significantly less of an issue for us older guys .
Thanks Joshua for pointing that out to me. I'll take a look at that post and what you linked. Lots of possibilities for us older guys - but hey, at least we're out there! Have a great weekend and happy shooting.
Bobg657 wrote:
Well done Joshua! In particular I like the first position but no doubt these are all good.
TFS,
Bob
Bob, thank you very much for your kind words!
birdied wrote:
Excellent set as always Joshua !!
Birdie
Thank you very much, Birdie!
aae991 wrote:
Thanks Joshua for pointing that out to me. I'll take a look at that post and what you linked. Lots of possibilities for us older guys - but hey, at least we're out there! Have a great weekend and happy shooting.
Stuart, if you get the 200-600mm zoom lens, you can forget about using the shoulder stock unless you could grow a 3rd hand for zoom . I strongly recommend the flag pole harness method for that. I don’t care for the mono gimbal head and the tilt mono head will do just fine. I already have that. So, the setup doesn’t cost me anything, which works out just fine for me . Thank you again and feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding the setup.
Joshua when I look at your stuff I think of the old Tina Turner song You're Simply The Best. Your shots are tack sharp with a beautiful 3D look to them. I don't know what you do in processing but it's lovely. I think your falcon has a crush on you. She doesn't take her eyes off you and seems to give you the old air show slow passes that are beautiful for wing arrangement and detail. The over the shoulder look in #7 is priceless.
. It turned around to my right and flew away from me. While doing that, it turned her head a little, as if it was saying "Did you see that?"Just FYI, the land mass in the background in some images is the Palos Verdes Peninsula, a posh community.
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. For that I have been using a monopod with a tillable monopod head but I put the end of the shortened monopod on a contraption similar to a flag pole carrier on a parade in combo with a belt. You stick the end there and you become mobile just handholding the camera/lens but without the weight that your hand has to support otherwise. This thing works like magic. A little bit too cumbersome for the GM 600mm though and for that I would rather use with the shoulder stock. Keep in mind that I always use a strap as a safety guard around my body.