molson wrote:
That 1.4x TC seems to work fine with the 100-400 GM, but the hit rate drops to about 10% when I change over to the 200-600 G.
Try setting OSS to 3 or OFF on the 200-600. I think that helps just like it did with the A7RIV issues. But I'm not seeing the severe A7RIV issues on the A1 with that lens or lens/TC. I certainly can get a high % of keepers in the right conditions.
Pius Sullivan wrote:
Molson, are you saying the hit rate drops to 10% on perched birds?
Yes, unfortunately - compared to about 95% with the bare 200-600, or the 100-400 + 1.4x TC.
I just tried Geoff's advice with the OSS setting, and it does seem to help, but there aren't many cooperative birds around at the moment so I will have to do some more testing tomorrow.
The first shot was from yesterday, the A1's bird eye AF worked great. The second shot was taken this afternoon. This was the first time I saw the hummers feeding on the purple bee balm, they usually go for the red ones. Both were heavily cropped.
Interesting because that's where I set my oss - mode 3 and can get sharp results, but the bare lens is a touch sharper. I do find the 1.4tc useful for smaller perched birds ... And have not had issues with the AF which I find at least 95% as responsive.
arbitrage wrote:
Try setting OSS to 3 or OFF on the 200-600. I think that helps just like it did with the A7RIV issues. But I'm not seeing the severe A7RIV issues on the A1 with that lens or lens/TC. I certainly can get a high % of keepers in the right conditions.
Many thanks for an amazing set.
The second image from the top shows a life-like view of a hummer.
It seems as if an actual living hummingbird looks at the observer.
Anyway, that was my first visceral reaction.
Sublime image.
Well if you get 10% keeper rate something is wrong and I suspect in 99.99% of the cases it is not the equipment.
Lack of light or contrast in the subject, bad atmospheric conditions, subject movement, camera shake are the more likely causes. Of course a TC makes things worse by removing half of the light and making your images 40% more exposed to camera shake, subject movement and atmospherics.
What post processing do you use? I've seen that Topaz DeNoise creates that grid pattern in the background. I usually can't see it in the image but if I use the Masking slider in LR (holding down Alt/Option) then I see that the pattern has formed. I guess the grid pattern is there in the RAW for Topaz to amplify it but I don't see it when doing Masking on an image pre-Topaz.
randomguy wrote:
Well if you get 10% keeper rate something is wrong and I suspect in 99.99% of the cases it is not the equipment.
Lack of light or contrast in the subject, bad atmospheric conditions, subject movement, camera shake are the more likely causes. Of course a TC makes things worse by removing half of the light and making your images 40% more exposed to camera shake, subject movement and atmospherics.
Maybe I'm just pressing the shutter button differently when the TC is attached, since nothing else changes? Even that wouldn't explain why the BEAF doesn't activate, or picks the completely wrong part of the subject, when using that TC.
And just to clarify, by "keeper" I mean the bird's eye is absolutley tack sharp viewed at 100%
Looking back to images I shot before updating to Firmware 1.1, I was not seeing any Eye AF issues with that lens and TC... nor was I having any of the other problems people were complaining about. I guess I should have left well enough alone.
I will say I had the 100-400 with 1.4tc previously, and that combo is not only less sharp than the 200-600 bare, but your also giving up light and a touch less reach. F6.3 to f8 is significant in my opinion. I didn't find the 100-400 useful for birding ...where the 200-600 bare gives you more bang for your buck. You also give up autofocus aquisition and speed with the 100-400 plus 1.4tc (combo would hunt in low light)
That said, the 100-400 strength is in it's MFD... Think butterflies, dragonflies with very good magnification ratio (not quite 1:1 macro but very suitable for close up work)
molson wrote:
Yes, unfortunately - compared to about 95% with the bare 200-600, or the 100-400 + 1.4x TC.
I just tried Geoff's advice with the OSS setting, and it does seem to help, but there aren't many cooperative birds around at the moment so I will have to do some more testing tomorrow.
arbitrage wrote:
What post processing do you use? I've seen that Topaz DeNoise creates that grid pattern in the background. I usually can't see it in the image but if I use the Masking slider in LR (holding down Alt/Option) then I see that the pattern has formed. I guess the grid pattern is there in the RAW for Topaz to amplify it but I don't see it when doing Masking on an image pre-Topaz.
My normal flow is I crop in LR and turn off the "Detail" tab. I then "edit in" Topaz. In Topaz I usually run "Clear" on auto. I think I have the latest Topaz installed. I bring the image back into LR and use the "Basic" tab for almost everything.
The grid pattern was not easily visible in the raw file, maybe if you squint it could be seen. It was easily visible with the masking slider as you described. I've seen this affect a few times with the A9 as well. It doesn't bug me too much, if needed I could always make it disappear one way or another.
Sometimes I see really weird artifacts in Topaz and 99% of the time it is because I left LR "Detail" turned on before using Topaz.
