My 100-300 arrived today and I got in a few bird shots first thing. I normally shoot bird images with a Canon (7D and 1D3) with an older 500L. I took my images on a bean bag using a cable release to maximize sharpness since I'm a hopeless pixel peeper. I got a lot of non-keeper quality shots, birds not being easy subjects anyway. At first I would have thrown the whole batch of them away as they looked terrible at first glance. However, after picking a few to process, I think the lens basically lacks contrast, and the files benefit from pushing contrast more than I usually do. Sharpness looks OK, not stellar, but there is enough feather detail that I will not box the lens up & return it just yet (did I mention, I'm picky?).

These were shot on GH1 at ISO 400, f/6.3, shutter was around 1/1000. I shot a set with OIS off and a set with it on, and having it on looked better to me, but I need to do more investigation of this.

Here are the three I would keep out of ~30 that I took.

Full image just for giggles (I know it's not level and I was shooting square format) - whites were a little blown on the WP.



Heavy crop



Heavy crop



Heavy crop




Comments welcome.

Well it's not my field, but these look pretty good to me, I am considering this lens so this is of interest, were these at 300 maxed out

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Phil
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Another one, taken at ~250mm, 800 ISO, f/6.3, 1/640 shutter speed. Again, a little hot on the highlights, and the bokeh is busy, but otherwise, I like this image & it's reasonably peepable at the pixel level.

Yeah, sorry I forgot to add that!

What kind of distance from the birds were you? I've been thinking about maybe looking into this lens to use to shoot Sunday league football/soccer matches, although I'm not toilet certain it'll be fast enough. I hired a Canon 70-200mm L 2.8 for a weekend late last year to do it, but the matches were cancelled so it turned into £100-odd wasted :-(

Did you do any handheld shots with it?

I think they're fantastic photos by the way!

Hmmm, distance was about 20', so pretty close?

I have not taken any handheld shots yet... Definitely will take some this weekend. OIS helps visibly even using the beanbag, so I am sure it will help me with my handheld shooting.

Don't know if it will be fast enough for sports, but it does grab focus pretty fast if it's already close. I didn't have much trouble with missing shots because it was hunting or slow to focus.

One with issues. This is ISO 400. I hit the black clipping point AND white clipping point, so not enough DR to push this image around much in post. Lost some detail in the black feathers, but there's enough detail to keep it from being total mush. The camera did a good job grabbing focus on a black bird & the pose and expression make it a 'keep'.

I don't think you've got anything to worry about there--these are looking really good. About how are away were you? (I can rarely get woodpeckers that close!)

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Scott, I have a small dead tree trunk planted in a pot about 20' away from my window. I can just shoot out the window. The window has a piece of foamboard over it with a small portal cut in it to stick the lens out, so the birds don't see me and I can just toss a small towel over the lens and seal cold air out. The woodpecker tree has a few holes drilled in it, and a suet feeder. I fill the holes with peanutbutter, they are hooked. It's cheap winter entertainment, they are a lot of fun to watch.

Those are all fantastic shots. The birds are not very visible in backyard, yet. It is windy in LA and they are staying hidden. But your shots make me want to go out and go looking for shots.

Brian

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Brian Matsumoto
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