This weekend at the local lake

[Grumpy John]

Not much in the way of variety of birdlife down at the lake at the moment, what with winter making its presence felt. The main reason for the visit this weekend was to try out my new Sigma 150-600 f5.0/6.3. It is a beast and so different to the 70-200. On Saturday I made the mistake of leaving the OS system switched off and I was shooting at too low shutter speed. Sunday I went back with the camera set on manual f8.0, 1/1000 sec and ISO set to auto and the OS switched on.

Saturdays images
#1


#2 I'm pretty impressed that the camera/lens was able to focus effectively through the reeds.


#3


Sunday

#4


at %100


#5


At %100




I don't think our lake will dry out to the extent that Isac 's lake did. We are facing a different problem, urban encroachment, I'm not sure that the birdlife will continue to visit when this area becomes fully developed.


The area marked in red has roads and the housing lots have been marked out, I don't know when they will start on the other area, but I'm guessing it won't be long.

[avkomp]

congrats on the new lens, look up for the job.
little pied cormorant is a ripper shot with background and light. nice work

[Grumpy John]

Thanks Stephen, I've got a long way to go before I get confident with this lens it is so much more unforgiving than the 70-200. It will be quite a while before I even attempt BIF. Gotta crawl before you can walk, I'm a long way off running

[Toddyh]

Gotta be happy with that John. Looks like the lens lens is definitely doing what you wanted.
Agree with Stephen about #3 being the pick.

[Grumpy John]

Thank you Toddy. Yes I'm quite pleased with #3, if I can get images like that the majority of the time I'll be a very happy camper. Next step, BIF, wish me luck.

[RossW]

It's #3 for me too John.

i don't have an artistic bone in my body so want to concentrate on birds and aircraft where I have a subject. I have just recently purchased the Sigma 150-500 while it is not a canon from what I have read if you keep around f7 and don't go right to the extremes of the focal length the results are more than acceptable. Also purchased a cheap gimbal head for the tripod as I don't believe I would have any chance of hand holding at the long end. Time will tell as the weather & light have been too poor to give it a go.

[Gaz]

#3, the cormorant, is wonderful and shows the value and results you can expect in the future. Enjoy the new toy.

[avkomp]

John, as you increase focal length, any shortcomings you have in technique will be found out. a little bit of camera shake goes a long way at 600mm as does a rough shutter realease, so you work on that stuff and improve. makes you better with shorter lenses also. even mirror slap can be an issue with a big lens on. you see tripod users with their hand on the lens barrel halfway along to help reduce tthat also. all part of the learning process and fun

[Isac]

Good luck with the BIF shots John, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time - looking forward to seeing what you get.
These are a couple I took with my siggy 150-500. Far from being a high quality lens but good enough for me.

Whistling Kite
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EOS 7D - Sigma 150-500
1/800 sec / Shutter priority / f:6.3 / ISO:160 / 500 mm / Metering Mode:Evaluative


Seagull
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EOS 7D - Sigma 150-500
1/1600 sec / Shutter priority / f:7.1 / ISO:125 / 500 mm / Metering Mode: Spot

[Grumpy John]

Thank you all so much for the kind words. Plenty of reading, youtubing and practice coming up for me over the next couple of months.