Yesterday on Antelope Island was a good day for birds but not for this photographer.
1/5000, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
After several years of Sage Thrashers being nearly nonexistent on the island, this year they’re popping up almost everywhere. Including in areas where I hadn’t seen them in the past, even on good years. And many of them are juveniles, indicating that thrashers had a productive breeding season.
I timed this shot pretty well, catching the thrasher in a takeoff posture I like.
However, this photo isn’t as sharp as it should be (especially the bird’s head which I’ve sharpened more than usual) and neither were almost all of the other 1200 shots I took that morning. Most of them were significantly softer than this one. At this relatively low resolution (900 pixels on the long side), this photo may look reasonably sharp but it’s soft enough that I’d never consider printing it even moderately large.
So yes, I’m discouraged. Last night I tinkered around with my lens and camera settings, including cleaning the glass. My setup uses an adapter between my tc and camera – that’s a lot of electrical contacts that need to be working properly so I’ve cleaned them all and I have an extra tc that I can swap back and forth while I’m doing more testing today and tomorrow.
The last thing I need is to have to send my camera and/or lens to Canon for repair but it may come to that. High tech camera gear is great, but when it goes on the fritz it’s a royal pain in the ass.
Ron
OTHER USERS BOUGHT THIS!!!
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