# a few birds, and a squirrel d800 wildlife photos with various lenses



## matthewo (Dec 17, 2012)

finch on my bird feeder.  sigma 150-500mm at 500mm cropped a lot. fill flash from OCF on tripod 8-10 feet from bird right side.







redtail hawk in a local state forest, i walked miles of trails but i found this guy/gal? making noise way up in a tree.  sigma 150-500 at 500mm cropped.






white egrit at a nearby lake.  sigma 150-500mm at 500mm





nikon 500mm f4 p with tc14e II = 700mm then cropped.  manual focus





nikon 500mm f4 p with tc14e II = 700mm then cropped.  manual focus





nikon 500mm f4 p with tc14e II = 700mm then cropped.  manual focus, lots of cropping.  should have just let this one go... haha






sorry, i had the sigma 150-500 longer, so the nikon 500mm f4 p (manual) shots are not really many for me to choose, only really used it 2 or 3 times, i need to get out there and shoot with it more.


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## Luke345678 (Dec 18, 2012)

Tons of very cool pictures there man.


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## Radical (Dec 18, 2012)

very cool


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## jamesbjenkins (Dec 18, 2012)

Love the squirrel shots! Can't wait to get my D800...


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## cgipson1 (Dec 18, 2012)

Some nice shots... look really good! Looks like you got a GOOD copy of the Sigma!


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## pixmedic (Dec 18, 2012)

the squirrel shots are awesome!


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## matthewo (Dec 18, 2012)

thanks guys,  i did sell the sigma recently to buy the 500mm f4 p.  the sigma was good for the price,  but autofocus was pretty unreliable at times.

just got back from shooting with both my 70-200mm with tc14e and the 500mm with and without the teleconverter.  i will post up some more pictures once i go through them


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## planC (Dec 19, 2012)

Very nice


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## Boney (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks for showing these shots.  I had no idea that the teleconverters had such high quality.  When I started taking pictures in the 50s, teleconverters cost about $35 and produced soft, low contrast and hazy pictures........at least when shooting slides.  Now you have stimulated my interest.  I know that one pays for this with lower EV, but for outdoor nature shots its much less costly than buying say a 600mm telephoto lens.


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## matthewo (Dec 20, 2012)

yes the tc14e is pretty good as far as minimum IQ loss.  i find it a little harder to focus using the teleconverter vs just the lens, but that could be mostly the extra 200mm it adds.   but most of my shooting has been smaller objects so i have been using it a lot.  im really looking forward to trying out the tc16a.  its an older teleconverter with a 1.6 crop but adds limited auto focus.  i really wish someone could transport to tc14e glass into  the tc16e autofocus system that would be a winner.


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## Kayak (Dec 20, 2012)

The lighting on the squirrel whiskers and fur works very well.  Also I really like the lighting and details of the tree with the woodpecker...too bad birds don't pose in the perfect spot!  Great pics.


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## matthewo (Dec 20, 2012)

man birding it tough... anyways. here are a couple from today, just to get back on topic with some of what the 500mm f4 p 20 year old manual lens can do, on a d800.  its fun though, the last few days i have been walking trails at local national forests, to find not much of anything...  maybe winter is not great where i live.  i really should travel to the beach or mountains.

hope this photo does not gross too many people out, but this on the side of the road was one of the only up close with birds i got today...

also a video if it does not bother you.  





500mm wide open at F4 1/1600 / 1200 ISO , this was shot out my passenger  side window when i pulled my car over at the side of the road.





100% crop of the above, pretty happy with how well this lens works. when you have time to focus it.





had to bring this one back from the dead, thats why it doesnt look great(but the more i look at it i like it, it just looks more like a painting).  ISO was high, shutter speed was too low, shooting wide open with the teleconverter. very much cropped.  but little birds are really hard with a manual focus lens.  im trying im trying, LOL.


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## Aloicious (Dec 21, 2012)

nice! the sigma shots are good, but you can tell a significant improvement in the 500 f4p. you've got me looking for one now...what kind of head and tri or mono pod are you using with that monster?


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## steven_ (Dec 21, 2012)

Nice shots.   Just curious with your first shot of the finch, at 500mm and cropped a lot.   It seems to me that you were very close anyway and at 500mm the only cropping required would be minimal if at all.

I'm also considering the Sigma 150-500 (and maybe a D800 - though I have to dump my Canon gear).

Steve.


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## coastalconn (Dec 21, 2012)

Matthewo, the second shot in your first series is an adult Red Shouldered Hawk, just in case you count species


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## matthewo (Dec 23, 2012)

Aloicious said:


> nice! the sigma shots are good, but you can tell a significant improvement in the 500 f4p. you've got me looking for one now...what kind of head and tri or mono pod are you using with that monster?



sorry for the late reply guys i have been busy.  well give me a little more time on improving.  its a large jump to go from the couple pound sigma to the 6+ lb nikon, which is also 2x 3x big and also manual focus.  but i thank you for your observations on the work so far.

i think you should really consider the 500 f4p, i will get into a little more detail on that in another post, i just got the simi-autofocus teleconverter, the tc16a (modified) and let me tell you it really changes the keeper rate. will post more about it later...

and really the lens isnt a monster like the modern af-s vr lenses, as far as weight goes. its large but really i hike a few miles with it, half of the time holding it.  im using a cullman manifest 525m tripod with monopod middle, with a smith victor BH8 ball head.  the ball head is a swiss arca knockoff, but for $60 its does the job well with the big lens.  the cullman legs are pretty decent, but the monopod is only so/so.  i will monopod the lens with the monopod fully extended, i trust it just fine, but it could be better, i will also throw it over my shoulder on the monopod and hike a mile or two, no problems.  i will say you need to get a universal arca style mounting foot for the lens, the lens stock mounting foot is not very big, its plenty strong, just not big.  get a mounting foot plate that use both holes in the bottom of the foot.  

anyways, i think im going to start a whole thread sometime after Christmas about this lens and how useful it is for the price on modern dslrs


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## matthewo (Dec 23, 2012)

steven_ said:


> Nice shots.   Just curious with your first shot of the finch, at 500mm and cropped a lot.   It seems to me that you were very close anyway and at 500mm the only cropping required would be minimal if at all.
> 
> I'm also considering the Sigma 150-500 (and maybe a D800 - though I have to dump my Canon gear).
> 
> Steve.



you maybe right i will have to check the info.  i know my d800 was in dx crop mode, then i cropped some more.  the bird is very small.  i think you would be better off with the sigma 50-500, i hear the IQ and autofocus is more reliable


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## matthewo (Dec 23, 2012)

a few more, 

actually this one was with my 70-200 vr II with tc14e












the following 3 are using the tc16a autofocus teleconverter.  i just went out for a few minutes to grab a few and test it out,  im very happy so far for these bad conditions,  wide open, high iso, low shutter speed, handheld, and very cloudy a few hours before sunset.  

also remember this is 800mm at around f6.3 wide open (unsure exact aperture cause it doesnt tell you anything in the data) if i was to use dx crop mode on the d800 that would = 1200mm effective.


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