Humber river Trail- Yellow billed Cuckoo 2nd sighting

[Ally]

Hi, I looked at the sign on the trail where I saw him, it was 100m from Albion road, and I forgot how long from Weston Road (2.5km?). I saw this Cuckoo for the second time now, hopefully he stays for a bit.

[Ally]

OK. I guess we are friends now. I walked passed his tree without seeing him, he actually called me, with the gagagagaga sound. Such exciting experience.

[Shortsighted]

Yes, you can discern that the bird is at ease with your presence.
No fear or trepidation inherent in its posture, or maybe it's just a little cuckoo.
The first shot is textbook ... great shot for an ID book.
How far away was it? Or, what lens focal length were you using to get those shots?
Nice even light too, just the right light to capture its muted tones.
Olive-sided flycatcher, Yellow-billed cuckoo ... I wonder what's next on your radar.
Never seen either one out here in the east.

[Ally]

Yes, you can discern that the bird is at ease with your presence.
No fear or trepidation inherent in its posture, or maybe it's just a little cuckoo.
The first shot is textbook ... great shot for an ID book.
How far away was it? Or, what lens focal length were you using to get those shots?
Nice even light too, just the right light to capture its muted tones.
Olive-sided flycatcher, Yellow-billed cuckoo ... I wonder what's next on your radar.
Never seen either one out here in the east.

Thank you so much. It was about 5 or 6 meters away from me, (but there is a tiny stream between us, that helped with making him feel safe )close to 8pm. I started to use my sigma 150-600mm in mid May, has been practicing almost every day. I use  a canon t6i, so far, I only know the sports mode. I have no idea about how to set the light... It took me a good month to even get use to the weight of the whole thing. I had great opportunity to photograph a Eastern King bird got back to a Starling who knocked him off a perch. But it was so dark, I wished I could manage my camera better.

[Shortsighted]

I’m not surprised that you opted for the Sigma 150-600 zoom because it offers considerable magnification without running into the multiple thousands of dollars. The lens is heavy, has a push-pull design and it is optically slow at f6.3, which therefore demands use of a higher ISO in order to reach a fast enough shutter speed to compensate for camera shake, despite the first-generation OS technology.
You could probably shoot with an L-series Canon lens of much shorter focal length and then crop to the equivalent of 600mm and derive a sharper image than by shooting at 600mm with the Sigma and not cropping at all. I don’t know how fast and accurate the autofocus is but I guess it must be admirable otherwise this lens would not be so popular.
 
My 70-200mm provides so little magnification that even with center-weighted autofocus the subject (bird) is often not in-focus because it occupies such a small amount of viewfinder-real-estate that the camera cannot discern the intended subject so all I get is a nice sharp twig and a blurry bird. By re-focusing repeatedly with the back-button assigned focus mode and using short bursts I can usually obtain at least a couple of sharp captures, but it is an effort. When you are shooting at 500mm or 600 mm your subject is usually large enough for your camera to have no difficulty locking onto what’s important. My lens does not have stabilization (designated as “IS” for Canon) and therefore I need to shoot above 1/800th sec to compensate for camera shake. Once I crop I can see the blur that was not apparent before cropping, although sometimes I manage a sharp image at a fairly slow shutter speed while bursting a series of frames. Raising the ISO above 400 in order to achieve that desired shutter-speed also introduces noise in the image that is troublesome after the required amount of cropping is done. Less cropping … less noise, so you might be OK with your f6.3 lens while shooting above 400 ISO.

The push-pull design of your lens sucks air into the barrel and pushes it out therefore there is a potential dust issue with that kind of configuration. That’s more of a long-term issue though. I don’t know how heavy your lens is but in time you will develop a method of holding it and end up with beautiful arms. My lens only weighs 750 grams. I’d like to get extension tubes for it so that I can get closer to a ground subject (mushroom, wildflower, insect) because a Macro lens is very expensive. Then again, even the active extension tubes are expensive although easier to drag along in the field than a whole lens. I have a set of extension tubes from my old film camera but they are not equipped with electrical conduits (therefore no AF) and they don’t fit onto my Canon T4i. There is a cheap plastic adapter available that might work as long as I forfeit AF. Manual focus is not so bad. I guess I’ll look into it. Most of my close-up shots are taken with the kit lens (18mm-135mm IS STM) and then crop from there. The minimum focus distance of the 70mm-200mm is 1.2 meters and that is not nearly close enough for small subjects.

[Ally]

I’m not surprised that you opted for the Sigma 150-600 zoom because it offers considerable magnification without running into the multiple thousands of dollars. The lens is heavy, has a push-pull design and it is optically slow at f6.3, which therefore demands use of a higher ISO in order to reach a fast enough shutter speed to compensate for camera shake, despite the first-generation OS technology.
You could probably shoot with an L-series Canon lens of much shorter focal length and then crop to the equivalent of 600mm and derive a sharper image than by shooting at 600mm with the Sigma and not cropping at all. I don’t know how fast and accurate the autofocus is but I guess it must be admirable otherwise this lens would not be so popular.
 
My 70-200mm provides so little magnification that even with center-weighted autofocus the subject (bird) is often not in-focus because it occupies such a small amount of viewfinder-real-estate that the camera cannot discern the intended subject so all I get is a nice sharp twig and a blurry bird. By re-focusing repeatedly with the back-button assigned focus mode and using short bursts I can usually obtain at least a couple of sharp captures, but it is an effort. When you are shooting at 500mm or 600 mm your subject is usually large enough for your camera to have no difficulty locking onto what’s important. My lens does not have stabilization (designated as “IS” for Canon) and therefore I need to shoot above 1/800th sec to compensate for camera shake. Once I crop I can see the blur that was not apparent before cropping, although sometimes I manage a sharp image at a fairly slow shutter speed while bursting a series of frames. Raising the ISO above 400 in order to achieve that desired shutter-speed also introduces noise in the image that is troublesome after the required amount of cropping is done. Less cropping … less noise, so you might be OK with your f6.3 lens while shooting above 400 ISO.

The push-pull design of your lens sucks air into the barrel and pushes it out therefore there is a potential dust issue with that kind of configuration. That’s more of a long-term issue though. I don’t know how heavy your lens is but in time you will develop a method of holding it and end up with beautiful arms. My lens only weighs 750 grams. I’d like to get extension tubes for it so that I can get closer to a ground subject (mushroom, wildflower, insect) because a Macro lens is very expensive. Then again, even the active extension tubes are expensive although easier to drag along in the field than a whole lens. I have a set of extension tubes from my old film camera but they are not equipped with electrical conduits (therefore no AF) and they don’t fit onto my Canon T4i. There is a cheap plastic adapter available that might work as long as I forfeit AF. Manual focus is not so bad. I guess I’ll look into it. Most of my close-up shots are taken with the kit lens (18mm-135mm IS STM) and then crop from there. The minimum focus distance of the 70mm-200mm is 1.2 meters and that is not nearly close enough for small subjects.

Thank you so much for the full illustration, although my first reaction was, I will send it to my friend, and after he reads it, he can then explain to me in terms I understand, like shoes.     My gear is about 2kg, and I find it harder to focus when the leaves are thick, but I think it's the same with all the lens. I usually download my photos to my phone, and there is a simple software where I crop a bit, and I don't do much with the brightness, because when I try, the birds look unnatural.

[Shortsighted]

Sorry if my hyperbole was confusing. I'll write you a prescription.
Study a small portion of your T6i manual every day until you have
gone through all relevant parts of it and then start again and repeat
as needed. The basic principles of photography, regardless of which
subject matter excites you, is a COMPLETE understanding of the relation-
ship between film sensitivity to light (now sensor-sensitivity) and the
quality of the image. Increasing sensitivity (speed) decreases image quality
through several related trade-offs. That's how you decide what sensor speed
is worth using in any particular situation. Flexible shoes are more comfortable
that stiff shoes but they also wear out faster. It's a trade-off.

The second basic principle is the relationship between lens focal length
(power) and lens diameter (light gathering ability). That relationship
is called the speed of the lens (f-stop). The faster the lens the more light it
collects and the faster your shutter speed, or the more you can reduce
your sensor sensitivity (ISO) to get a better quality product. Some lenses
boast a lot of power but they are fairly slow and don't let in much light.
The lenses that have both power and speed are the Jimmy Choo's of the gear world.
Some shoes look really cool but they are all synthetic, make your feet sweat
and promote fungus. All-leather upper and lowers may not deliver the same
wow factor but they will last a long time and your feet will love you for it.

The back button focus on your camera can be set through the menu so that
you focus not by lightly pressing the shutter button but be pressing one of
the tiny buttons on the upper right back of your camera using your thumb.
That way you can set the focus and when you touch the shutter button to
set the light (aperture - f stop) the focus doesn't re-set itself every time.

Although it is work, you should practice exposure compensation to the right
and left of center. Hold down a small back button and turn the wheel either
right or left. Turn left to darken the subject and manage highlight over-exposure (if there
are a lot of highlights in the subject), and turn right to open the lens to make
your Kingbirds better exposed. Your camera light meter sees the bright sky and
chooses to close your lens iris to deal with the brightness. By over-riding that
with a right side compensation (deliberately re-opening the iris) you are saying
to the camera, hey, wait a minute, I don't want you to short-change by birds,
so back off and let the light shine in! Just don't forget to re-set afterwards or
your next non-sky oriented shot will be over-exposed and your camera will retaliate
by ruining your subsequent efforts. Back-talk to a camera is a risky endeavour.

The third basic principle is the relationship between f-stop and depth-of-field.
The more you close the lens iris the more the field of stuff in relative focus becomes.
If your bird is really close you would want to shoot at f8 so that most of the bird is in
focus. If it is far away then you can open the lens more, even wide open and the whole
bird might still be in focus. When wide open the depth-of-field is shallow. There is
really only one plane of sharp focus, but the depth-of-field represents the stuff behind
and in front of that plane of focus that still looks in acceptable focus. If your bird is
close and you shoot at f7.1, or f8 then your shutter speed might be too slow so your
crank up your sensor sensitivity (ISO) to compensate. Poorer image quality but the subject
is so close that you don't need to crop much and the drop in quality might therefore not
become as apparent. I always have to crop because of my measly 200mm power limit
so a high ISO setting really shows image noise and grainy artifacts just like the olden
days with FAST film emulsion. You get the shot but the picture is grainy, and has a narrow
exposure latitude (meaning its contrasty ... no shadow detail and no highlight detail).
High ISO does the same thing and it shows up when you crop in heavily. This may be a
moot point with a 600mm behemoth. A year from now I'd hate to arm wrestle you.

[Ally]

Thank you so much for accommodating me and teaching me in details.  I will pay more attention to all the buttons on the camera.

I won't promise anything on the skill side,so I will keep relying on my luck.    

 

Sorry if my hyperbole was confusing. I'll write you a prescription.
Study a small portion of your T6i manual every day until you have
gone through all relevant parts of it and then start again and repeat
as needed. The basic principles of photography, regardless of which
subject matter excites you, is a COMPLETE understanding of the relation-
ship between film sensitivity to light (now sensor-sensitivity) and the
quality of the image. Increasing sensitivity (speed) decreases image quality
through several related trade-offs. That's how you decide what sensor speed
is worth using in any particular situation. Flexible shoes are more comfortable
that stiff shoes but they also wear out faster. It's a trade-off.

The second basic principle is the relationship between lens focal length
(power) and lens diameter (light gathering ability). That relationship
is called the speed of the lens (f-stop). The faster the lens the more light it
collects and the faster your shutter speed, or the more you can reduce
your sensor sensitivity (ISO) to get a better quality product. Some lenses
boast a lot of power but they are fairly slow and don't let in much light.
The lenses that have both power and speed are the Jimmy Choo's of the gear world.
Some shoes look really cool but they are all synthetic, make your feet sweat
and promote fungus. All-leather upper and lowers may not deliver the same
wow factor but they will last a long time and your feet will love you for it.

The back button focus on your camera can be set through the menu so that
you focus not by lightly pressing the shutter button but be pressing one of
the tiny buttons on the upper right back of your camera using your thumb.
That way you can set the focus and when you touch the shutter button to
set the light (aperture - f stop) the focus doesn't re-set itself every time.

Although it is work, you should practice exposure compensation to the right
and left of center. Hold down a small back button and turn the wheel either
right or left. Turn left to darken the subject and manage highlight over-exposure (if there
are a lot of highlights in the subject), and turn right to open the lens to make
your Kingbirds better exposed. Your camera light meter sees the bright sky and
chooses to close your lens iris to deal with the brightness. By over-riding that
with a right side compensation (deliberately re-opening the iris) you are saying
to the camera, hey, wait a minute, I don't want you to short-change by birds,
so back off and let the light shine in! Just don't forget to re-set afterwards or
your next non-sky oriented shot will be over-exposed and your camera will retaliate
by ruining your subsequent efforts. Back-talk to a camera is a risky endeavour.

The third basic principle is the relationship between f-stop and depth-of-field.
The more you close the lens iris the more the field of stuff in relative focus becomes.
If your bird is really close you would want to shoot at f8 so that most of the bird is in
focus. If it is far away then you can open the lens more, even wide open and the whole
bird might still be in focus. When wide open the depth-of-field is shallow. There is
really only one plane of sharp focus, but the depth-of-field represents the stuff behind
and in front of that plane of focus that still looks in acceptable focus. If your bird is
close and you shoot at f7.1, or f8 then your shutter speed might be too slow so your
crank up your sensor sensitivity (ISO) to compensate. Poorer image quality but the subject
is so close that you don't need to crop much and the drop in quality might therefore not
become as apparent. I always have to crop because of my measly 200mm power limit
so a high ISO setting really shows image noise and grainy artifacts just like the olden
days with FAST film emulsion. You get the shot but the picture is grainy, and has a narrow
exposure latitude (meaning its contrasty ... no shadow detail and no highlight detail).
High ISO does the same thing and it shows up when you crop in heavily. This may be a
moot point with a 600mm behemoth. A year from now I'd hate to arm wrestle you.

[dansch]

Great photos Ally!

[Ally]

Great photos Ally!

Thank you so much.