First Attempt w/ Decent Zoom

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, today I cashed in those gift certificates that I received for Christmas and picked up a Canon EF 75-300mm f4-5.6 USM - my first real zoom lens.  I also picked up a monopod but didn't get a chance to use it as all the pictures posted below were taken from the cover of the car given the freezing wind and cold temperatures.

Any comments and criticisms are most welcome as I'm going to spend alot of time learning how to use this lens and its abilities to enhance my photography by the time spring rolls around.

Cheers, Attila

[JTF]

Well I shoot nikon but canon is an excellent product also and your pics look very good indeed. It was cloudy here to today so with that lighting your pics look very good indeed. A little bigger say 800 x 600 would be a little easier to see but as far as I can tell they are quite good.

[melaniese]

I'm a newbie to the birding..what kind of hawk is that?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the comment JTF, I appreciate them.  Next time I resize the shots for upload to Photobucket I'll be sure to increase their size.

Tomorrow I'm going out with the monopod and take some photos of the waterfowl around the area, hopefully they turn out as well!

Melaniese, they are all Red Tailed Hawks found at Pearson International Airport over in Mississauga, ON.  You'll usually see them perched on trees, poles, or fenceposts along roads or fields.

Cheers, Attila

[melaniese]

Thanks Attila. I saw 9 hawks yesterday while driving down the QEW to Niagara. Most sitting and obviously I couldnt stop to investigate further. I did suspect some of they may have been just like these, so that confirmed  my thoughts. Thanks!

[Mathew Rossi]

Hey Attila and welcome to the zoom addiciton That lens you have was one of my first zooms. I'd suggest to help you get the most sharpness out of it, try to get your aperture in the f/8-f/11 area if you can, I know when it's overcast that's tricky. Upping your ISO to 400 or even 800 will make it more feasible. The reason I recommend this is that lenses have a sweet spot for sharpness, at least a few stops away from wide open. I know with my zoom I try to get to f/11 because I noticed quite a shocking improvement in quality.

Did you get hassled by Peel police at the airport? I've had some rather funny days there, once rounding up 3 cars and 6 officers. Apparently they get nervous when someone's hanging out of the sunroof aiming a long cylinder at airplanes, not sure why

BTW, I saw a report a few days ago of someone who saw Snowies while he was waiting on the tarmac for takeoff.

[Kin Lau]

Looks good.

1st suggestion. If the background is sky or snow, try setting the Exposure Compensation to +1 or even +2.

[ichiro17]

I owned the 75-300mm zoom for about 5 months.  Hated it because its not a fixed aperture and it was incredibly soft at 300 and 5.6.

But maybe that was just my copy.  I do have the 100-400 (also not fixed aperture and very annoying but crazy sharp) and a 500 f/4 and those are awesome but cost a lot more.  

Once you use them you don't want to go back

Have fun and learn with the zooms, then if your financial situation permits, go up to higher lenses, you will love them.

[Joe]

Well done, Attila.  Thanks for posting.

Joe

[Anonymous]

Wow, thanks for all the comments and feedback!

Matthew - thanks for the pointers, can't wait to put them into effect!  Peel police were around but they didn't bother me too much because I wasn't shooting towards the infield of the airport, a definite no no.  I spoke with a friend of mine who works at the airport and while I didn't see any snowies, they are definitely around although the actual numbers can't be confirmed.  I have some ideas of where they are, but once again, that would involve shooting towards the infield of the airfield, which isn't a good idea.  The hawks above were actually shot at the river on the Western boundary of the airport, an area that is simply generic "country field" with a river running through it.  With that being said, if they ask you to move, you move.

Melanie - glad I could help!  It's always neat to see birds whenever travelling down that way.  Did you see any turkey vultures once you hit Niagara?  They are there in large numbers and you can often see them soaring right next to the bridges.  Very cool stuff!

Kin - thanks for the suggestion, will remember it for next time!

Ichiro - as you can see in my post below (ducks), I agree that it can be "soft".  With that said, I'm going to be using a monopod from here on in and hopefully that will help with the softness on the shots.  I too can't wait until I can upgrade to some nicer glass - once I can afford them!  :lol:  

Joe - thanks for the encouraging comment!

Cheers to all, Attila

[Mathew Rossi]

Hey Attila. I know what you're saying about shooting to the infield, but it somewhat puts a damper on planespotting I didn't actually get too much of a hassle, but I think the bigger problem was that the police were all changing shift, and first came one car, they interviewed me, checked ID etc, said I was fine to stay... Next a second and third car came and proceeded to do the same thing, again I was fine but eventually I just left so they could enjoy their break/meetup in peace. I'm all for the safety of the airport, but I'm also all for the rights of photographers to stand on public property and take photos of planes...

If you feel like planespotting there, I'd suggest either Tim Horton's near the convention centre, or FedEx off of Derry depending on which runways are in use.

[ichiro17]

the softness is from the glass, not the unsteady hand.  Its just the way the lens is made.  If that doesn't bother you, it should be a fun lens to play with for a while

[accwai]

Hi everyone, today I cashed in those gift certificates that I received for Christmas and picked up a Canon EF 75-300mm f4-5.6 USM - my first real zoom lens.  I also picked up a monopod but didn't get a chance to use it as all the pictures posted below were taken from the cover of the car given the freezing wind and cold temperatures.

There is often a layer of unstable air between pockets of different temperature.  Shooting through the layer will blur your photo.  If the temperature difference is huge, you can see the shimmer with naked eyes.  Even if the temperature difference is not that big, long lenses can still pick it up because they see a lot better than human eyes.  If your camera has LiveView, you can check for it quite readily.  Don't know if you have this problem in your case, but try not to shoot across air temperature differences in general.  If your subject is in freezing cold, you should be in freezing cold as well

[...] If the background is sky or snow, try setting the Exposure Compensation to +1 or even +2.

Yup, setting exposure compensation correctly without fumbling with the histogram is a critical skill.  Arthur Morris has an article that goes into quite a bit of details.  Should be a good starting point.

Andy

[Kin Lau]

I had the 75-300USM before I broke it, and it was a decent optic if used correctly.

I try to support the lens as far forward as possible. There's a tendency for this lens to wobble a bit, so making sure the front half of the barrel is properly supported is important.

[Anonymous]

Matthew - trying not to deviate too much, but I understand what you're saying.  Just remember when it comes to the rights of photographers on public property they extend only to the outer perimeters of Pearson as Pearson is on private ground owned by the GTTA.  Actually my favourite spots as far as plane spotting go are the TD Bank and another location behind Aviation World, both of which are on approaches.  Great spots to get some shots in.  

Ichiro - thanks for the explanation, and I'm looking forward to playing with this lens!  Already made plans to go down to the Bluffs on Tuesday should the weather permit for more lens fun time!

Andy - thanks for the tip when it comes to the difference in temperature, never knew that was something that impacted shots!  With regards to temperature difference, has anyone here ever experienced this temperatue related impact when shooting ducks located a distance from shore?  I think that the air temperature at the surface would be colder for something right on the water as opposed to me at a bit of an elevated position?  Also, do wind chill temperatures come into effect as well?  Thanks for the link - I'm going to read it as soon as I'm done replying!

Kin - when you state that you try to support the lens as far forward as possible, how do you achieve proper support given that the camera body is what is affixed to the tripod??  Just through proper hand location?

Thanks to everyone for the replies, you all are the best!

Attila