Tawny Eagle - Food Catch

[John Harper]

Hi There

Shot of "Frodo" the Tawny Eagle in display at HCT in his daily efforts to catch some food while on the wing. I had been trying pictures of "Charlie Brown" the Lanner Falcon just before "Frodo" took centre stage so I had the 1.4TC on the 500mm which in reality may have been a bit too long.... but it did enable me to get this shot....so not all was lost.

In case you were wondering....................he missed it :confused:

John

EOS 1DMKIII
EF 500 F4 + 1.4TC (700mm)
ISO 640
1/1250 @ F5.6

[Lana Hays]

John
Oh....is the food "baby chicks"......that's sure what it looks like. Definitely a sweet action image of Frodo.....and really cool that the food is so close to the talon. You can certainly see the concentration. I'm impressed that you could focus in on Frodo so close with the 500mm and 1.4X......it's not an easy job with something moving that fast. The AF on your MkIII must be excellent.

[John Harper]

John
Oh....is the food "baby chicks"......that's sure what it looks like. Definitely a sweet action image of Frodo.....and really cool that the food is so close to the talon. You can certainly see the concentration. I'm impressed that you could focus in on Frodo so close with the 500mm and 1.4X......it's not an easy job with something moving that fast. The AF on your MkIII must be excellent.

Hi Lana

I must admit I have found the focus on my MKIII to be much better than I was expecting after all the issues raised by Rob Galbraith and others on its AI servo performance especially in bright sunshine.

For Birds in flight against blue or overcast skies I get many more shots sharp with my MKIII than my IIN. Its seems to be the initial speed of lock on that makes the difference IMHO, and also having spoken to several MKIII shooters at HCT the later production models all appear to be working well.

I personally have a serial number in the affected range but its on the list of some 2000 or so serials released by the Canon USA website as being upto the correct spec.

I do wonder if user error in not getting the focus point exactly where you want it plays a much larger part in the issues than perhaps we care to admit. I believe Artie has raised a similar question in his latest Birds as Art Notes email.

Here is the shot prior to the one I posted, showing he missed it with his right talon as well :o

John

[Lana Hays]

John
From what I've read and gleaned from photographers, I do believe that the latest models of the MkIII seem to be working fine. I know people who have gotten good ones.....and others who've gotten bad ones through all this mess and it's frustrating. At this point I'm going to skip the MkIII model and see what else comes down the road over the next few months. If I stay with Canon I'll get the 300mmL IS f/2.8.

[John Harper]

Hi Lana

Ah the 300mm F2.8............:D I have only used one once but I was hooked after 10 minutes.

The IQ, AF speed, sharpness, make this in many peoples opinion the best lens that Canon manufacture. You won't go far wrong with one of those.

John

[Tim Cee]

In one word, Wow, incredible action and detail. Okay more than one word. Nicely done John.