Mr. Burrowing Owl Checks Out the New 600mm f/4 II

[Doug Brown]

I got the new 600mm f/4 II on Thursday but hadn't gotten a chance to use it out in the field until this morning. Inspired by Arash, I paid a visit to some local Burrowing Owls. When I arrived there were a couple of birds standing outside their burrows, and the light was decent. I spent the next hour and a half photographing the owls. The new 600 is a featherweight compared to the old one! I'm not prepared to make a call on AF because Burrowing Owl flight against a varied BG is one of the toughest BIF shots you can get; the keeper percentage is quite low. Plus I was using a 1.4x for this frame, and the TC measurably slows AF down. In spite of the challenges, I came away with my best Burrowing Owl flight shot ever, so I was pretty happy!

114357

Canon 5D Mark III, 600mm II + 1.4x III, f/5.6, 1/3200, ISO 1600, manual exposure, hand held

[Robert DeCandido]

Nice work - is the minimum focus distance much different in 600mm F4 version 1 vs version 2?

Since you hand-held this lens for this image - how well (or not well) balanced is this lens when being hand-held? When on a tripod, what lens foot (Wimberley, Jobu, Kirk) are you using?

Thanks!

rdc/nyc

[dankearl]

Very nice Image, Doug.
Sweet BG.
Maybe a tad more contrast?

[Humberto Ramos]

Congrats Doug, for the new 600mm and for your Owl, the shot its great, love the head looking for us, lovely BG and overall IQ, agree with Dan about contrast.

[arash_hazeghi]

awesome Doug, looking forward to mine. This is indeed the toughest subject and only the best of the best can get shots like this!!!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Doug, love the eye contact, together with the slight banking angle towards you. The owl pops nicely from the BG, and the light does look good.

Congrats again on your new toy, and no doubt you will share many more excellent flight shots with us.

[jack williamson]

Congratulations on your new lens and this shot. Sharp with excellent eye contact and a superb BG.

Jack

[Doug Brown]

Hi Robert. The lens is quite well balanced. The MFD has been reduced by about 3 feet; it's now the same as the 'old' 500mm f/4. I currently have a Wimberley plate on the Canon foot.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

This is awesome Doug. You surely chose a tough target for your test drive, but the result is great.
The head turn and stare is priceless. Looking forward to more ...

[Ofer Levy]

Sweet shot! Obviously we can learn nothing about the new lens by viewing an image like this but still nice to see.

[Bill Dix]

Terrific flight shot, with great eye contact. In a perfect world I might have wished for a different wing position, but most of us can only dream of getting a shot like this. Congrats on the lens and on a fine shot.

[Bruce Enns]

Looks like he really liked your new lens...couldn't take his eyes off of it! Beautiful shot...I'll echo Bill comments.

Bruce

[Satish Ranadive]

Congratulations on your new lens Sir. Magnificent flight shot with great pose and beautiful eyes.Nice Bg and lights too.

[Frank Schauf]

Nice image, Doug. Congratulations on your new lens.

[Arno Ellmer]

Congratulations ,Doug , on your new lens as well as a superb shot.The eyes are terrific and the posture very pleasing.Yes , indeed , I can see that it is a difficult BIF capture.Very well executed !

[Tony Whitehead]

Congratulations, Doug. Great job with the new lens. Agree on trying a little more contrast but not familiar with the species in real life. Amazing eye contact.

[Robert DeCandido]

A few more questions - did you use IS for this photo of the Burrowing Owl in flight? (I see you have high/fast shutter speed in the EXIF data so likely you had IS turned off.) D you ever use IS for birds in flight images?

What do you think of the new IS implementation? Is it really 4-stops more hand-holdable than the previous iteration? How slow a shutter speed would you be comfortable hand-holding your new 600mm F4 Version 2? This is for stationary items of course...

Thanks!
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Raptor Migration in Thailand - final 2011 report with many photos: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aljw6rlw0nf58jz/2011.FinalReport.KhaoDinsor.pdf

[Sid Garige]

Excellent image with perfect eye contact. Looks like you are putting 600 to good use and making some wonderful image.

[Doug Brown]

Thank you all for the feedback. I look forward to posting more images and my review of the 600mm f/4 II.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Dream shot !! Congrats on this one , and also the new toy !

[Kerry Perkins]

Super capture Doug, congrats on both the image and the new glass. Love the head turn, eye contact and dorsal view. Sweet!

[Robert Holguin]

Congrats on your new lense.
Excellent flight shot. Love the head angle and excellent details.
Well done.