Red-necked Phalarope - Showing off all the new gear.

[Martin Lord]

I received the 600mm II yesterday 8/28 and took it to Palo Alto Bayland early evening.
Canon 1DX, 600mm II, 1.4x III, +1/3 EV, 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 400.
Small crop 18MP to 16MP on top right, Tonal adjustment in LR4, CEP 4 Tonal Contrast on the bird in CS6.

I love everything about the lens (I have not received the AMEX statement yet ;-)) I found that it was a little more awkward than the 500 to use with the Mongoose, I am not sure if this is just some getting used to the size or if I'll need to go back to the Wimberley. I'd like to hear what you folks think about this.

Appreciate your comments on the image, thanks!

[Ivan Ellison]

Smart bird, nice blue water to set him off. The colour and sharpness look spot on, apart from the OOF tail to the bird, probably due to the f stop 5.6- maybe increasing to f8-f11 to get all bird sharp. Having done these myself I know they move quite fast on the water and are not easy. I like to get down to water level if possible, a good beanbag and angle finder really save your neck muscles/bones.

[Don Nelson]

Head seems like it could use a little sharpening. Also, If it were mine, I'd lighten the image a bit. The bill and water are pretty close.
Also appears like it could use some microadjustment, presuming you're focused on the eyes --- back of head and backside of the body are soft, but the front of the bird's breast is plenty sharp.
Obviously starting from your RAW would be a better choice, but here's a simple post to show what I mean(can't fix the rear softness though):

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Great starting point, but I do like Don's rendition a little better. Congrats on the new lens and looking forward to seeing more images from it!

[Martin Lord]

Thanks Don for the comments. You are spot on on sharpness, I did not change it from the defaults for the 1dx in LR and it is on the low side. The DOF is quite narrow and it 'may' be front focus. The AF micro adjustments did not work for the 1dx, apparently firmware 1.0.6 released this week fixes that, this needs to be checked. I think i got the brightness on the low side... I'll restart this from the RAW. Thanks again,
/martin

[Don Nelson]

Martin - I got similar results ;-)
I found that the IDX and microfocus wasn't working reliably for me either in the past few weeks. I uploaded the new firmware last night but haven't taken the 600 II and 1DX out to recheck to see if MF works properly now.
Enjoy your new equipment - I think its superb. Arash is right about the hand holding the lens. Its quite doable.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'd love a mix of the two: lighter bird of repost but richer blues of the OP. I normally prefer a lower angle, but the higher vantage point here has really done wonders to the water...I like it alot. Enjoy the new equipment!!!

[Marina Scarr]

Congrats on the lens. Lovely bird. I think I'd opt for something between the two with a little more sharpening on the head.

[Bill Dix]

Repost helps the sharpness, which does seem off in the OP. I concur with Daniel: my first reaction was that lower would have been better, but this angle did some nice things to the water.