Dark-eyed juncos: they're back!...

[P-A. Fortin]

... which means it's a matter of weeks before snow strikes again.

Canon 60D, 400mm f/5.6, ISO 640, 1/4000. No flash, hand-held. Crop is about 70% of the original. (I really need to get better at composing images in the viewfinder and not in post-processing...) Adjustments in LR, NR and sharpening in CS5. A bit of cloning to clean food on the bill.

Yes, 400mm, not 100-400mm. I got myself a used 400mm to play around to see if I'd like it more than my 100-400. This is the first time I had a chance to give it a try.

The good: sharp, light, easy to handle, focus is lighting fast
The bad: you get quite angry and miss your 100-400 when a dark-eyed junco get within the MFD (3.5m) of this lens..... For once in my life, I get within 5m of a non-captive bird and it had to be the one time I had a lens that could not focus that close....

Seriously, both lenses have strengths and weaknesses. I'm considering keeping both actually. The 100-400 is clearly underrated and MFD is a parameter I really never bothered to care about. That was until this bird showed up. Whether I'll get extension tubes or keep the 100-400 for this purpose is something I'll have to think about.

C&C more than welcome as usual.

I've been busy as **** lately. Will make an effort to comment more posts here soon. Going back to university at 33, taking evening courses, is much more demanding that it seems.

[Karen Forderer]

I love this photo! The sharpness is wonderful. The background is a lovely colour and I like the low angle.

[James Shadle]

P-A.
Do you have the viewfinder grid option enabled in your camera?
After some research, my guess is no.
From Canon:
Grid lines cannot be displayed in the viewfinder of your camera. To show the grid lines, you need to replace the focusing screen with the separately sold Focusing Screen Ef-D (with etched grid lines).
For details on the focusing screen, please see the instruction manual supplied with the camera.
Also, for procedures on how to replace the focusing screen, please see the instruction manual for the focusing screen.


In addition, for Live View and movie shooting, you can show the grid lines on the LCD monitor."

Grid lines can be a big help in learning how to compose in camera more effectively.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

PA,

Yes, both lenses have a place in your bag and with two bodies you cover lots of range. Consider another camera and carry both or strap the 400 on a tripod (no IS) and hang the zoom (with IS) around your shoulder to be prepared for most anything. The 400 prime is a great lens and really excels with good light as evidenced with this post.

Lots to like here. sharp subject with clean non-dstracting background, good eye, good HA and I like these shots wide open with crisp detail. Others will mention a smaller aperture (f/8) for more DoF and that is good feedback as well. It depends on what you want to do with the exposure and I like this approach. I might turn on grid-lines in the view finder to help with subject placement and always try to get in right in the camera first. Nice post you and this lens are going to have a great future together.

[P-A. Fortin]

Thanks all.

The focusing screen with gridlines might actually be a good idea. However I do have other problems. First is that I'm using pretty much 100% of the time the central AF point. The other 8 are quite often "too far" from the center to allow me to aim it at the eye of the bird. Second is that I'm using AI Servo, since these birds are always on the move, which somehow prevents the "focus and recompose" technique. I know it should be possible using the "rear focus button" technique, but then most of the time I forget to refocus before pressing the shutter button...

I have to admit that a bit more DoF would have helped on this one. At least enough to get the legs in clean focus.

[James Shadle]

P-A,
The the other option is to leave the camera in servo and through the custom function menu program an AF lock button.
I focus, hold the lock button down and reframe. The camera will not attempt to refocus until the button is released.

[P-A. Fortin]

It is true that I have never tried this option. Will experiment every option to find out which one I am the most comfortable with.

Thanks for the tips.

[Randall Farhy]

I have a 60D, but rarely use it having gone to 7D's. Not a bad camera, just not optimized for what I shoot. A couple of suggestions- An alternative to what Jim suggested is to map focus start to the back button. You can use center point (the most accurate point on the 60D), focus-release the button,recompose and take the picture. An advantage with this method is that you can adjust focus manually without setting the lens to MF as the camera won't try to readjust when you depress the shutter. Another is that you can "focus bump" while tracking or adjusting without accidentally taking the picture. There are some disadvantages too, the biggest of course is becoming acclimated to the new technique. On action sequences, I still find myself occasionally lifting off the focus before the last shot is captured. Keep up the good work!!