Juvi (muddy?) mallard

[arash_hazeghi]

Frame from this weekend. I reckon this is a juvenile drake mallard that's starting to molt into an adult and thus the "muddy" looking head. the adult's head will become green. Hadn't photographed the juvi before. evening CA sun provided the golden tones, lucky to live in the "golden" state as most places in the world don't get this kind of light.


shot with Sony A9 II and 600GM + 2X TC (1200mm). ISO-1250 f/8 at 1/3200 sec hand held. the sony A9II doesn't care much about the 2X TC, AF and tracking at f/8 remains very dependable unlike most DSLR's that struggle mightily once a 2X is attached and are pretty much useless for fast fliers. nailed a lot of fast shore birds and ducks with ease in my hands. The last time I used 1200mm was with the Canon 1DX II (600 II + 2X III) and man it was a mess with that camera's AF.

[Randy Stout]

Arash:

Quite an advantage to be able to AF across the frame at f/8 on fast moving subjects.

Sharp, nicely exposed, like the framing/angle in frame, color harmony.

I might consider softening the darker spot above the head just a bit. If it was not inline with the head/ center of interest, would not be an issue.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

This may also be an adult male in eclipse plumage, tough to say for sure. Anyhow, sweet light indeed, nice and sharp throughout. The sightly blurred wingtips imply fast movement of the wings and it does not bother me one bit. Looks like Sony is working well for you too!

[Mike Poole]

Subjects must be scarce for you to be shooting Mallards! I think this is the best frame of your Sony shots so far, detail is better than the others and the light speaks for itself. Must be great to be able to work at 1200mm when required.

just as I get myself a Nikon 600mm it seems Sony has taken the AF medal! Such is life...

Hope to see more, I'm sure I will

Mike

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Beautiful capture in exquisite warm light, Arash. Agree with it being the better of the few recent posts using the a9II. Like the angle of assent, wing position, and lovely complimentary background.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[arash_hazeghi]

Subjects must be scarce for you to be shooting Mallards! I think this is the best frame of your Sony shots so far, detail is better than the others and the light speaks for itself. Must be great to be able to work at 1200mm when required.

just as I get myself a Nikon 600mm it seems Sony has taken the AF medal! Such is life...

Hope to see more, I'm sure I will

Mike

Hi Mike, I do like ducks we just don't have a lot of them here. you jumped ship too fast :D I am keeping the D500 and 500PF BTW, at least for now

[Mike Poole]

Hi Mike, I do like ducks we just don't have a lot of them here. you jumped ship too fast :D I am keeping the D500 and 500PF BTW, at least for now

C'est la vie! I got a Nikon refurbished near mint 600mm f4 for about 55% RRP, just a little more than I could have paid for a Canon 600mm. No way I can stretch to a new Sony 600mm unfortunately and none around used, so its now either Nikon or the Sony 200-600.

I take it the D500 / pf is just for a small walk around setup rather than the really serious stuff?

Mike

[dankearl]

Excellent details for any range, especially 1200mm....
I cannot really tell any difference between the different cameras.
This looks as good as your Nikon stuff which looked as good as your Canon stuff.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent details for any range, especially 1200mm....
I cannot really tell any difference between the different cameras.
This looks as good as your Nikon stuff which looked as good as your Canon stuff.

thanks Dan, you are right there is and should not be any difference in the images regardless of which camera it was taken with.

the difference between these systems is that which one can ALWAYS capture such image CONSISTENTLY. Here if I had the Canon it would have missed the focus and came up with a soft image at 1200mm. I only had one pass so there wouldn't be second chance foe Canon. The Nikon D5 would not have gotten this one in this condition either simply due to lack of reach (no usable 2X) and 12fps. I have tried it in this location before and the 600+1.4 is just not enough (there is a large ditch between the board walk and where the ducks are).

there are some other shots were the other systems are extremely unlikely to capture consistently, I will post some of these later.

[arash_hazeghi]

C'est la vie! I got a Nikon refurbished near mint 600mm f4 for about 55% RRP, just a little more than I could have paid for a Canon 600mm. No way I can stretch to a new Sony 600mm unfortunately and none around used, so its now either Nikon or the Sony 200-600.

I take it the D500 / pf is just for a small walk around setup rather than the really serious stuff?

Mike

You mean the Nikon 600 E or the old one? 55% is a smoking deal. The canon 600 II is now obsolete and I see no point in buying one today, the 600 III is just as light as the sony but it is also equally expensive. once you get used to a light 600 there is no going back.

yes D500/500PF just for walk around. I already got rid of my D850's and will put up my D5 for sale soon, I like it but it doesn't have enough reach with the 500... and the D500 is slouch either.

Honestly I think the days of 6.5-7K DSLR's are over. the sony beats them in raw performance for just 4.5K :o

[Mike Poole]

You mean the Nikon 600 E or the old one? 55% is a smoking deal. The canon 600 II is now obsolete and I see no point in buying one today, the 600 III is just as light as the sony but it is also equally expensive. once you get used to a light 600 there is no going back.

yes D500/500PF just for walk around. I already got rid of my D850's and will put up my D5 for sale soon, I like it but it doesn't have enough reach with the 500... and the D500 is slouch either.

Honestly I think the days of 6.5-7K DSLR's are over. the sony beats them in raw performance for just 4.5K :o

It's the latest E version, hence why I snapped it up. I plan on adding a D5 to my D500 over the next week or 2. Plan being to use the D5 wherever possible and the D500 when I need the extra pixels on target. I've seen enough good action shots from yourself and others to be happy that 90% of failures will be down to me and not the kit.

A friend has the 200-600 and has decent results from it but f6.3 and the UK don't mix to well!

[arash_hazeghi]

It's the latest E version, hence why I snapped it up. I plan on adding a D5 to my D500 over the next week or 2. Plan being to use the D5 wherever possible and the D500 when I need the extra pixels on target. I've seen enough good action shots from yourself and others to be happy that 90% of failures will be down to me and not the kit.

A friend has the 200-600 and has decent results from it but f6.3 and the UK don't mix to well!

yes the sony zoom doesn't really meet my expectations, sharpness is descent and so much better than the Nikon 200-500 which was a pile, but the bokeh is no good and it has quite a bit of focus breathing too. I am not sure if I will keep it. they need to make a super light f/4 or f/5.6 lens to compete with the PF/ DO.

[John Mack]

Sweet light and pose. Background is solid as well.