Loggerhead at last light

[Bob Blanchard]

Captured this little fellow at the very last light before the sun disappeared on Sunday evening. It was a bit cool out (he's puffed up a bit to stay warm), but there was absolutely no wind at all, which allowed me to go down to slower speeds with the long focal length and capture this one in almost full frame (I was at almost minimum focusing distance for the 600). I went f/10 to add enough DOF. I did capture a couple at ISO 400 and 650 that were OK, but I liked this one at ISO 200 better. This was a lot slower than I like to work with at this focal length, but the conditions allowed it. I had to literally "will" my body still, as I could actually see my heartbeat through the lens.

Canon 1DsMII, 600mm f/4L with 2x TC, ISO 200, 1/125, f/10, ,-2/3 EV, no IS, off tripod. I probably should've used MLU, but didn't.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great light, angle, details, exposure control and BG. I would only suggest a slightly wider crop. Why did you turn off IS?

[ChasMcRae]

It looks sharp on my monitor ,but hard to accept 600mm-2x hand held in low light at 200ISO at 1/125. Would actually have to see it at 100% on monitor.

Regardless great image with soft light. All my nice Log Shrike images have been in bright light, so nice to see this one. There is no way I could have done this with my 600m with IS. Great BG and inclusion of bird in frame.

Chas.

[Bob Blanchard]

It looks sharp on my monitor ,but hard to accept 600mm-2x hand held in low light at 200ISO at 1/125. Would actually have to see it at 100% on monitor.

Regardless great image with soft light. All my nice Log Shrike images have been in bright light, so nice to see this one. There is no way I could have done this with my 600m with IS. Great BG and inclusion of bird in frame.

Chas.

Hey Charles, this is NOT hand held! I used a Gitzo 5540 with Wimberley head. There is no way humanly possible anyone could have hand held this one. Even touching the camera at this magnification causes slight movement. When I was gripping the camera preparing to press the button, I could actually see my heartbeat through the lens! Sorry I didn't communicate that clearly.

Note - I turned IS "off" on this because it was actually hurting more than helping. The light was low, and there was a lot of focus creep being caused by IS, so I turned it off to prevent motion and focus creep blur.

[ChasMcRae]

I interpreted OFF tripod as hand held. And yes I did not think that was possible.
Great info that you turned off the IS since I may use that info in the future.
Thanks -now I feel better and less puny about not being able to handhold super telephotos.

Chas.

[Stu Bowie]

I think you have exposed this perfectly Bob, and you have exceptionally well in low light. For the light, this is pretty sharp too. Well captured.

[Bob Blanchard]

Why did you turn off IS?

It was being counter productive in such low light. Too much focus creep from IS. Since I had no wind at all, I really didn't need it. I was able to keep the camera very still once I got my own body to stop causing any movement. I think this is one of the rare circumstances where turning off IS is warranted.

Further explanation: IS technically doesn't cause the focus creep in low light. It does, however, prolong the effect. Once you momentarily lose focus, then IS kicks in and churns around for a few seconds. This in turn can cause the single focusing point to move, and start the whole process again! Turning off IS in this circumstance allowed a much faster focus re-acquisition and lock. Hope that makes sense. Again - the conditions were perfect for that decision (no wind at all).