Golden-crowned Kinglet

[Paul Kusmin]

I have recently come across an annoying problem with the D300 in that the shutter has gotten sticky.
I think maybe the cold weather and condensation misting up the camera body (from my breathing, while looking through viewfinder) are doing something because i would be shooting and then suddenly the shutter would stick in the closed position and stay closed, this has only happened recently, always in cold weather.
The only quick fix i have found in the field is to detach lens and extender from body and then the shutter will "un-stick" itself.
Bloody annoying, especially when you have a bird in view.

So, after all this rambling, what i am trying to say is Bless the little Kinglet because it salvaged a day when i missed all the target birds i was after.
Getting close to this little guy as it worked the ground was pretty cool, missed a bunch of shots due to shutter stick but was happy with the ones i got anyways



Exposure: 1/160
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 500 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: -1 EV
Flash: On, Return detected

D300 + 500mm f4 AFS + flash + Gitzo 3530 + Jobu BWG-Pro head

Thanks for looking, and the best of the new year to you all.
This forum has been a huge inspiration and has definitely helped me become a better bird photographer.
Cheers!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hmmm, not sure your camera problem is caused directly by the cold...many of us photograph in much colder climates than Vancouver without any trouble. Maybe time to send it in for maintenance?

Nice of this little kinglet to save the day for you:). I like the overall pose, but wish for a better HA (which is also softer than the wing...perhaps some additional sharpening would be good there). Saturation is a bit strong. Nice perch/BG combination.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Paul, Thanks for your kind words. I am thinking that this was a crop from the right as sharpest focus is on the wing (as Dan pointed out).

I selectively sharpened the head 2X a .2/500. Hope that I did not over-do it.

[Arthur Morris]

Me thinks it looks pretty darned good. BTW, I love the image with the raised crest and the loverly pose. Great capture of a tough fast little birdie.

[Paul Kusmin]

Thanks Daniel, might be time to "borrow" my wife's D300 and send the sticky one to the shop i think.

I wish the head was a little more level but they are so active getting a decent pose w/ nice BG can be hard.

Thanks also Artie for taking the time to rework it, re-post looks much better.
Sometimes i'm scared to do too much sharpening but obviously, it needed a bit more in this case.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. I tried a tip from David Thomasson somewhere on BPN. He wrote that he sharpens JPEGs at a radius of .2 and then increases the amount as needed. This one needed .2 at 500% twice! David is quite brilliant.

[Bryan Hix]

Paul, I think this is really nice. The colors and comp are beautiful. I can appreciate how difficult it is to catch this species. Artie's repost improves the sharpness for sure and I just learned another great tip for sharpening! Thanks Artie. Happy New Year!

[Paul Kusmin]

Bit late with this but thought i'd re-process shot based on advice given.
Started fresh from the start and while it's not quite as sharp as Artie's i'm happier with it than my original.

Happy New Year everyone :)

[Arthur Morris]

An improvement for sure and still a loverly image. Can you post a JPEG that represents the full frame original capture?

[Paul Kusmin]

An improvement for sure and still a loverly image. Can you post a JPEG that represents the full frame original capture?

here's the original as shot.

[kenn threed]

Hi Paul,

First, getting such a clear shot of any Kinglet is big plus. They're sure not easy to capture.

I think your F5.6 was just a bit to thin of DOF here and PP just can't even the focus enuf.
Artie's repost looks best to me (tho a bit crispy on the shoulder)... Your last repost is a close second but still slightly soft on the eye.

Sorry about your shutter problems... hope you can get that sorted out.

again, great Kinglet shot,

Kenn

[Arthur Morris]

here's the original as shot.

Thanks Paul. Wow, IQ held up well for such a large crop. Were you set up with the central sensor only? (Am trying to figure out why the sharpest focus was on the wing...)

[Paul Kusmin]

Yes, i was set up with AF-C, perhaps not the right choice in this instance.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes, i was set up with AF-C, perhaps not the right choice in this instance.

Please explain. I am not familiar with the Nikon terminology.

[Paul Kusmin]

I hope i understand what you are asking but AF-C is centre-weighted auto-focus, same thing as central sensor right?

If i'm mis-understanding completely please forgive my ignorance, it happens every now and then :o

[Arthur Morris]

In center weighted AF can it seems that the sensor can move left or right or up or down a bit. Is that correct? The two black lines meet dead center of the image yet the sharpest focus seems to be about an inch to the right of that.

The above would make sense if the AF system searches for the closest part of the initially selected subject. I am only curious because I am always hearing how Nikon AF is always perfect, how the sensor shifts to stay on the eye of the subject, etc. :)

[Aaron Lee]

I just set up a new lcd monitor and it's quite large. The calibration strip looks fine,but I was seeing noise in the background of this image and the sharpness re-posts looked too strong. BTW,this is an awesome capture of a tiny,fast paced bird!
I used PS Elements to select and sharpen the head,de-saturated a touch,and ran a touch of NR. This looks optimum on my new screen. Is it possible that my screen is set too sharp? Just wondering how it looked to others so I can make monitor adjustments if need be.
Once again,great image you should be very proud of it!

[Arthur Morris]

Aaron, Your version looks fine. I have never heard that a monitor could be adjusted for sharpness....

[Aaron Lee]

That makes 2 of us! But yes indeed,the setting is there. I even looked on one of our older lcd's and found it.
It's a shame that some type of "universal" monitor settings can't be applied to eveyone's equipment so all images look the same with the same adjustments applied. I know folks who are still running CRT monitors and images will look soft on them but sharp on any LCD.
It's really quite a dilemma in all seriousness. If a person optimizes their image so it looks great on their screen,it may look like junk on someone else's. [This image is exempt-it's not junk]
Too many variables in this old world.:(

[Arthur Morris]

Aaron. Don't take it too seriously at all. We are talking about small JPEGs. All that matters is that the images look good where ever and whenever they are printed.... The differences between your JPEG and mine would not be detected by most folks (including me). If someone's monitor is so bad that a decent JPEG looks like junk then they need a new monitor...

[kenn threed]

Hi Aaron,

I feel your pain on the monitor calibration issue. I believe most newer LCDs are delivered with defaults set much too bright and much too sharp. And no doubt most CRTs still in use will look less sharp, calibrated or not. But I think those of us who choose to adjust these settings will most often do so to personal taste rather than to any standard, thus resulting in certain variations amongst all the screens viewing any given image. Fwiw, my desktop (23" Samsung) is set 50% bright, and 60% sharp. This gives me pleasing results on most images I view, a full gray-scale strip at my normal viewing angle, and generally seems fairly accurate based on the feedback I get from others. All that said, I expect that all our work presents a bit differently from screen to screen.

Regarding this Kinglet image again - Your repost looks ok to me in terms of over-all sharpness, but I suspect you've run NR on the full image, as I see some significant smearing of detail on the bird. The bg noise in the original image posted was not objectionable on my screen.

Hope this is helpful,

Kenn

[Paul Kusmin]

In center weighted AF can it seems that the sensor can move left or right or up or down a bit. Is that correct? The two black lines meet dead center of the image yet the sharpest focus seems to be about an inch to the right of that.

The above would make sense if the AF system searches for the closest part of the initially selected subject. I am only curious because I am always hearing how Nikon AF is always perfect, how the sensor shifts to stay on the eye of the subject, etc. :)

I manually move my focus point around when composing so it's possible that it was out of position but i ran the file through Capture NX2 and it showed me the focus point at dead centre, right on top of the soft shoulder.