800 Rocks....

[Arthur Morris]

This Least Tern chick was photographed on Nickerson Beach with the Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, a 25mm Extension tube, and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero (a big screw-up; should have been +1 2/3 stops...): 1/500 sec. at f/11. Fill flash at -2 stops with Better Beamer. With the totally light-toned image, noise was not a problem despite the under-exposure.

The 800 with the 1.4X TC and an extension tube is deadly with tiny birds if you are able to get close to them. This is very close to full frame. For more on this image and the 800, do visit the blog at www.birdsasart-blog.com

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Jan Wegener]

what a cute little bird. I like how it stands on the little "dune" :)

I don't know how you usually shoot, but I for myself like to use various AF points depending on where the bird's eye is. I know from my 600+2x TC how tricky it can be to be limited to the center point only. I assume the 800 + 1,4 is significantly faster, but still. Doesn't this bother you a bit?
I often think about getting an 800, but this is one reason I didn't go for it so far.

[Arthur Morris]

what a cute little bird. I like how it stands on the little "dune" :) I don't know how you usually shoot, but I for myself like to use various AF points depending on where the bird's eye is. I know from my 600+2x TC how tricky it can be to be limited to the center point only. I assume the 800 + 1,4 is significantly faster, but still. Doesn't this bother you a bit? I often think about getting an 800, but this is one reason I didn't go for it so far.

The little "dune" is a tire track. Yes, I wish that I had all the sensors available when working at 1140. You need to work around it just as you do when working with the 500 or the 600 and the 2X. Here I used One-Shot AF. If in Servo, I use the star button (after switching the functions with the AF-On button) to lock focus.... It is all descried in our MIV User's Guide.

But there is no comparison in sharpness with the 600 and the 2X compared to the 800/1.4X combo. It is a slaughter and weighs a ton less to boot :) See the 800 article in a recent blog post at www.birdsasart-blog.com

[Michael Stern]

Artie,
WONDERFUL...a pleasure to look at....
Thank you for sharing this one...
Mike

[Don Railton]

Beautiful Art... The chick looks to be having a rest half way up the 'dune' and looking back to see how far its come.

Not sure how you counted them but I would have though there was more than 800 rocks under its feet :D.
It's a pity the background was not a little darker to make the bird stand out more but I guess mother Terns don't particularly want the chicks to stand out too much...

DON

[denise ippolito]

Artie, I really like the pose.Very nice details and the exposure looks perfect. I love the tone on tone look to this. Sweet!!:)

[Hal Everett]

It sounds like this autofocuses with the extension tube. I was told it does not. VERY interesting if it does. BTW very nice image. Hal

[Arthur Morris]

It sounds like this autofocuses with the extension tube. I was told it does not. VERY interesting if it does. BTW very nice image. Hal

Hi Hal, All of the Canon super-telephotos will AF with one or two extension tubes as long as the tube or tubes is behind the TC. If the tubes are on the lens with the TC behind it you will lose AF--the system will attempt to AF but will only chatter. Turn AF off to and focus manually to take advantage of closer focus. As detailed in ABP II :)

[Sid Garige]

Perfect exposure and details Artie. Fantastic eye contact too. Very well done.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cute little guy and look-back pose and this seems to be one of the few occasions where tire tracks are helpful. I would only remove what looks like a repetitive pattern behind the bird.

[Bryan Hix]

Yes, the 800 does rock! Awesome light and I really love the foot down like a kickstand.

[Troy Lim]

Great shot. Amazing how close you got to this little guy. I think this little guy was backing away a bit, probably scared of the 800mm.
Dune is perfect, excellent.

[Colin Knight]

Nicely done, Artie. Looks like the Mark IV handled you pushing the exposure just fine. Thanks for the info about the setup and extension tubes also.

Why the relatively high angle?

[Arthur Morris]

Cute little guy and look-back pose and this seems to be one of the few occasions where tire tracks are helpful. I would only remove what looks like a repetitive pattern behind the bird.

Thanks. Where? I am not seeing it?

[Arthur Morris]

Nicely done, Artie. Looks like the Mark IV handled you pushing the exposure just fine. Thanks for the info about the setup and extension tubes also. Why the relatively high angle?

YAW and thanks. The image was opened up all the way during the ACR conversion. I am pretty sure that I was seated behind a lowered tripod. With even this relatively accepting bird moving around a bit, getting right on the ground would have hampered my mobility quite a bit :) And had I been on the ground for this image, it would seem that I might have brought some sky into the frame and I did not want to do that.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks. Where? I am not seeing it?

At the edge of the little 'hill' left of the chick.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. Your eyes or two sharp or did you pick that up by computer analysis. I doubt if one person in 10,000 would catch that even if they knew what to look for. The ORIG is above; guilty as charged :)

The original underexposure is also revealed (as well as a bit of additional clean-up).

[Arthur Morris]

Better?

[Bruno Calha]

i think the last one is better. Good DOF and detail. Fantastic eye contact.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The repost looks good, I just thought I would mention the pattern since you pay attention to details, too. :)

[Arthur Morris]

The repost looks good, I just thought I would mention the pattern since you pay attention to details, too. :)

Long ago I called you Eagle-eyed Axel and the above just cements that! Thanks again.

[Arthur Morris]

i think the last one is better. Good DOF and detail. Fantastic eye contact.

Thanks Bruno, and welcome. An important note on the "eye contact," one of the reasons for the success of the posted image is the perfect head angle (about 3 degrees towards the viewer) and the fact that the chick has it's head raised slightly. There were several images in the series with less then perfect head angles and head positions.

[Juan Aragonés]

Long ago I called you Eagle-eyed Axel and the above just cements that! Thanks again.

Artie I totally agree, Axel deserves the "Eagle-eye" title ;)

[Danny Laredo]

This is really nice Artie, love the cute chick and super eye contact.

[Michael Zajac]

Excellent eye contact .Good details.
I like the softness of the pic.

[Krijn Trimbos]

I like it very much artie! The HT, Contrast and tonality make this one for me. Repost looks good!

[Markus Jais]

Beautiful shot of this cute little fellow. I like the soft light and the head angle.

Markus