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Bald Eagle (my first!)

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I ran into someone at Newnans Lake today who happens to be extremely knowledgeable about where to find the resident wildlife - including a non-migratory breeding pair of Bald Eagles.

We only saw one adult and the surviving immature (~1 y.o.) eagle, but we heard the other adult in the distance; the adults carried on a raucous conversation that lasted a couple minutes.

As for the attached, it's another neck-wrenching hand-held shot through a 40-150mm kit lens with a 50% crop of the SHQ photo-file - a real stretch.

Oh, how I yearn for a ZD 50-200 and a 1.4-TC. Of course, I wouldn't mind checking out the ZD 300/f-2.8, for that matter; why that would be sublime.

One highlight worth mentioning is the unsolicited comment (made by this canon fancier I met today); he couldn't get over just how quiet the E-1 is. (No kiddin', eh?)

Ciao!

Photographer:	X Leon Plympton
Folder:	Common area
Uploaded:	02-Apr-2007 01:40 CEST
Current Rating:	8.00/1 View all ratings Delete my rating
Model release available:
Camera:	Olympus E1
Exposure time:	1/250
Aperture:	f-4.5
Focal length:	150 (300) mm
Lens:	ZD 40-150 mm
Focusing method:	Spot
ISO:	100
White balance:	Auto
Flash:	no
Image format:	SHQ
Processing applied:
Various:
Image resized to:	600x800

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NO SUBJECT

Well done Leon, to bad you could not go closer ...
I made a crop for you hope you like it ....I will remove it after a few days or sooner when you tell me to ...

Best regards,

Fonzy - at 22:40 CEST on 02-Apr-2007 [Reply]

Bald Eagle (my first!)

Thanks again, Fons, and I don't mind the crop job. I'd considered doing the same thing in order to get the same effect; unfortunately, as you can see, by cropping you lose a perceived amount of detail and sharpness. I would much more prefer to have a longer lens so cropping wouldn't be necessary to get up close and personal. The 50-200 with the 1.4X tele-extender would be ideal; that would amount to a 560mm lens in our 4/3 world (right?). In retrospect I wish I'd opted for an ISO of 200 so I could have used a higher shutter speed; there's a bit of movement in that shot.

The guy I was shooting with had a canon zoom with a maximum focal length of 300mm, which amounts to a 480mm focal length, which was a major improvement over the 300mm lens I was using. He was able to get significantly closer. Unfortunately for him, based on the few shots he let me see, he had considerable camera shake.

Leon Plympton at 00:39 CEST on 03-Apr-2007 [Reply]

NO SUBJECT

Considering the limitations of the lens you have done a good job with this, the exposure is spot on the Eagle is nicely isolated against that lovely blue sky and quite sharp too for a handheld shot at that focal length and speed, we only get sparrows round Derbyshire!!
Cheers Steve

Steve Elliott at 03:58 CEST on 03-Apr-2007 [Reply]

Bald Eagle (my first!) - re-visited:

G'Day Steve:

Thanks for the kind words. There's just no replacement for a long lens - whether for large birds or small. As for smaller birds, I'd be glad to post some of them if they weren't so camera shy. It's amazing just how short a 150 (300) mm lens is once you're out in the real world.

Ciao!

-leon

Leon Plympton at 00:21 CEST on 04-Apr-2007 [Reply]