Tags
Last week, I used a Canon 400 mm lens with a 2X extender to shoot photos of a snowy owl displayed here. Using the extender gave me an effective 800 mm lens at a much cheaper cost than that of a large zoom lens, but it has serious drawbacks. Aperture was decreased by two stops and I could not go any wider than f/11. Autofocus was lost, forcing me to manually focus every single shot. Worst of all, image quality decreased significantly and visibly, even with the Canon 6D I was using.
Yesterday, I left the extender at home and went with my first camera, the Canon 7D, which has a 1.6 cropped sensor, meaning that the 400 mm lens has effectively a 640 mm reach. On the other hand, the 7D has lower image quality than the 6D with a larger full-frame sensor.
The snowy owl was there at Holgate, at almost the same location at the end of the island. There was only one other photographer around, and he left soon after I arrived. Thus I had the owl to myself and for almost two hours I took many shots of it. The sun was high, so lighting was not at its best, and the owl kept his eyes semi closed most of the time. The following photos show him with eyes open. Please comment and let me know if they are any better than those taken last week.
Another problem: after a few shots, the camera indicated that its memory card was full and would not allow any more shot. Without a spare, I had to spend precious minutes deleting a couple of hundred older images, one by one… Fortunately, the owl did not mind and remained at his station, patiently waiting. Don’t leave home without a spare memory card!
pleisbilongtumi said:
Beautiful Owl. Great shots!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pat said:
What a beauty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sukanya Ramanujan said:
I liked the photos from both sessions. The owl is so beautiful and regal. I can understand your memory card problem. The same incident happened to me when I was travelling recently. I had to delete two photographs before I could click a new photograph. Extremely distracting and annoying.
LikeLiked by 1 person
gpcox said:
It is clear why he is the most photographed – majestic creature!
LikeLike
neihtn2012 said:
I agree. 🙂 Thank you!
LikeLike
travelingmind2anywhere said:
Oh! I love this picture, it takes perfect timing ang quick finger to press that capture button!
LikeLike
neihtn2012 said:
Thank you!
LikeLike
Sue Slaght said:
How fantastic to have the owl sit like that! Wonderful captures.
LikeLike
neihtn2012 said:
Thanks Sue. You can get fairly close to the owl by taking a few steps at a time, stopping to take a few shots, take more steps, and so on. It is also a good idea to stay low instead of standing up. Of course, if you get too close it will fly away.
LikeLiked by 1 person
kls said:
great shot!
LikeLike
neihtn2012 said:
Thank you!
LikeLike
katelon said:
Lovely photos!
LikeLike
neihtn2012 said:
Thanks, Katelon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cee Neuner said:
Gorgeous! 🙂
LikeLike
neihtn2012 said:
Thank you, Cee!
LikeLike
Peripatetic Eric said:
It appears the owl is getting to know you. Great photos! Maybe you should bring it a mouse as payment for posing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
neihtn2012 said:
Thanks, Eric. Now that you mention it, I’ve read about photographers throwing mice at owls, or generally using bait, to get their shots. I am too squeamish for that, and I also don’t think it’s a good idea to get these wild animals used to being fed by humans, instead of going out and hunting on their own.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amy said:
First, thank you, Hien, for sharing the info regarding canon 6d and 7d and the extender. I have one and used it a couple of times. Now, I understand much better.
I love these two photos! The clarity is great. I don’t know how you managed to get the clarity photos under the sun. So glad the owl waited on you. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Amy. If you have a Canon DSLR, you can use Canon Digital Lens Optimizer to increase the sharpness of your photos.
LikeLike
Amy said:
I haven’t used the Optimizer. I use Lr most of the time. Thank you for the information!
LikeLike
Mike Bizeau said:
Great shots and I bet it was fun to have some time alone with this wonderful looking birds. Best wishes. Mike
LikeLiked by 1 person
neihtn2012 said:
Thank you, Mike. It was very nice indeed to have all that time with the owl without anybody else around.
LikeLike
Mike Bizeau said:
Your Welcome and I hope your weekend is going great.
LikeLike
Bà Tám said:
Ông Hiền, you are such a dedicate photographer. All the photos look fantastically. I know you are looking for serious feedback; unfortunally, I am only a beginner. They all look wonderful and I admire them enornously.
LikeLiked by 1 person
neihtn2012 said:
Thank you for visiting this blog. I always appreciate your comments.
LikeLike
Victor Rakmil said:
Great photos, great story, great post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
neihtn2012 said:
Thank you, Victor!
LikeLike