[Theme] Show Birds

[ColinM]

800 pf is a very good lens, next target after 500pf

Ha!
Spend another month or two with the 500PF Nasos
Some of those Swallow pics are quite special, especially taken not far off head-on so the AF challenges are higher.

I remember watching swallows swooping along the surface of a swimming pool in Tuscany a few years ago. It was amazing to see their skill as they timed the point to dip the lower part of the beak into the water without any accidents.

Seeing it captured in your Z8 images brings it all back Nasos

[Nasos Kosmas]

:)Ha!
Spend another month or two with the 500PF Nasos

Colin I am still laughing, excellent sense of humour 
This is a long term wish 

[Anthony]

Thank you, Nasos.

[Nasos Kosmas]

Merops Apiaster a colorful little bird I show it  last year for the first time  and now is my favorite

In the  first photo two birds are on the same branch start mating

Second photo is the power of Z8, it tracked the bird for 27 frames even on a busy background   high crop with a little help with Topaz, all with 500Pf

[Nasos Kosmas]

Barn swallows in flight with material  to build the nest
I was on a bridge and the birds were flying under, over a river at a distance of 8-12 meters
Looking at the pictures on the PC I realized that 1/3200 sec was not enough for these captures
5545-5546 photos are 1/20 sec apart
Z8/ 500pf

[ColinM]

I was on a bridge and the birds were flying under, over a river at a distance of 8-12 meters
Looking at the pictures on the PC I realized that 1/3200 sec was not enough for these captures

I'm guessing you're panning too Nasos?

[Nasos Kosmas]

I'm guessing you're panning too Nasos?

Yes Colin,  they show up for 2-3 sec  and then the same cycle under the bridge, it was difficult to keep them in the frame
The nesting material changed my mind,  at first I thought there all garbage 

[Øivind Tøien]

Well done, Nasos. Did you try pre-capture for any of these?

[ColinM]

So, panning with a fast moving subject, long lens, challenging autofocus, sounds like a niche skillset.
I'm pretty sure many people take a while to tune into the parameters to get the results they want.

"I realized that 1/3200 sec was not enough for these captures"

Perhaps our resident sports car specialist MFloyd will have some views on this?
Meanwhile, here's something taken on an M/F lens at a much slower shutter speed

I had the advantage that I could pre-focus on the track before the bikes appeared.
Also the distance from subject was not changing as much (but remember, no A/F)
The bike was probably still going over 100mph, decelerating towards the first turn at the UK Silverstone track

Pentax MX Kodachrome 300mm f4 M* lens, 1984 (when I had steady hands and could operate the gear without having to look). This is a crop.

[Øivind Tøien]

Today at some point when I heard a bird singing through the open door of my cabin I went outside to check with 500PF+TC-14E III mounted on my D500 as standard lately. 6 minutes later I had shot >120 frames, and covered three different species, shown in this and the following two posts.    The first species that caught my attention was a Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea) that was foraging on seeds from fallen cones, but it was really to far away so this became a 100% crop.

[Øivind Tøien]

Then the next minute my attention was caught  by a beautiful Yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata) that suddenly appeared in some branches much closer to me. I have only seen this species once before around here and it was this spring. 700mm became a little tight, but I got the shots.

[Øivind Tøien]

The American robin (Turdus migratorius) is a common bird but they can sometimes be pretty evasive. I was trying to locate them singing in the trees the days before without any luck. Then this one appeared to make a show, first chasing a rival (too fast for me to get the shot), and then taking a good bath before drying off in a nearby tree.

[John Geerts]

Beautiful shots, Øivind.

[Bent Hjarbo]

Beautiful shots, Øivind.

Indeed

[Anthony]

Indeed

+1.