Testing a Teleconverter….and a Bluejay!

I am thinking of purchasing a Canon 2x teleconverter, and was able to borrow a friend’s to test. I would only be able to use it on my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lens due to the design. For about $350 it would give me a 140-400mm f/5.6 lens. The closest Canon lens to that is the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS which sells for about $1700. this makes the 2x teleconverter pretty attractive for a non-pro on a budget! The friend who lent me the T.C. said he did thought it was soft, but he mainly shot it wide open – at f/5.6, and handheld. This would be about the worst setting for the lens. I chose to take that into account, and made sure I tried it at f/8 and f/11 as well. My testing was not very scientific, but my conclusion is that it would be worthwhile for my purposes.

A squirrel in the backyard provided a great target! First shot, f/5.6, 1/200, ISO 400, 235mm on a monopod (cropped from original). Second shot, f/8, 1/60, ISO 400, 400mm on a monopod. Along with another test I did earlier, I have to say I may get this in the near future – especially when compared to the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS for $1350.00 more!

Later this morning after the squirrel left the deck, a bluejay came by to wrestle with a peanut my daughter left out for him.  I have not seen many bluejays around so it was a treat!  These were take with my Tamron 1.4 teleconverter on the same Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L IS lens. That made it a 98-280mm f/4 lens. The first shot was taken at f/5.6 and 1/640, ISO 640, at 280mm. The second was taken at f/5.6 and 1/800, ISO 640 at 280mm – both shots were handheld (and cropped a little).

I think if you have good technique, and/or a ‘pod of some sort, and you do not shoot wide open, then teleconverters can do a good job to get photos you may not otherwise get. They can also save you money!

Night photography

Our photo club had a night photography excursion the other evening, we just went downtown, but we had a great time!

I love helping other people, but sometimes I don’t spend any time on my own photography – that evening had a great balance of both!

You can get some great blues in the sky after the sun goes down…

This was taken at f/5.6 for 2 seconds at ISO 400. Tripod mounted, and a focal length of 17mm on my Canon 50D.

You can get some interesting colour casts when shooting at night. One way to deal with them is to simply go to black and white.

This was taken at f/22 for 10 seconds at ISO 100. Tripod mounted again, and at 44mm focal length. The small aperture give the star effect to the lights.

Here is another in black and white;  f/11 for 13 seconds, ISO 100 and 21mm.

 

 

Bang a drum.

As you may or may not know, my wife is an excellent Henna Artist. She has been talking for a while now, about applying henna to a drum head. She finally found a willing participant!

It turned out really well, and she asked me to take photos – I had some time, so I put some extra effort into the task.

She was happy with the photos, and so was I.

Note: The glowing of the drum head came from putting a flash inside the drum.

Equipment:

Camera: Canon 50D

Lenses: Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, Nikon Micro-Nikkor AI 105mm f/2.8 with EOS adaptor

Flashes: Canon 580EX II, Canon 580EX, Nikon SB-24, Cactus v4 radio triggers, optical slave

Other: Background stand with black backdrop, light stands, Manfrotto 190D tripod

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

Just arrived today! I cannot wait to try it out! Now you may be wondering why the heck I would buy an inexpensive ‘kit’ lens when I have the BOLD and beautiful  70-200mm 2.8 IS ?

Do you know how heavy that thing is? No, really!?

I went out the other day with the kids and a friend, and thought I just want a camera in a small bag to take some snapshots if the occasion arose. I did not want to lug ALL the gear for a couple of snaps….so I brought my Canon 20D and my newly acquired 18-55mm IS ‘kit’ lens, and my old Canon EF 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. But the 70-210 gave me a bunch of err99 messages – hmph. At home I tried it on my 50D and I got err01 – about 1/2 the time….. Oh, well it was a good lens in its day – but I needed a replacement. My first thought was a Canon EF 75-300mm. I knew these were not the best, but I already owned the best, and wanted something cheap and light. Things have changed over the last few years – my research taught me that the Canon 55-250mm IS is now the best of the bottom of the barrel :) Suits me fine – so I saved a few $$ by finding a refurbished one at Adorama!

I now have both kit lenses – the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, and the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS.

 

Pair those with my Canon 20D and I have a lightweight and flexible snapshot kit that will go anywhere is a small shoulder bag!

Dry summer = little water

Here is another detail shot of a waterfall – details are about all you can get when the summer has been as dry as it has. This waterfall is but a shadow of its former self.

Lower Henderson Brook (Shaw) Falls

This was not with my normal gear setup…I shot this with my newly acquired kit lens (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS), resting on a beanbag and my camera bag, using the 2 sec. timer and live view. I haven’t really used live view before, oh, and my wife had my tripod…

Details: Canon 50D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, @ 55mm, f/22, ISO 500, 1 sec., and circular polarizer

more birds

Here is another – the action shots are very challenging with the little birds. Here is a poor go at it, but it illustrates what we typically see. Here are a male and female Goldfinch on  the feeder with a Black-capped Chickadee coming for a snack….

Canon 50D, Tamron 1.4TC, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS @ 120mm, f3.5 (f4), ISO 400, 1/640th sec. about 60% cropped.

Birding…in the backyard

We have 4 feeders going and ton of birds. We have Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, Grackles, Sparrows, Chickadees, and we actually saw a regular pigeon the other day, oh and don’t forget the Squirrels hanging off the feeders. I have posted a few shots before, but I could not resist adding some more. We got some hooks and moved the feeders to the edge of the deck instead of near the house – much better shooting angle. Here is shot of a female Goldfinch.

The gear: Canon 50D, Tamron 1.4TC, Canon EF 70-200 2.8L IS.

The settings: f2.8 (really f4 due to the TC), 200mm (effectively 448mm with the TC and cropped sensor), IS on, 1/400th sec., –2 EC, center weighted average metering.

Editing: Set cloudy WB in ACR, cropped about 40% from the original photo. Increased exposure by 1/3 stop, toned down highlight on perch, +5 on Recovery, Clarity, Vibrance and Saturation in ACR. Sharpened with Scott Kelby’s ‘portrait’ sharpening settings in PS and used Bicubic Sharper when reducing size for web.

I have a few more to post when I get another ‘round tuit…..