Testing the new Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DI VC USD G2 lens.

I had heard much about how Tamron had improved the new generation two of their 150-600mm lens.  I had owned the original version since it came out a couple of years ago.  I decided to make the upgrade, so I opened the box with much anticipation.  It appeared to be visually pretty much like the old one.  But on closer inspection, I saw that the tripod ring is removable.  Also, the zoom lens can be locked any position’

I took it out into the field to see how it performed.  Wow!!  First the auto-focus  seems to be much faster and the improved VC, Tamron’s version of image stabilization is advertised to be about four and half stops better without it.  What impressed me most is the improved resolution and sharpness.  The top photo is the original of a House Sparrow straight from the camera with no post processing at all, except for me adding my copyright.  I had the lens attached to my Canon 7D Mark II.  No tripod was used, but I had the camera resting on a bean-bag on the sill of my Ford Escape.  The same set-up was used for all of the images in this post.

Chipping Sparrow, female – original and un-retouched.  1/1000 sec. @ f6.3, ISO 320.

This is the same image, cropped about 50-60%.  No post processing at all.  I can not see any loss of sharpness or resolution.

Chipping Sparrow, female – cropped and un-retouched.

Here is another.  A Yellow-rumped Warbler.  Cropped, but no other post-processing.  Notice the high ISO of 5000.

Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1/1600 sec. @ f7.1, ISO 5000.

So, as you can understand, I am as happy as a gopher in soft dirt.  I was very happy with first version and I had used it for two years.  But it was rare for me to be able to crop a photo and not have to do some post-processing.  One more thing before I forget, the lens was extended all the way to 600mm.  No loss of resolution, but that was true of the original version of this lens.  For my bird photography, I am zoomed to the full 600mm most of the time.

Here are several more images from the past week or so, many of them on very overcast and damp days.  And before you ask, yes, most of them have been post-processed.  I can’t get lucky all the time.

Eastern Phoebe – 1/1000 sec. @f6.3, +0.3 EV, ISO 640.

Here was a real challenge.  In the brush at Spring Creek Park, early in the morning.  We could barely see this Hermit Thrush.  The new lens managed to focus in the low light.  Here is the original.

Hermit Thrush – original – 1/800 sec, @ f6.3, + 1.0 EV, ISO 6400

Here is the the cropped and processed image.  I used Topaz DeNoise to remove any noise from using the high ISO of 6400.

Hermit Thrush after post-processing.

This handsome devil was perched atop a telephone, about 200 yards away.  He was probably digesting his breakfast that he got at the local Carrion CarryOut.

Turkey Vulture – 1/1000 sec. @ f6.3, ISO 320.

Another high ISO image, this American Gold finch gave me a fit, trying to get him in focus back in the deep brush, as he continually moved around.

American Goldfinch – 1/1000 sec. @ f7.1, ISO 5000.

This Northern Cardinal brightened the morning.

Northern Cardinal – 1/1600 sec. @ f7.1, -0.3 EV, ISO 640.

This juvenile White-crowned Sparrow was trying to stay hidden, without sucess, in the twigs.

White-crowned Sparrow, juvenile – 1/1600 sec. @ f6.3, ISO 640.

Ya gotta love the Vermilion Flycatchers.  They are little cuties.

Vermilion Flycatcher, female. 1/1250 sec. @ f7.1, ISO 250.

One of the most difficult raptors to photograph is the American Kestrel.  Very elusive, always on the move and hard to get close to.  This image from about 120 yards.

American Kestrel – 1/1000 sec. @ f7.1, ISO 160.

After using this lens for about a week now, I am thoroughly happy with it.  I can’t wait to get out and shoot some more photos.  I hope you enjoyed these images.  Please click on any photo to see some very nice enlargements.

Until the next post, Happy Birding and Happy Shooting.

Comments are appreciated.

 

How I Shoot Birds (With my Camera)

I have been asked many times about how I capture my images.  Well, to begin with, I no longer use the big Canon 500mm that you see in my photo at the head of this blog.  That camera and lens set-up got to big for me after using it for about twelve years.  At 82 years of age, there are times that those heavy lenses are to much.  (However I still wear a camo cap.)  I like to keep that photo, though.  It makes me look macho, don’t you think.

For my bird photography, and other wildlife, I basically use a Tamron 150-500mm zoom lens.  With it attached to one of my two Canon EOS 7D Mark II cameras, I get comparable photos to what I got with the 500mm.  I either use a tripod, or when shooting from my car, my favorite way, a SafariPack bean bag on my window sill.  When I want to walk or hike, to make things a bit lighter, I use a Canon 100-400mm lens in place of the Tamron, sometimes carrying a monopod.

When shooting, I go against what a lot of purists would do.  I seldom shoot in Manual mode.  Why in the world, would I do that when I have a high dollar camera that is designed to figure the exposures for me?  That’s why I paid the big bucks.  When shooting wildlife, lighting situations change by the minute.  There is no time to make quick decisions or I lose the shot.  I use Manual mode for flowers, landscapes, etc.  My subjects are not constantly on the move then.

But make no mistake, I don’t use AUTO either.  With my set-up I have found that what works best for me, with my Canon 7D Mark II, is to shoot Shuttter Priority, that’s Tv on your camera dial.  Depending on the time of day, or lighting, I generally set the shutter anywhere from 1/1000th or 1/2500th of a second, I use auto-ISO, and auto-white balance. The camera generally gives me a large aperture at those settings.  I like to shoot in high-speed bursts.  I use spot-exposure.  I usually use spot-focus, but I am ready to toggle the button to go to zone-focus if I need to acquire a fast moving bird or animal that is in the open.  Oh, one more thing.  As I shoot, I always have my thumb on the back dial, so I can quickly adjust the Exposure Values on the run, should all of a sudden the bird is backlit, or deep in the shade.

I am not recommending that you use the same set-up.  I am only saying what works for me with my own camera/lens combination.  As you can see, by looking at my results on this blog, I have been very sucessful with it.  I will say that I tried using Aperture Priority, (Av), and my results were mixed.  Not as consistent as I have gotten with Shutter Priority.

Peregrine Falcon

I photographed this juvenile Peregrine Falcon as he was lifting off to begin flight.  Exposure was 1/1250 sec @ f6.3, +0.3 EV adjustment, because of it was slightly backlit.  ISO was 125.   Click the image to see an enlargement.

If you have any comments or questions, I would be happy to hear from you.

Happy Shooting!!

 

Happy New Year and Flying Turkeys

Well, today we bid goodbye to 2015.  It has been a great year although it didn’t go as well as I had planned it back on January 1st.  But does it ever go like a person wants it to go?  Ha! Dream on…… 🙂  But I am happy that I am still waking up atop the grass.  At my age that is a fine thing.  I spent the year photographing, buying new equipment, and selling old equipment.

The new equipment is paying off.  (You can never have enough cameras) My new camera is a  Canon EOS 7D Mark II, of which I actually bought two, are amazing.  They can take photos, make videos, (still learning that), make time-relapse photos, and make coffee in the morning.  Well, maybe that last part was an exaggeration, but I am still not finished with reading the manual. 🙂

One thing that I can do is to get amazing photos of birds in flight.  That is one thing that I love to do.  This camera has the capabilities to shoot at an amazing 10 frames per second, and that makes the job a bit easier.

Yesterday, December 30, Ann and I were out at Spring Creek Park.  As we drove through slowly we came upon a flock of Wild Turkeys.  As I slowed, they became nervous, and a few seconds later they took flight to fly across the water about 100 yards, to land in another spot.

I had my Tamron 150-600mm super telephoto lens on the camera, as I always do when I am in the birding/photography mode.  I was able to snatch the camera from my lap and aim the camera towards the flying birds.  The spot-auto focus instantly locked on to a few of them as they passed.  The hard part was keeping the birds in the viewfinder.

I think you will be pleased with these two, of several photos that I captured.  The other twelve or so, will never again see the light of a computer monitor. 🙂 The tech data for photographers that are interested is:  Shutter speed 1/8000 sec., Aperture f6.3 with an EV adjustment of -0.3, at an ISO of 1600.  Spot-exposure and spot-focus. Click the photos to see beautiful enlargements.

Wild Turkey in flight

Wild Turkeys in flight

I must say, that I was impressed with the results.  Both images are available as 12×16 prints.  They will look amazing framed.  Of course, I have those prints for sale. (hint, hint).  You can always contact me if you are interested, and that goes for all of the photos that you see on this blog.

So that’s all for this brief post.  Happy New Year to all!

Happy Birding!!  (and photographing!)

Canon 7D Mk II and Tamron 150-600mm, another comparison

As many of you know I have coupled my Canon 7D Mark II with a Tamron 150-600mm lens.  I have been learning much lately about that new camera, and with that lens I have been excited about the image quality.  This is a photo that I shot a couple days ago.  First I show you the original, straight out of the camera, but converted from the RAW format.  The 150-600mm lens was zoomed out to the 600mm mark.  Notice there is no loss of sharpness at that end, like some zooms have when fully extended.  The second image is my cropped finished version.  I did no sharpening whatsoever.

Original female Northern Cardinal

cropped female Northern Cardinal

Notice the image retained the sharpness after cropping.  One more thing, there is a distinct lack of noise.  I must say that this one of the rare times that I was able to crop and use an image without any other editing.  ISO was 500, exposure 1/1000 sec @ f6.3.  I am finding that this new 7D Mark II is leaps and bounds better than the original 7D.

In other news, I did send my Tamron 150-600mm lens off to the factory.  Not that it needed anything, but since my lens was one of the first built, I found there was an updated firmware available for it to further speed up the auto-focus, so I thought why not take advantage of it.  I will say that I was already was impressed with it’s fast auto-focus, so I am anxious to see how much more it can be improved.  So I will miss it for a few days, but I have my Canon 100-400mm zoom lens as a backup and I will put a 1.4 teleconverter on it.   I will make do.

Birding South Llano River State Park

Note:  This post is best viewed on your computer.  You can then click the images to see the fine detail in the fourteen different enlargements.

We have visited the South Llano River State Park on a few other occasions, but I have never posted about it.  It is located about five miles south of Junction, Texas.  Junction is about 95 miles southeast of San Angelo.  What I like about visiting that park is that they have four distinct blinds.  It seems that each blind has it’s own characteristic.  Each presents it’s own lighting positives or negatives, depending on what time of day you visit each one.  Plus, it seems that, although it may be my imagination, sometimes you might find a bird in one blind, that you won’t find in the others.  So we always visit each blind each time we make the trip.

On our visit this past weekend, it seemed that the Agarita Blind, (they each have a name), seemed to have the most bird activity.  On other days one of the others may be more bird active.

But as I said, with so much activity in the Agarita Blind, we didn’t spend much time at the others.  Here is a sampling of the birds that I photographed, in no particular order.

Carolina Chickadee

Black-throated Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Chipping Sparrow

Northern Cardinal – female

Field Sparrow

Western Scrub Jay

Spotted Towhee

Pine Siskin

Pine Siskin

Bewick’s Wren

Black-crested Titmouse

American Goldfinch – adult breeding female

After arriving back in San Angelo, we drove by our “K-Mart Creek” and saw this Norther Pintail to finish our day.

Northern Pintail

All in all, it was a great way to start the week, and we added six more to our 2015 Big Year list, to bring our new total to 92.  I hope you enjoyed this.  I appreciate any and all comments.

Hey, I clean up pretty good……

Okay, for all of you readers that may be wondering what I really do look like, check this out.  It was taken by the eleven year old son of my dear friend, Shannon.  When Ann and I were visiting them last October, it seems that young Scottie, was on the prowl,  taking candid photos with his little camera.  I didn’t know of the existence of the picture until Shannon posted it to her blog yesterday.  I think the little guys’ got talent.  I obtained permission from her, and Scottie to use it here.  Personally, I think it is one of the best photos I have of myself.  Check out them blue eyes.

Bob

Click photo to see enlargement.

Gray-footed Chipmunk and other photos

As usual, click on the title to see the entire text and numerous more photos.  Click on those photos to see enlargements.

Ann and I visited the bird blind at San Angelo State Park over the weekend.  We met our friend Bill Yeates while we were there.  The light was awesome for photos and we got several nice bird photos.  But, also, while we were there, Bill and I happened to see an unfamiliar creature in the grass.  It didn’t look like our regular Mexican Ground Squirrels that are so plentiful.  When it emerged into the open, we realized it was some kind of chipmunk.  The surprising thing is, there aren’t supposed to be chipmunks in the area.  I took a few photos, (see below), and then showed the image to the resident park ranger.  He said that it was a Gray-footed Chipmunk and it had never been seen in the park or in the area.  They should be in the Guadalupe Mountains in far west Texas.  How or why it is here, is anyone’s guess.

Gray-footed Chipmunk

Gray-footed Chipmunk

Below is probably the best photo of a male House Finch that I was able to get in a long time.  They are so common and plentiful around here that I tend to ignore them.  I got it shortly after photographing the chipmunk.

House Finch

I edited a few more photos from our Pedernales Falls trip and they are ready to be published here.

Orange-crowned Warbler
(winter, oresta)

Painted Bunting – female

Yellow Warbler peeks from the leaves.

After getting home from Pedernales Falls State Park, we made a quick trip to our regular birding areas around Lake Nasworthy.  We came upon this beautiful Green Heron.

Green Heron

Green Heron

Green Heron

For those that are following our progress on our “Big Year” in Texas quest, we are at 166 with the addition of a Western Sandpiper and a Blue Grosbeak.

 

Birding Pedernales Falls State Park

Before I get started, I would like to remind you to click on the title of this post and you will see many more photos and the complete narrative.

We have had a really busy big week.  We had plans to go to to Pedernales Falls State Park, near Johnson City, Texas.  We were to leave on Tuesday.  But on Monday before we were to leave, I and my neighbor Carl Williams, decided to do a little birding and photography locally.  Ann stayed at home to do some laundry and other household chores. She was to regret it.  Why??  Because she missed out on our best day of birding yet.

Carl and I headed to Lake Nasworthy to bird the two local parks there, Middle Concho and Spring Creek.  We checked out every possible bird we saw, for a period of about four hours.  We eventually saw and identified a grand total of 57 species.  The biggest birding day that I have ever had.  Here are a couple of photos from that day.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

The cuckoo was nearly hidden in the trees, but I managed to point that center focus point in the camera between the leaves and branches.

Vermilion Flycatcher

I love to photograph these little red flycatchers anytime I get the chance.

So, now, onto the subject of this post.

Ann and I left Tuesday morning about 8:00 and headed towards Johnson City, a distance of 177 miles, Pedernales Falls State Park being just a few miles east of there. We had room reservations at a motel in Fredericksberg, but check-in time wasn’t until 4:00 so we had plenty of time to bird the park.  We arrived at the park at about 11:00 AM.

We birded the blinds there until about 3:00PM, then left for Fredericksberg about 40 miles away.  After having a supper of fajitas and a cold beer at Mamacita’s Mexican Food Restaurant, we retired to our room at the Sunday House Motel.  The next morning, Wednesday, we headed back to Johnson City and the state park again.  We stayed there again until mid-afternoon.  Pedernales Falls State Park has two bird blinds and both are very comfortable, having benches and large glass viewing windows.

During the two days, we added 6 species to our 2014 “Big Year” list,bring that total to 163, then I added 3 to my life list, which now stands at 272.  Here are photos from there.  Click on any of them to see enlargements.

White-eyed Vireo

House Finch

Bay-breasted Warbler taking a bath. Female, 1st year, summer

Yellow Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Carolina Chickadee

Nashville Warbler

Painted Bunting

Summer Tanager

All photos were taken using my Canon EOS 70D with  a Tamron 150-600mm lens mounted on a Manfrotto tripod with a Wimberley gimbal head.  I was sitting on a bench inside the blinds.  The glass windows, though being very clear, are slanted and that had some effect on the auto-focus and some of the images were a tiny bit fuzzy.  I was able to correct that with Focus Magic software.

The three new life-list additions were a Common Ground Dove, Bay-crested Warbler, and Purple Finch.

The last “Big Year” list update I published took you to number 147.  Here are the additions since then:

148  American Avocet

149  Indigo Bunting

150  Painted Bunting

151  MacGillivray’s Warbler

152  Bronzed Cowbird

153  Yellow Warbler

154  Willet

155  Stilt Sandpiper

156  Yellow-billed Cuckoo

157  Pectoral Sandpiper

158.  Yellow-breasted Chat

159  Common Ground Dove

160  Bay-breasted Warbler

161  Nashville Warbler

162  Purple Finch

163  White-eyed Vireo

Great Blue Heron Rookery

Here in San Angelo there are several Great Blue Heron rookeries.  One is downtown along the Concho River near Santa Fe Golf course.  Ann and I visited there yesterday and after observing and photographing them, we decided that there are about six to eight breeding pairs there.  Because of the dense foliage it was difficult to get an exact count.  But I did get several photographs.  Click the images to see enlargements.

Mother and child

Mother and children

In the above photo I believe there are a total of four young ones.

Great Blue Heron baby, a face only a mother could love.

The proud parents

Adult poised for take-off.

Adult leaving, probably going fishing for food.

It was great fun watching them.  The children were keeping a constant ‘chuk, chuk, chuk’ going on.  I guess they are always hungry.  These nest were about 200 yards away in trees across the river.  I photographed them with my Canon EOS 70D and Tamron 150-600mm lens.  Of course, all images were tightly cropped.  If you are reading this in your e-mail, click on the title, and you will be able to click on the images to enlarge them and examine them in greater detail.

 

Easter Weekend Memories

Ann and I were relatively idle over the weekend.  On Friday,without any specific projects in mind, we just drove around the area to see what we might see.  Of course, I think that is what we do most of the time, now that I think of it.  So I guess this weekend was no different.  Okay, so I sound like and old man rambling.  Well, I am old, so I guess that is my job. Anyway, here are a few miscellaneous photos that I managed to grab.  All photos were shot with my Canon EOS 70D with a Tamron 150-600mm zoom.  Please click on any image to see enlargements.

House Finch

The House Finch was photographed at San Angelo State Park.  I was in the bird blind there watching the activities of various birds.

Red-winged Blackbird

The Red-winged Blackbird was also shot at the blind.  I love the brilliant wing bars on these birds.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

After visiting the blind, we decided to just take a leisurely drive through the park.  I saw the Ash-throated Flycatcher off to the side of the road and photographed it from my car.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

On Sunday morning, after breakfast, we drove by the old K-Mart building where there is a creek nearby.  We had received about a quarter inch of rain during the night, and there was some substantial water in it.  There was also this Yellow-crowned Night Heron strolling by.

Solitary Sandpiper

This Solitary Sandpiper was also nearby.

American Kestrel

We then decided to drive the backroads down near Eldorado, Texas then visit the city water ponds in that city.  On the way we spotted this American Kestrel in the top of a dead tree off to the side of the road.  I brought the car to a stop, turned off the engine.  Since the bird was on the passenger side of the car, I had to hand-hold the camera across in front of Ann.  It was no easy feat,but thanks to the Vibration Control in the lens, I managed to get this shot.  The bird was about 150 feet away and I was zoomed to the full 600mm of the lens.

Wilson’s Phalarope

Arriving at the ponds, we saw quite a bit of activity, teals, gadwalls, shovelers, etc.  In one corner of one pond we spotted about twenty of these Wilson’s Phalaropes.  They were not skittish at all of my car, and I was only about twenty feet away for this shot.

Cattle Egret

On an island in the middle of one pond were a few Cattle Egrets.  This is my favorite photo, I think, even though there is a bit of a twig in front of the face.  The image was taken from a distance of about 200 feet.  The photo was severely cropped so I could show you the close-up.

After that, light showers began, so we headed for home.  We were not unhappy as this area needs as much rain as we can get.

Update:  New total for my Big Year Texas list is 147.  New additions are:

#146  Yellow-crowned Night Heron

#147  Cattle Egret