Tampilkan postingan dengan label bad bird photos. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label bad bird photos. Tampilkan semua postingan
My Camera Lens is Fixed!
The mystery of my streaky images was not elementary my dear hoatzin.Sometime back in late 2008 my Canon 300mm fixed lens took a bump (or ate bad hummus) and began showing occasional image abnormalities. This problem was especially obvious in shots with a dark-green background. In these shots there would be diagonal streaks from upper left to lower right through the image. Initially I thought these streaks were a by-product of my near-complete ignorance of camera settings—things like ISO and aperture and TV, AV, and A-DEP. But since they did not appear in every shot, I assumed the problem was due to "operator error." I've been accused of that before.
Soon I noticed that my images just were not as sharp as they should be. You know the feeling of getting a very cooperative subject, snapping off a bunch of frames, liking what you see on the camera's playback window, but once you look at it on the computer, you see that the focus is just off enough to render the shot useless? A non-keeper? That's where I was with my camera rig.
I was frustrated. So I did the unthinkable. I read the camera's manual. It was no help.
I did every imaginable Google search. (Oh, and by the way, don't ever do a search for images containing the word "Streaking." You'll never recover). Still no answers to why the images were soft and streaky.
Next I did a series of tests with the camera using other lenses and determined that the problem was with my 300mm lens, not my Canon 30D camera.
I called Canon and it was determined that I needed to send the lens in for a check-up and possible repair. I did this. And for a mere $120, and two weeks of repair work, I got my 300mm lens back as good as nearly new.
The hoatzin photograph above shows the diagonal streaks that plagued me. I can't tell you how many images that anomaly ruined, but it was a healthy number.
But now, all fixed up, my camera and lens are taking images like this:
Male ruby-throated hummingbird image shot with the recently repaired lens.I am SO happy! And no, I STILL don't know what ISO is.
The Reality of Warbler Photography
Cameras purchased by bird watchers who want to become bird photographers should come with a warning sticker that says:
Or the ones that look like this:
Or this. Great photo of vegetation, perfectly in focus, hiding a blurry bird.
And then, before you figure things out, the bird bolts. Sweet!
But if the birding gods are smiling, the bird does a 180 and stops to check you out for just five seconds more, and you get this (below), an image which is JUST GOOD ENOUGH to keep you coming back, camera in hand, chasing after colorful fleeting things with wings.
Cropping and tweaking results in an image that is good enough for the old blog, but probably won't pass muster for the cover of National Geographic. Still, what a handsome devil this male magnolia warbler is!
Happy shutter-bugging to every bird watcher who is similarly afflicted.
Bird photography is not as easy as it looks.
In fact, it's not even close to being easy!
You need to be prepared to be extremely disappointed
in the images you'll be getting despite spending all this money.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
And no, there's nothing wrong with your camera.
That sort of fair warning/truth in advertising would go a long way to helping me feel better about the plethora of warbler images I take that look like this:
In fact, it's not even close to being easy!
You need to be prepared to be extremely disappointed
in the images you'll be getting despite spending all this money.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
And no, there's nothing wrong with your camera.
That sort of fair warning/truth in advertising would go a long way to helping me feel better about the plethora of warbler images I take that look like this:
Or the ones that look like this:
Or this. Great photo of vegetation, perfectly in focus, hiding a blurry bird.
And then, before you figure things out, the bird bolts. Sweet!
But if the birding gods are smiling, the bird does a 180 and stops to check you out for just five seconds more, and you get this (below), an image which is JUST GOOD ENOUGH to keep you coming back, camera in hand, chasing after colorful fleeting things with wings.
Cropping and tweaking results in an image that is good enough for the old blog, but probably won't pass muster for the cover of National Geographic. Still, what a handsome devil this male magnolia warbler is!
Happy shutter-bugging to every bird watcher who is similarly afflicted.
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