Sunday 21 November 2010

dads back yard

Dad called me today to say there was a family of Tawny Frogmouths just recently out of the nest in the back yard. So I pulled out my trusty FD 300mm f4 and my G1 and toddled over.

They're commonly thought of as Owls, but they are in fact not. They are related to the Nightjar family.

They are nocturnal, so there isn't much activity by day ..


sleepyTawnt

just keeping still

twoTawnys
and keeping an eye on photographers

awakeNow

But this is the "classic" pose for the Tawny.

classicPose

I must say I'm quite pleased with my existing image making tools. The G1 does well with adapted lenses in this sort of work

People today confuse me ... they want to spend thousands on cameras and lenses which more often not fail to do any better than this. They often fail to see the worth in learning a little about their craft and equipment. These were taken with a lens made in 1970.


G1 with 300mm f4

I just use a monopod to stabilise it and this wonderful optic can get images which are as sharp as you could ask for. This is a 100% sample from the keeping still image above (click it to load the full image).



enough detail to make a very good looking 50cm high print of the little guy

3 comments:

Noons said...

That is incredibly good IQ!

obakesan said...

nearly as incredible as how incredibly cute these guys are!

:-)

Charles Maclauchlan said...

wonderful images! You're correct in assessing the incredible utility and underutilization of older lenses. This is even more pronounced if they're completely manual. Once you get the 3 manipulations "programmed into your fingers" a manual lens is quite efficient and a real bargain. World class optics at a kit lens price. Of course you've gotta be a photographer to use them