Getting Close to Wildlife

I got a new toy this week. It's my inspiration to update the blog. I've had my Nikon 300mm F4 AF-S for a bit more than a month. It still doesn't have the reach that I need for wildlife photography. I used a few of the dollars from a recent publication to add a bit more length to my arsenal. I bought the 1.4X TelePlus 300 Pro teleconverter from Kenko. It isn't Nikon but my testing indicates that it will do the job. And, it is only half the price of the Nikon TC14E II teleconverter. The first few pictures are quite satisfactory.

Vultures are in no shortage around the lake. These guys are basking in early morning sun after a feast on dead, rotting fish. This is one of my first photos with the new setup. I was reasonably close but the lens pulled them in tight. In 35mm equivalency, the 300mm F4 AFS lens with 1.4 teleconverter is approximately a 620mm F5.6 (still autofocus) lens. That is due to a "crop factor" in cameras with sensors less than the 24x36 measurements of 35mm film. Sensors on digital cameras less than about $5,000 are much smaller.

I was impressed with the speed of the autofocus, especally with the cheaper Kenko converter mounted between the lens and the camera. The vultures were brightly lit, however. The brighter the better for autofocus.

Focus is one thing. Depth is another. When photographing anything alive, sharp eye-focus is a must. I noticed while shooting my buddy "Bruce" the blue heron that unless I was very careful I would have sharp eyes and soft feet and legs. Or, from some angles, one eye sharp and the other less so. On the other hand, that lack of depth certainly separates Bruce from the background. It gives the image a lot of "pop."

The image on the left is part of the same Bruce series. It came out a bit softer, partly due to the warm, wrap-around backlight from a setting sun. I like the rim light effect on his neck and beak. Looking closely at the legs you may notice a bit of softness in the focus. I think that is due to a lack of depth but can't be sure. The eye is just a bit soft also.

Another important point with the long lens setup ... I can NOT hand-hold this lens. I was using a monopod.

The focus tracking is fast. The Nikon 300 AF offers an override focus capability. Even in autofocus, I can manually adjust the focus, overriding the autofocus. This allows me to move the subject out of the autofocus area and still maintain focus. I used that feature in this picture of a green backed heron running back and forth under the neighbors pier. He stopped long enough for me to move him off-center for this exposure.

You still have to get close to the creatures. All these images are cropped. This image of a smaller bird on phone lines is VERY cropped. It is also a bit under exposed from looking directly into the light source. I wanted to display it because of the sharpness in difficult conditions. I probably used only twenty percent of the image and the whiskers are still quite sharp. This setup works. I think I'll spend many hours playing with it. The Kenko is a Keeper. :-)

As always, click the image for a larger view.

l8r