Northern Harrier

Very nice Brian. I can see that you really want a 1DM2 (read your other post )

Great Shot Brian! I was unhappy with all of my Northern Harrier shots...this one is awesome! Was this on that stretch of road where the coyote was so close that it was like he wanted to go for a ride in your "clean" rental car!

You don't seem pleased with it, Brian, but I think it's an excellent shot. The first thing I look for is a sharp eye, and this one is sharp. About how much of a crop is this?

Sandy Mossberg wrote:You don't seem pleased with it, Brian, but I think it's an excellent shot. The first thing I look for is a sharp eye, and this one is sharp. About how much of a crop is this?

Crop is at about 40% -- 60% frame size is the magic number I am finding with the 20D so this one was right on the border.

Kristi Graham wrote:Great Shot Brian! I was unhappy with all of my Northern Harrier shots...this one is awesome! Was this on that stretch of road where the coyote was so close that it was like he wanted to go for a ride in your "clean" rental car!

Yup this was the shot I got when I was standing with one foot in the car and the other foot on the open car door so as to get height over the tall grass.
Car was clean wasn't it The snow on the way to the airport kinda took care of that

A pleasing image. Agree with Sandy but i'd like to see more sharp detail in the body, given the lens used.

Okay, I'm missing something about your "AF points" comment. How is that a problem if that's what you set?

John Pelafigue wrote:Okay, I'm missing something about your "AF points" comment. How is that a problem if that's what you set?

The core problem I am finding with the 20D has to do with your smaller birds occupying say just 60% or less of the frame. The 20D 'ring of fire' is very unreliable when all AF points are active. In this particular shot I had the center AF point on the neck but the 20D selected an AF point to the left on the body or wing -- this rendered a less sharp image. As mentioned in another thread when you are over 60% the frame then the problem occurs much less. By the end of my Bosque trip I pretty much left center AF on when in AIServo mode.

Beautiful shot Brian!!! Good 'reaction' to this guy popping up!

Your assessment of the sharpness is correct. It looks a little soft to me too. If I had not gotten some good Harrier images (it might even be the same bird) this year, I'd be very jealous. Excellent Pose.
Nice work.

Nice Harrier shot. I have several gigs of images of these birds to edit (mostly perched in the field) and noticed right away the eye makes or breaks the image. Here the eye is sharp with a nice catchlight, and of course the nice light on the bird in flight doesn't hurt, either! A great shot in my book, well done.

Got ya, thanks. Same applies with the 10D, and my solution mirrors yours. Center point AF all the time.

A very nice shot Brian. Considering your hand holding the lens, I think you did quite well!

Did you clean the boot marks off the door before you returned it? Nice to meet you and hope to see you again.

BrianS wrote:

John Pelafigue wrote:Okay, I'm missing something about your "AF points" comment. How is that a problem if that's what you set?

The core problem I am finding with the 20D has to do with your smaller birds occupying say just 60% or less of the frame. The 20D 'ring of fire' is very unreliable when all AF points are active. In this particular shot I had the center AF point on the neck but the 20D selected an AF point to the left on the body or wing -- this rendered a less sharp image. As mentioned in another thread when you are over 60% the frame then the problem occurs much less. By the end of my Bosque trip I pretty much left center AF on when in AIServo mode.

at f10 and 1/1000, you should have a very sharp image..
Even if the camera focused on the left wing, because of the DOF, angle of the subject (makes both the lower part of the left wing and head almost parallel to the camera) and distance to subject (since this is a crop I'm assuming it is much father than it looks), it should be pretty close to the same focusing distance as if it focused on the eye. IMO..
since you were handholding the rig.. did you have IS on?

the image itself is awesome with great lighting and wing position.

Brian,
You can tell by looking at the original file but as a jpeg it looks just fine!

A killer shot Brian.

Nice one Brian!! Much better than any harrier image I have.

Brian:

I was next to you when the Harrier was far away, I got impatient and I missed this great opportunity, Very nice capture. Nice seen you there. I am looking forward for the portfolio feature in NSN.

The eye is sharp and the exposure is great so no complaining Sometimes you take what you get and this is just fine, especially since I do not have one in my files!

Brian, it looks pretty good here!

The phenomenon you are experiencing with all focus points is common and expected among all Canon models, particularly the 20D. The central censor is a completely different type of sensor, and is therefor much more accurate than any (or all) of the others. Even the Mark II suffers some with 45 point versus central only. It's the nature of the beast. I always recommend using central only for fast flying birds such as hawks, whether it be with the 20D or with the Mark II.