Red-winged Blackbird

A great dynamic flight pose, Gene. Curious about the camera and lens you used to capture this fine image?

Ron Day wrote:A great dynamic flight pose, Gene. Curious about the camera and lens you used to capture this fine image?

Ron,
Nikon D850, Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lens, Nikon 1.4 TC.  A big advantage to a 300mm lens used on a full-frame camera and adding a TC is the increased depth of field.  The bird was (my estimation) about 18 feet away.  At f/7.1 that's four inches dof.  Looking at the specs after the fact, wish I had used f/9, which would have increased the dof to six inches, which would have been beneficial on this image.  That would probably have brought up the ISO to about 800, which is completely manageable.  Conversely, a 500mm lens would have the same depth of field at f/7.1 and f/9; only two inches.   With the 300mm lens and 1.4 TC you will lose only 80mm of lens.  With such a large sensor in the 850, that much of a crop does not present a problem, IMO.  Ron, thanks for asking.

Gene Gwin wrote:

Ron Day wrote:A great dynamic flight pose, Gene. Curious about the camera and lens you used to capture this fine image?

Ron,
Nikon D850, Nikon 300mm f/2.8 lens, Nikon 1.4 TC.  A big advantage to a 300mm lens used on a full-frame camera and adding a TC is the increased depth of field.  The bird was (my estimation) about 18 feet away.  At f/7.1 that's four inches dof.  Looking at the specs after the fact, wish I had used f/9, which would have increased the dof to six inches, which would have been beneficial on this image.  That would probably have brought up the ISO to about 800, which is completely manageable.  Conversely, a 500mm lens would have the same depth of field at f/7.1 and f/9; only two inches.   With the 300mm lens and 1.4 TC you will lose only 80mm of lens.  With such a large sensor in the 850, that much of a crop does not present a problem, IMO.  Ron, thanks for asking.

Thanks, Gene. The impressive depth-of-field is what prompted my question. Keep up the great work.

Sweet capture Gene !!! One usual flight pose, don't see many like it often !!! Congrats !!!

Cracking image Gene. Thanks for the info too!

Amazing shot.

Wonderful action capture with excellent detail and sweet light!

Carol.

Amazing capture-such an unusual pose. Appreciate your detailed explanation as well.