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Sierra Valley marsh birds

Doug Herr

Member
I visited the Sierra Valley north of Lake Tahoe where a sprig-fed marsh attracts numerous species that would not ordinarily live in this sagebrush habitat.

A Wilson's Snipe, singing:

wisnip05.jpg


a pair of Wilson's Phalaropes. Unlike most bird species that show sexual dimorphism the female is more colorful than the male:


wiphal03.jpg


wiphal04.jpg



The Sage Thrasher is more typical of the surrounding sagebrush than of the marsh:

sathra01.jpg

technical stuff: Sony a7II, Canon FD 500mm f/4.5 L, extension tube. All comments are welcome.
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
Beautiful little guys and perfect catches!
One can only be surprised that they don't stand on telephone wires! ; )
 

Andy brown

Well-known member
Lovely shots Doug.
I particularly like the way the sympathetic tones work with the female phalarope and the way her wing and cheek patches are echoed by the bokeh of the background highlights, gorgeous image.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Doug,

I so appreciate you bringing this beauty to us. Thanks so much


So tell me what is your assessment of using this combination of a veteran FD lens with a Sony camera Eith built in image stabilization compared to a modern IS Canon
Lens? Seems to me to be an amazing economy but are you sacrificing anything significant in the optics?

Asher
 

Doug Herr

Member
Doug,

I so appreciate you bringing this beauty to us. Thanks so much


So tell me what is your assessment of using this combination of a veteran FD lens with a Sony camera Eith built in image stabilization compared to a modern IS Canon
Lens? Seems to me to be an amazing economy but are you sacrificing anything significant in the optics?

Asher

My wallet is the big winner and for the foreseeable future it has the trump card. The FD 500 has some lateral chromatic aberration but the Capture 1 software bundled with the camera corrects for this semi-automatically resulting in very sharp images. Aside from this the lens is quite good: no apparent color fringes on high-contrast edges, good color and flare resistance and usually decent bokeh. I have no idea about distortion, it's hardly relevant for my subjects.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
My wallet is the big winner and for the foreseeable future it has the trump card. The FD 500 has some lateral chromatic aberration but the Capture 1 software bundled with the camera corrects for this semi-automatically resulting in very sharp images. Aside from this the lens is quite good: no apparent color fringes on high-contrast edges, good color and flare resistance and usually decent bokeh. I have no idea about distortion, it's hardly relevant for my subjects.

Actually, Doug, B&H Photo Video will give you back $1.00 when you buy a 500mm f4.0 L IS lens for just $9,000, so that's something to consider!

Still just $150O for the FD on EBay and the Capture One correction software with IS coming from the camera leaves you $7,500 richer!

Since 99.99% of the value of the picture is in the center and in your composition, I cannot see any real loss in using your clever combination of old and new!

Simply brilliant and liberating!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I am being slowly educated. I will have to find out about Wilson and his Sage Thrasher and Phalarope!

I am impressed by your knowledge and skill in getting these small birds so well framed and imaged.

We do not have an abundance of knowledgeable birders her and so you are our most valuable resource.

For each bird you post, I will devote time to reading up on it's habitat, travel and behavior. Thanks for the stimulus!

Asher
 
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