trying my new toy(TC1.7x II)

[blaine]

wished i could comb his hair.so messy!

heh.. that's good humour! :bsmilie:

 

[jeanie]

guys, are these acceptable pictures?
be frank.
if it sucks, it sucks.

 

[raptor84]

Its ok for me but as i mentioned some of the shots might look better in portrait orientation and that last cheetah pic of him looking straight on is not very flattering your second cheetah shot was better.

This was my own attempt long ago. Pity about the dark eyes.. (that DA account is not mine i just donated that shot to them, read the description)

 

[jeanie]

let me go home find more cheetah shots.i took about 40+ pics just on the cheetahs cos they were posing for me.maybe it's the way i crop the pics.
i still dun really know how to do perspective cropping in cs2.:dunno:
thanks for the comments.love your sig pic very much btw.

 

[jeanie]

the last cheetah shot i posted,
not only he has messy hair, he cant sit straight somemore!aiyo!:bsmilie:

 

[raptor84]

Thanks for the compliments. The thing about the zoo is that its also partially luck. If the animals dont want to stay still or keep hiding theres nothing you can do. As for framing and capturing the moment its all about timing and practice, lots and lots of practice.. I do my practicing on the tamer animals and one day hope to capture the wilder ones in the same way hehe..

 

[Red-I]

Hi,

Actually the pics are not bad. Lovely colours and bokeh very nice. There is potential. As Starrynight said, TCs work best with primes. That's because a TC magnifies the image from the lens, and it magnifies the lens' weaknesses as well ie. if chromatic aberration is a weakness of the lens, that gets magnified too in the final image. In the pics you posted, I don't see anything wrong in particular, well at least without pixel peeping. Unless you need to make large prints or need to make aggressive cropping, you do not need to be worried. As others have highlighted, other factors like camera shake which has nothing to do with TC performance has a bearing on image quality as well. So handholding technique is important for long focal length. The other thing is the aperture. If you want sharper images, usually stopping down one to two stops usually helps. But depending on how far you are from subject, there is a tradeoff if you want smooth bokeh (large apertures give nice bokeh).

So enjoy your new toy and keep shooting!

My $0.02 worth.

Cheers

 

[jeanie]

one of my photography dream is to go africa with my personal landrover with a 600mm nikkor mounted on my dlsr.how nice:sweatsm:

 

[jeanie]

Hi,

Actually the pics are not bad. Lovely colours and bokeh very nice. There is potential. As Starrynight said, TCs work best with primes. That's because a TC magnifies the image from the lens, and it magnifies the lens' weaknesses as well ie. if chromatic aberration is a weakness of the lens, that gets magnified too in the final image. In the pics you posted, I don't see anything wrong in particular, well at least without pixel peeping. Unless you need to make large prints or need to make aggressive cropping, you do not need to be worried. As others have highlighted, other factors like camera shake which has nothing to do with TC performance has a bearing on image quality as well. So handholding technique is important for long focal length. The other thing is the aperture. If you want sharper images, usually stopping down one to two stops usually helps. But depending on how far you are from subject, there is a tradeoff if you want smooth bokeh (large apertures give nice bokeh).

So enjoy your new toy and keep shooting!

My $0.02 worth.

Cheers

thanks very much for the tips.

1)what's pixel peeping?
2)if my 70-200 vr f2.8 is 'so called' sharpest at 2 stops down means f5.6, by adding a tc1.7 with max apert at 4.8, so i still step down to f5.6 or 2 stops away from 4.8?
3)what's 2 stops away from 4.8 btw?f8?
4)how do i practise hand held when i have a monopod?i just rest the monopod on the ground firmly right?left hand on top of lens for focusing and zooming.right hand on trigger.how else can i practise handheld with monopod?:dunno:
5)the prob with prime is that it's not flexible.if i have a 400mm for eg, i can do any compostion other than doing it in PS right?sometimes having a prime, i maybe too near to the subject then how?

appreciate the tips.

 

[raptor84]

1. Means you zoom in 100% to see how sharp it is

2 and 3 . It shloud be 2 stops down from F/5 which would make it f/10

4. I dont know about monopods but you can ry contorlling your breathing and when presing the shutter dont jab so hard, gradually increase the pressure after its locked in the half-press point (assumeing your half press is the AF lock)

5. Practice and expereince will tell you when and where to be when using primes as you can agarate the FOV without taking out you camera..

 

[Red-I]

thanks very much for the tips.

1)what's pixel peeping?
2)if my 70-200 vr f2.8 is 'so called' sharpest at 2 stops down means f5.6, by adding a tc1.7 with max apert at 4.8, so i still step down to f5.6 or 2 stops away from 4.8?
3)what's 2 stops away from 4.8 btw?f8?
4)how do i practise hand held when i have a monopod?i just rest the monopod on the ground firmly right?left hand on top of lens for focusing and zooming.right hand on trigger.how else can i practise handheld with monopod?:dunno:
5)the prob with prime is that it's not flexible.if i have a 400mm for eg, i can do any compostion other than doing it in PS right?sometimes having a prime, i maybe too near to the subject then how?

appreciate the tips.

Ok here's my amateur views....

1)Pixel peeping - that's looking at the actual pixels. For eg. if you use Photoshop, there is a function where you click to view "actual pixels".
2) and 3)When TC is attached, the largest aperture shown on your camera should be 4.8. So 2 stops down should be around 9.5 (lens 2 stops down from 2.8 is 5.6 and applying the 1.7X factor your camera should show around 9.5 I think).
4)Some articles on monopod and long lens technique, hope you find useful:

Monopod technique: http://www.outdooreyes.com/photo5.php3

Long lens technique: http://www.naturephotographers.net/ejp0801-1.html

5)It's true, zoom lenses more flexible for framing/composition. It's a trade off really. Depends on what you shoot. I'm into birding so the lens is seldom too long. Usually, the problem for birding is lens too short and need to crop haha.

Enjoy this learning process... it's a journey.

Cheers

 

[erictan8888]

hi jeanie,

the more i look at your last cheeta messy hair shot, the more it looks aceptable...

initial impression was that it was soft.... but as i scrutinise the pic more, the more soothing it looks... the eyes are the sharpess part of the pic....so the overall impression of the pic as being soft slowly goes away....

the bokeh is good.... very good imo.....
but i guess your overall softness could be that you shot at tele end of the lens and at widest aperature....

here is a very good website that has done testing on the 70-200mm vr + 1.7 TC combo.
http://www.zaps21.com/photo/TC17tests/TC17tests.htm

in conclusion: dun shoot at the extreme tele end of the zoom and/or step down about 1 and a half stops to get the sharpest combi.

this TC thing is back into consideration.... ha ha

 

[Youhong]

Its good to have a 'supportive' GF to double up as a monopod keke...

Wah... bro... At least say BI-pod lah... :bsmilie:
1) Mono = one
2) Bi = Two
3) Tri = Three

 

[jeanie]

thanks guys for the tips and links!

 

[milamber]

imo, the teleconverter really does take away the sharpness of my 70-200 vr lens.

too bad i cant afford the 200-400 f4.:dunno:

Don't worry, Jeanie. Your pics look plenty sharp to me.

P.S. You really should invest in a good tripod instead if you want critical sharpness and a remote switch wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Mendis]

Starry is right. At 70-200 with tc17E II, I have seen great handheld shots. But, speed cannot be less than 1/125th even if one has great muscles and VR on. I must tell you that the TC17E II is very very sharp. Very little degradation. Tripod is probably the only way to go for you Jeanie.

 

[renegade150]

nvr shoot bird without monopod or tripod..else u just wasting time

 

[jeanie]

thanks guys.very encouraging though not sure if you guys really meant the pics are sharp.
(sorry, i speak my mind and i hope u do the same.that's the only way i can learn from my mistakes).
but then again, 1/50s at 340mm...give me some credit lah!(or rather the gitzo monopod!):bsmilie:

tripod ah?sigh.....more $ to go.but if i do get a big cannon lens, i guess a tripod is a must.
piang eh...dec bonus better be damn good siah!:dunno:

 

[Allan Teo]

thanks guys.very encouraging though not sure if you guys really meant the pics are sharp.
(sorry, i speak my mind and i hope u do the same.that's the only way i can learn from my mistakes).
but then again, 1/50s at 340mm...give me some credit lah!(or rather the gitzo monopod!):bsmilie:

tripod ah?sigh.....more $ to go.but if i do get a big cannon lens, i guess a tripod is a must.
piang eh...dec bonus better be damn good siah!:dunno:

I downloaded your cheetah. One look at it and I saw that it was LENS BLUR that
caused the issue. A litle bit of the correct sharpening techniques recovers the photo.

More tweaking

70-200 + 1.7TC Not = 340MM lens. You are only MAGNIFYING the picture
collected behind the 200MM lens.

It only 'looks as though' you used a 340MM lens.

As for tripods, you can buy a China Made Carbon Fiber Tripod
Velbron is tops , followed by Benro..
(prefebably without any long necks so you can carry it easily)

Sure you can use it for any wildlife, when you get your tripod

There are situations where the VR on the NIKON 70-200 will BLUR your
photo rather than sharpen it when used on a tripod. Beware!

Another good option is to make yourself a bean bag
like your own version of the MOLAR then you can place
it on any surface with the lens on top of the bag, then
you are more mobile. Becareful
of the filling as you want the bean bag to be light and not
heavy .. the 70-200+1.7TC will plop perfectly on a well
done bean bag. http://www.hoothollow.com/Question-October-November 2004.html

you also need to purchase a shutterrelease (China compatible copy)
to operate the camera to reduce hand shake when using TC and
slow shutter speeds and for mirror lockup.


BTW: As for shouders, my experience is that it does not work
well. The breathing of the person and all the little shakes
makes the photo very blur...




Allan

 

[jeanie]

thanks very much allan for the short lecture.

what exactly is lens blur?is it the same as OOF?or it's the nature of the tc coupled with 70-200.

geez.i didnt know adding tc is only magnifying an area of my 70-200.
so...nothing beats the real thing i guess.:cry:
those cannons are expensive man...