Tamron AF 200-400mm f/5.6 LD IF

Hoping this is one of those 'oldie's but goodies' we will see
Just had one chance to run outside and shoot some birds in the backyard quickly.
I have to learn to shoot long now.

Shot with my D610 - on Christmas Day - bright and sunny.
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Nice first outing,especially the BIF shots

Having a little more playtime with my new toy.
Went bird hunting at sunset - while I could hear a chirp or two, never spotted any feathered friends.
But did get a chance to try out a few other subjects. Close up a leaves - from several meters away - like 30 maybe. And I took a moon shot - could be better but best I've ever taken.

One thing I've noticed with my D610 which I find a bother - it is way too easy for the exposure adjustment to get way out of whack without me noticing. Must just be touching it by mistake and I don't notice until way too late that I'm totally over or under exposing a shot unintentionally. Anyone else have this foible to deal with?

A little New Years morning bird hunting - missed the bright red cardinal - just too quick for me.
PP on an android tablet using free apps - not the best but works on the road.

Bound and determined to get that pesky cardinal - well I did - sort of - just don't look too closely

What shutter speed and aperture are you using at 400mm ?Your best shot is the female cardinal for sure ,with the Cedar Waxwing next , although it's a dark exposure but the detail is there .

Looked up that Female Cardinal shot - F/16 - 1/100 sec - 400mm.

Here is another shot - I'm thinking a female woodpecker but I'm not sure.

EXIF: F/18 1/200 (aperture priority sets speed) 400mm ISO 800
Camera D610 - Tamron 200-400 F5.6

Cropped and pp in Corel Paintshop Pro x7 - used Clearly Perfect plug in to adjust image. Full size is straight from camera - but converted from RAW to JPG in Corel PPx7.

Fortkentdad said:

Looked up that Female Cardinal shot - F/16 - 1/100 sec - 400mm.

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Think i would have opened the lens up a bit,f16 could start degrading the image,are you not happy with f8

I'm afraid I was not paying a lot of attention to the F stop at all - just out bird hunting - I'm new to this. Should try to shoot with the lowest F number I can I suppose, and still get a fast enough shutter speed.

Am I further ahead to set a speed and let the camera pick the F stop? Say set it at 1/100 or 1/200 and see what it give me? How slow can I go and get a descent shot away. Suppose that really depends on whether the bird is still or flying eh?

For a sitting bird what is an acceptable shutter speed? Or should I us aperture priority and dial in F/8 or even F/5.6 which this lens will do throughout the full focal range?

I'll look through my shoot and see if I did get a shot with lower F number.

I dont know much about your lens but i would try f8 and see how high you can take the iso and still be happy,if your hand holding you realy need to start with a shutter speed that matches the lens ie1/400th when you dont have VR.

Bluebird - F/18 1/400 400mm ISO 800

First image untouched (just converted from RAW to JPG) second one adjusted - mostly colour balance to get the blue to pop and a little sharpening.

D610 - Tamron 200-400mm

Cedar Waxwings - four in a berry bush.

F/10 1/250 ISO 800 400MM
D610 - Tamron 200-400mm F5.6

PP in Corel Paintshop Pro X7 - only applied to cropped portion.
Full size has no adjustments, save converted to JPG

mikew said:

Think i would have opened the lens up a bit,f16 could start degrading the image,are you not happy with f8

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I went back and posted a couple more shots - cropped and not - with EXIF data written.
Not sure why it was lost. While on my trip I tended to use my tablet to edit the images not a PC. Some were done on my son's PC so maybe that's the reason the EXIF did not come through.

My first set included blue bird shots that were done at F/5.6

Shots were taken while on vacation in Mississippi.
Back in Canada now, and it is warming up to minus 20 on the weekend - don't think I'll be going bird hunting this weekend.
But once it is warm enough I'll see what I can find - we do have a few birds that don't fly south but not many.

FYI - I did have the 200-400 lens mounted on a tripod for those shots - although the hawks were shot hand held - with the tripod still attached - good thing there was no one else anywhere near me.

Looking at your ceder waxwings i think f10 could be a good aperture for your lens.

mikew said:

I dont know much about your lens but i would try f8 and see how high you can take the iso and still be happy,if your hand holding you realy need to start with a shutter speed that matches the lens ie1/400th when you dont have VR.

Click to expand...

Shhhh!! careful Mike, i got shot down when i advised using the reciprocal rule in another thread

jaydean said:

Shhhh!! careful Mike, i got shot down when i advised using the reciprocal rule in another thread

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The benefit of having a bald head,it just slides straight of the top

you camera settings are all over the place and this is really degrading your results; especially with a lens that's probably not the greatest to being with.