Birding around Woodbridge Island with the Canon 7D Mark II / EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens
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| Common Kestrel : Above the Diep River, Woodbridge |
"As far as knowing when to shoot, I always relied totally on my instinct. I believed I could feel when there was a good picture." - Linda McCartney
Shooting at 400mm with the APS-C Canon body
On Monday I made reference of the fact that I am going to experiment with the Canon Extender EF 1.4x III paired with the Canon EOS 7D Mark II and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens one last time. (
Birds on a Blue Monday Morning) Keep in mind that an APS-C body adds a crop factor of 1.6x to the focal length of the lens (with / without the 1.4x extender).
It was indeed the last time. This morning I went out with the same body and lens pairing, but minus the Canon Extender EF 1.4x III. The shorter focal length (400mm vs. 560mm) at f/5.6 and not f/8 - and the fact that I could use the Large Zone AF Mode convinced me to leave the extender alone until another day for testing on a different f/2.8 or f/4 pairing.
During my normal hike, down the Diep River, Woodbridge Island right up to the edge of the
Table Bay Nature Reserve I experienced intermittent lower light (due to scattered cloud cover) than Monday with a tad stronger South-Easterly wind. I took more / less the same shots as I did on Monday, but where far more satisfied with the speed of the AF and the overall quality of the bird images.
Birds in Flight / Perched Bird List- Common Kestrel in Flight (Top)
- Yellow-Billed Duck in Flight
- African Oystercatcher in Flight
- Egyptian Goose in Flight
- Grey Heron in Flight
- Purple Heron in Flight
- African Sacred Ibis in Flight
- Grey Heron in Flight
- Pigeons in Flight
- Common Starling in Flight
- Female Red Bishop Perched
- Grey Heron Portrait
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| African Oystercatcher in Flight : Table Bay Nature Reserve Woodbridge Island |
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Yellow-Billed Duck in Flight : Table Bay Nature Reserve, Woodbridge Island
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| Egyptian Goose in Flight : Diep River, Woodbridge Island |
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| Grey Heron in Flight : Table Bay Nature Reserve, Woodbridge Island |
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Purple Heron in Flight Table Bay Nature Reserve, Woodbridge Island
African Sacred Ibis : High Above Woodbridge Island
Grey Heron in Flight : Against the Milnerton Golf Course |
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| Pigeons in Flight : Diep River,Woodbridge Island |
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| Common Starling in Flight : Diep Rive, Woodbridge Island |
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Perched Female Red Bishop : Diep River, Woodbridge Island
Grey Heron Portrait : Along the Milnerton Lagoon |
Location: Diep River, Woodbridge Island, Table Bay Nature Reserve
Canon Camera / Lens for Bird Photography
- Canon EOS 7D Mark II (APS-C)
- Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens
- SanDisk Extreme PRO 64GB 200 MB/s
Exposure / Focus Settings for Bird Photography
- Autofocus On
- Manual Mode
- Aperture f/5.6
- Auto ISO 160 - 500
- Shutter Speeds 1/2500s
- No Image Stabilisation
- Handheld
Image Post-Processing: Lightroom Classic (Ver 14.5)
- Minor Adjustments (Crop / Exposure / Contrast)
- Noise and Spot Removal
- RAW to JPEG Conversion
