# Fossil Rim



## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

Fossil Rim is a wildlife captive breeding facility and drive through zoo. Takes 2-3 hours to go through it all. Lots of animals in a natural setting very few pens. Only the cheetah and rino. Got a few decent shots.














































All shot with the Tamron 150-600 lens. Have to shoot out of the car window they don't allow you to get out of the car. Sure needed some kind of window mount. Hard to hold when its out past 400 even with VC. I'll get used to it I've only had it out twice now.

Griz


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## dicklaxt (Jun 2, 2005)

Really nice shots, what post processing and what software? I agree handheld at that reach is tough especially when your arm is about to fall off LOL

dick


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Nice, Ive heard 50/50 pros and cons for that lens. Looks like you got a good one.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1264113

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1273142


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*It takes a little getting used too*

I use Lightroom for processing. Just make sure there is no clipping and add in the lens info. Not much really. I did try out a plug-in on these called Perfect Effects 8. And I only wanted it for one filter the dynamic contrast filter which is on these at the normal level or soft level. No sharpning on the lr side before I added PE8 to them. A buddy of mine told me about the dynamic contrast stuff. I kinda like it myself. But I'm not much for a lot of processing on the images. I burned myself out on doing the astrophotography thing. 100-300 images for each finished piece. So I don't know if I'll keep using it or not. I'd rather be able to produce the photo in the camera alone that is my goal.

Yea I've read some things about that lens. I was not too pleased with it the first time out but towards the end of the day I noticed a couple of things and from then on its been pretty good. One thing I can't figure out is how they get f5 at 600mm with a 95mm front glass. Seems if violates the math. Should be 107mm I'm thinking. But if you look at the 150-600mm group on flikr you'll see some outstanding photos taken with the lens. For the money you can't beat it in my opinion and I think some of the problems are just initial batch type things. Mine was from the 2nd batch released. Serial number is close to 4000. You might have seen the post from the guy that tried out a pre-release lens on a 7D that was having problems. I encountered the same thing but by changing one of the settings in the camera it went away. Its the setting where you tell the lens to give up trying to focus after an attempt. I was looking at the 100-400 and getting a tc but I think I like this better. Legs are getting too bad to go to the r/c races now and I live in the country. Plenty of wildlife here to shoot without driving far and coming home in pain. So I was in the market for some reach.

All these photos were taken from a bad position twisted in the seat shooting out the window or across the car out the other window. Not the best for handholding anything and I was using low shutter speed on all of them so I like what I'm seeing. I really like the way the tripod collar locks onto the lens. Even with the knob fully loose it won't come off. Much nicer and safer than the one on my Canon L.

The build quality on this lens is even better than the SP 70-300 that I have. The rings are smoother as is extending the barrel. Don't feel any play in anything. We'll see I've only had it out a couple of times so far I'm very happy with it right now.

Griz


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Yep, I agree for the money its a good deal. Your images look really good, I am sure the more you use it the better images it will produce as you get the hang of it.


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*Found my error*

Math has never been my forte and I figured out why its 95mm instead of 107. I was using f5 instead of f6.3  Duh The only problem I have read about is the ai servo thing. The focus points are for f5.6 or faster so I would expect a f6.3 lens to not work as well. Talked to a buddy of mine that uses a TC and he told me it happens with that set up as well. I also found one instance of someone reporting that the newer Canon lenses will exhibit that problem with the 7D. Since I'm getting less and less mobile I thought I'd explore wildlife and landscape photos. I have a SmallHD DP4 monitor which I have attached to my tripod with an articulated arm. The DP4 has several focus peaking modes false color 1:1 pixel mapping and some more aids. I've used it for my viewfinder on my video rig for awhile now and the focus stuff works great. It can be used as a regular monitor or an EVF with eyepiece and diopter if you need it. I'll be able to see to focus and review the shots in the field a ton better than I can now with that set-up. Won't have to wait till I get home to really see if I got them or not. I think progress will speed up as well since I can make changes in the field with good data. As far as doing birds in flight type stuff I'm pretty unsteady on my feet these days so wheeling around to follow a bird might end up breaking me and the camera. Whatever I can't do from my swivel stool probably won't get done. So even if the ai focus isn't right on it won't impact me at all but I can see where a pro that is making a living off shots would want more accuracy. The thing I'd like to know is if Canon can do a firmware upgrade to make the 1d work at F8 is it possible to do the same thing with say the 7D 5D and 6D? I've been reading up on the sensors and it seems possible. Although the 1d sensor has a different pattern of the line sensors for phase detection. Could be they are in the right places and long enough to establish a f8 baseline in the space provided. All in all I've learned a lot about how my camera actually works by reading up on this. Finally found out why when you reduce the size of a picture it looks sharper for instance. Some good stuff on the Canon Professional site.

Griz


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Ive wondered about the monitors. It would be nice to have one for viewing a shot afterwards, Landscape mostly, Its a pain to carry glasses and have to put them on to view the screen. Can you really judge sharpness with that thing also, it has a high enough resolution? That is mainly what I would be interested in.
Higher f stop focus in the 7D would be great, maybe that will be an upgrade in the M2 when it finally comes out.
I just picked up a 1D3 for a pretty good price, just to have that and few other capabilities the 7D was missing.
Them things can be had for next to nothing. Paid 925.00 for one with a new shutter installed last month (40K total on the body) in really good shape on Fred Miranda. Just love the feel and sound of the 1D body, not to mention the files that can be had at high ISO
This weekend at MardiGras in Galveston will be the first paid outing for this one. Looking forward to using it.
Congrats on the new Lens looks like it working great for ya.


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## griz (Jan 9, 2006)

*I like those too*

Yea I lust for a 1d myself. Have you heard about the new pro model coming out. 38mp 4K video all i-frame uncompressed. Sweet camera at a huge price I would imagine. Check the SmallHD line. The DP4 is their entry level monitor and it works great. The 1:1 mapping stuff is what you need to judge photos. You won't see the whole picture but you can move it around. Their oled monitors are super crisp but pricy. They have single piece magnesium bodies and the best software on board that I could find. And you can get the eyepiece thing and really get to know those pixels. I really like the focus peaking. Its so easy to see when its right on the nut. False color helps newbies like me get the right exposure. Has several different battery plate options. Mine has 2 lp-6 canon batts in it. Lasts quite a while. I've only used it a couple of times with a still camera mostly to try out some video. If this weather clears tomorow I'm going back to the eagle nest and give it a good work out. You can use the camera to zoom up then go into 1:1 mode for a really close look.

Griz


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