PopCorn
New member
I recently spent some time at Malekele, which is on the border of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Amazing birding country.
However, with a lot of "small brown jobs" seen at a distance identification was a problem.
I am an enthusiastic birder but not an expert birder so I need a birding App and a good close up view to give them a name.
In the end, the only way for me to actually see what the bird looked like was to photograph them.
I used my Nikon D500 with the 200/500mm Lens. I never expected much because the bird was a minute spec on my screen.
Most of the shots were taken with the birds on the top branches of trees silhouetted against a bright African sky.
The lens was at full extension, 500mm x 1,5 =750mm
I was totally flabbergasted by the results.
I attach two variations of the same image taken with the camera hand held ( Tripods are not an option when taking photographs while walking with a group)
The setting was 1/2000 @ f=6,3 and ISO 400. As I am 80 years old and the D500/200-500mm zoom is not light, I use a "Rifle Butt" type 500mI supported my camera on a "Rifle Butt" type support, which I developed and fabricated myself.
When I came to process the image, the subject took up less than 1% of the frame, I cropped it tight to the bird, ran it through Elements 2018 ACR converter and I was stunned by the result.
The image I ended up with was the equivalent of an image taken using a 5000mm lens hand held!! ( I think my arithmetic is correct, you have to double up 6,5 time to get from 1% to 100% )
6,5 x 750mm is approximately 5000mm )
I was able to identify the bird as Arnot's Chat. I attach the original and the cropped images. This was not an isol fluke
However, with a lot of "small brown jobs" seen at a distance identification was a problem.
I am an enthusiastic birder but not an expert birder so I need a birding App and a good close up view to give them a name.
In the end, the only way for me to actually see what the bird looked like was to photograph them.
I used my Nikon D500 with the 200/500mm Lens. I never expected much because the bird was a minute spec on my screen.
Most of the shots were taken with the birds on the top branches of trees silhouetted against a bright African sky.
The lens was at full extension, 500mm x 1,5 =750mm
I was totally flabbergasted by the results.
I attach two variations of the same image taken with the camera hand held ( Tripods are not an option when taking photographs while walking with a group)
The setting was 1/2000 @ f=6,3 and ISO 400. As I am 80 years old and the D500/200-500mm zoom is not light, I use a "Rifle Butt" type 500mI supported my camera on a "Rifle Butt" type support, which I developed and fabricated myself.
When I came to process the image, the subject took up less than 1% of the frame, I cropped it tight to the bird, ran it through Elements 2018 ACR converter and I was stunned by the result.
The image I ended up with was the equivalent of an image taken using a 5000mm lens hand held!! ( I think my arithmetic is correct, you have to double up 6,5 time to get from 1% to 100% )
6,5 x 750mm is approximately 5000mm )
I was able to identify the bird as Arnot's Chat. I attach the original and the cropped images. This was not an isol fluke
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You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
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