With the sun coming out for the first time in weeks, I checked out the western seaboard of Macabebe wetlands (Pampanga province) yesterday if the migrant water birds have made their landfall. I saw a few of them in flight, but not close enough to be photographed... perhaps there will be more of them in September. The string of weather disturbances must have delayed their departure from their breeding grounds.

I turned my attention instead to the Bright-capped Cisticolas - noisy little jerky fliers that have denied me a close capture so far. I got them real close this time.


20D + 500 f4 IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/320 sec, manual exposure, hand held
http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone/image/65950847.jpg



On my way out of the wetlands, I came upon a Lesser Coucal perched on top of an Ipil tree. I had to climb on top of the roof of my vehicle to get a clear line of fire over the tall grasses obstructing the view....:Grin:


20D + 500 f4 IS + Canon 1.4x TC, 700 mm, f/7.1, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, manual exposure, hand held
http://www.pbase.com/liquidstone/image/65952481.jpg


Regards,

Romy

Fantastic shots Romy. Handheld pa yan ha !!! Grabe lakas ng arms mo ha ;-D It's my first time to see a Lesser Coucal up close kahit na sa picture lang - Haaaaaay super nice photos talaga !!!!

Romy,
Great shots! I always look forward to your postings:) Hope you come out with a book soon!

Sharp and crisp and perfectly exposed captures. Well done Romy.

No wonder your fredmiranda posting was familiar. I've seen it here and somehow it didn't linger the 1st time (probably was going home when viewed :~)). Fantastic shots. More power to you.
cheers,
gil

as always.. galeng...
kakahiya na mag share ah.. :) idol

Romy, nakakainis ka naman kumuha ng litrato... :) Wow... Nice 'kainggit.

Nice Romy as always! It seems that your 500 IS f4 and 1.4xTC is a great handheld combo. I wish I had a similar setup! The 200-500 Tamron plus 1.4xTC works great but really needs to be tripod mounted.

Nice Romy as always! It seems that your 500 IS f4 and 1.4xTC is a great handheld combo. I wish I had a similar setup! The 200-500 Tamron plus 1.4xTC works great but really needs to be tripod mounted.

Thanks, everybody!....:)


TJ, I can get consistently sharp hand held pics with the 500 f4 using speeds as slow as 1/320 sec at 700 mm, or 1/200 sec at 500 mm. IS works as advertised - about 2 stops from 1/(FL * crop factor).

Romy

Nice Romy as always! It seems that your 500 IS f4 and 1.4xTC is a great handheld combo. I wish I had a similar setup! The 200-500 Tamron plus 1.4xTC works great but really needs to be tripod mounted.

TJ, that's the reason I sold my Tamron. Even without the TC, I find it difficult to get sharp results when hand held. I had a chance to hold the 500 IS f4 yesterday at a local shop and it is huge and I can only imagine the Sigmonster. The length w/ hood is a bit longer than the Tamron w/ hood @ full zoom and the diameter is just huge. It's in my wish list but I don't know if I can hand hold this one like Romy does, let alone adding a TC.

TJ, that's the reason I sold my Tamron. Even without the TC, I find it difficult to get sharp results when hand held. I had a chance to hold the 500 IS f4 yesterday at a local shop and it is huge and I can only imagine the Sigmonster. The length w/ hood is a bit longer than the Tamron w/ hood @ full zoom and the diameter is just huge. It's in my wish list but I don't know if I can hand hold this one like Romy does, let alone adding a TC.

Hi Reyno,

It's actually not too difficult to hand hold for brief periods of time, I just need to rest my arms after each burst. The 500 f4 is a joy to use when shooting from a vehicle. But I got the heavier Sigmonster first, so I got used to the weight beforehand. On a tripod, the 500 f4 works even better.

Romy