HOME | DD
OliverBPhotography — Cygnus olor
#animals #bird #birds #cygnus #mute #nature #olor #schwan #swan #waterbird #wildlife #hoeckerschwan #animalphotography #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #oliverbphotography
Published: 2019-03-02 09:25:47 +0000 UTC; Views: 202; Favourites: 27; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor, Höckerschwan)Please click the image to zoom in for maximum detail!
Taken with a Canon EOS 7D Mark II, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens
Like this? Visit my gallery for more!
Related content
Comments: 15
Swans are so beautiful and graceful, lovely shot Oliver!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you!
They are, but I like to keep my distance when I can't tell their intentions. Well, I had to keep my distance anyway, my 400mm Prime was waaaayyyy to long for this big one.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
My pleasure Oliver!
I do not even know what a
400mm prime means!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh, that's easily explained:
400mm is the focal length of the lens (as a reference: 50mm is what you'd use for portraits, 35mm and less are good for landscapes).
Prime means that the lens has a fixed focal length and is unable to zoom in or out.
You're probably asking yourself why anyone would forego the use of the ability to zoom, right?
Simply put, prime lenses are usually lighter, "faster" (meaning more light gets through), more compact and generally have a better image quality than zoom lenses. There's basically less glass between you and the subject, and that equates to better image quality and a lighter build, and often more light as well.
Zoom lenses also have the long and short end of their focal range in their designation, i.e. 18-55mm (a standard zoom lens) or 70-200mm (typically used for sports). Primes have only their fixed focal length given (i.e. 50mm, 90mm or 400mm).
If there's anything else you'd like to know regarding the more technical aspects of photography, don't hesitate to ask!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh right i get it now!
Mine is a 24-2000, is good ya?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I just checked the P900 and that is indeed the focal range given for the camera.
However, the truth is (as always) a little more complicated than that...
Focal length is given as an equivalent when mounted to a full-frame camera sensor, which is about the same size as 35mm film. (FF sensors are 36x24mm in size.)
The actual focal length you get depends on the size of your camera sensor, and that usually differs from the full-frame format (unless you spend at least +1100€ or equivalent for an 'inexpensive' FF model). Most consumer DSLRs use a format that is called APS-C, which is 1.6 or 1.5 times smaller (1.6 for Canon and others, 1.5 for Nikon). As a consequence less light reaches the sensor BUT your focal length is actually that many times longer as well! So (very) generally speaking, smaller sensors are good for wildlife photography, where you want a long focal length.
So take my lens for example: It is a 400mm lens mounted to a Canon APS-C camera, which means the actual focal length is 400*1.6 = 640 millimeters.
For your camera, things are a little different. The sensor is actually extremely small, which means the lens doesn't actually need to be that powerful in order to reach the effective equivalent of 2000mm. Here's a sensor size comparison, your camera has the smallest sensor designated by the small green rectangle: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildsens…
Of course, smaller sensors also do have some drawbacks - or everyone would just use those instead of the larger ones!
Since they have less surface area, there is less light to work with. This results in less 'bokeh' (the aperture-shaped background blur) and more noise in your images. Additionally, the glass used in the lens must be of the highest quality or you'll get blurry, distorted images at the highest zoom level.
That being said, having the equivalent of 2000mm in such a small and compact package is HUGE. Just look at the prices of 600, 800 or 1200mm lenses and you'll understand that 2000 is practically unheard of outside of telescopes or extremely specialized and even more expensive lenses. So yeah, it is a huge deal.
Focal length aside though, did you ever think of trying a DSLR? You'd have to buy the individual lenses and taking photos wouldn't be easier, but maybe more fun...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you for the information Oliver!!!
So on my camera, what would be the best
setting for catching a bird in flight?
I have looked at instruction manual and
Googled it.
Maybe in a year or two i might get DSLR.
Sorry for late reply!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Catching a bird in flight is a tough one. (There's a reason you don't see me doing that a whole lot!)
If your camera supports Auto ISO in combination with Manual mode, I would suggest using that. However, I checked the manual for the P900 and apparently it does not support this particular combination (many cameras don't).
So the preferred setting should be shutter priority (S) with a *fast* setting (depending on the movement of the bird, the distance and zoom used I recommend starting at 1/1000th or faster), and as little or as much ISO as you need. Ideally you should have a bit of leeway with regards to the aperture, which will be controlled by the camera depending on the amount of light available. If you end up at either end of the aperture spectrum, you will get over- or underexposed shots. It'd be perfect if the aperture stays close to its widest setting, though, which gives you the best sharpness and background blur overall.
Also of high importance is the auto focus. First of all you need continuous auto focus, so that the camera tries to focus on the subject as long as you keep the shutter release (half) pressed.
Additionally, you should check if your camera allows configuration of your AF point. In a DSLR multiple points are available (several dozen on more expensive models) to choose from, and most cameras allow using groups of these. I have customized one of my custom camera modes for moving subjects like birds in flight, and it is set to use a group of several points. This not only makes it easier to keep a moving object within the focusing area, it also makes the focusing considerably faster.
Unfortunately I don't know how far (if at all) your AF can be adjusted and customized. Non-DSLR cameras use a different AF principle that is contrast-based as opposed to the phase AF that DSLRs use when looking through the viewfinder. You should be able to move around your AF area, though, and maybe even change its size.
Last but not least you should set your camera to the fastest continuous shooting mode possible, which should be designated by a [H] in your camera. This allows you to take up to 7 pictures per second - although the fun stops after around 1 second of continuous shooting, since the internal memory cache and memory card won't be able to keep up.
However, this still gives you a time window of an entire second during which you can take seven photos - which means your chance to get at least one that is sharp and in focus is seven times higher than if you had used single shot! So even with the limitation this is still one of the most useful features for all kinds of action photography. (I shoot almost exclusively in high speed continuous shooting mode, giving me up to 30 photos in as little as 3 seconds. I can't stress enough how useful this is!)
It's a lot of information to take in, but I hope it proves useful.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you for the information, Oliver!
I will try some of these techniques
you have mentioned again thank you
for taking the time to look into it
for me! I really appreciate it!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
WOW what a beauty of a shot. Hope to see more of these.
💓
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thank you so much! Not sure when I'll be back to the place - if the swan's still around then, I'll be more than happy to oblige!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I will look forward to seeing them,
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I love it what an awesome looking shot of this beautiful swan
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
