Sharpness - for Wayne

[Swampy]

Here's another one for Wayne. My first "trip" out with the new camera. I'm more than happy with the new one now, where the old camera, over half of the pictures shot were out of focus or not very sharp. With the new one this trip, I shot 73 pictures and only 5 were out of focus because of the autofocus and were extremely hard shots for the autofocus (shooting a subject through leaves and branches), so I won't even complain about those. There were probably another 10 shots that were "bad", but those were user error with me trying to get an impossible backlit shot. :)

Here's one of the good actions. Mind you, the "Grass" in this shot is tall enough to where you can only see her ears and sometimes forehead, so she's up there about 5 feet high! I'll post the better shots on my website and post here when I do. Excellent action this weekend!

[Swampy]

Ok, I've put up some of the better pictures on my website. You can see them here:

http://theswampbbs.com/S2/Pics/Chinohills2-9-03/default.htm

Comments more than welcome here!

Bryan

[Wichita Wayne]

If you could get some shots of them that would be a real treat. If you go out to the fields in Kansas you can sometimes catch one of these beautiful animals catching rodents. You have inspired me to visit my uncle's ranch when the weather gets better and the grass is greener.

[Swampy]

Originally posted by Wayne
If you could get some shots of them that would be a real treat. If you go out to the fields in Kansas you can sometimes catch one of these beautiful animals catching rodents. You have inspired me to visit my uncle's ranch when the weather gets better and the grass is greener.

I'll make sure and keep my eye out. We see this particular one just about every weekend and finally saw a second (definitely younger, but an "adult") one today. I didn't get but two out of focus pictures of this one though. He/she was being "chased" down the road by a couple of other mountain bikers. The coyote just wasn't smart enough to just get off the road. Maybe that's why I thought it was younger, because it was skinnier and smaller.....not smart enough to get enough to eat to be full size? :) We're waiting to see a mountain lion or bobcat still. We'll see if we notice any signs of pregnancy on this one though.

We watched her today for a good 45 minutes while she at a dozen or so "things". It wasn't until about 40 minutes into watching that we actually saw a rodent of some sort. Of course, this was the same exact time my arms were completely worn out from holding the S2+Nikkor 80-200mm lens for 40 minutes almost continously. I got to see a Mole or Rat being held by the end of the tail for 1 1/2 seconds before she did the dog thing and flipped it up into her mouth. It's hard to see what they're catching with the tall grass. I did catch the one series 3 weeks ago where you could see the rodent halfway in her mouth.

Anyway, I'll keep the Coyote pictures coming for you Wayne... You check out the link to my website with the rest of the pictures?

Bryan

[KPRussell]

The animal shots are awesome Bryan! I have a 24-85 3.5 and 50 1.4. Other than being heavy, do you like your 80-200 and do you have any other glass you'd call out for it's performance?

[Swampy]

Originally posted by KPRussell
The animal shots are awesome Bryan! I have a 24-85 3.5 and 50 1.4. Other than being heavy, do you like your 80-200 and do you have any other glass you'd call out for it's performance?

Unfortunatly, my main glass collection is old MF Canon. I just got the S2 a month ago so I have just started with Nikkor (and compatible). Right now, I have the Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 and the Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 ED (older model, not Silent Wave or AF-S, but has autofocus)which is a long term borrowed lens. I also have a long term borrowed Nikkor 24-120mm f3.5-5.6, but it's a piece of, uh, glass. I don't like it and others here have expressed similar feelings about it.

Even though this 80-200mm is an "older" model, I love it. It's an awesome piece.

I would like to get the 80-400mm AF VR lens eventually for this type of shooting, and I would still like to give this 80-200 back to my friend and get the, I think, 70-200mm AF VR that's on the horizon. My next lens will be the Nikkor 60mm Micro though since I love taking Macro shots.

So, in short, here's my roadmap to lenses:

Nikkor 60mm Micro - the next 30 days.
Nikkor 70-200mm AF VR - when it comes out or 60 days from now.
Nikkor 80-400mm AF VR - 90-120 days from now.
Nikkor 17-30mm - Xmas present this year.

I really only got the Sigma because I knew it would be an "Everyday" lens that would get beat to hell, on top of buying two new cars in December, the S2 and a third new car today, I couldn't afford much else. :) Now I have to cool it for a couple of months. hehe.

Bryan

[Wichita Wayne]

Rather than being chased by mountain bikers I would guess that the animal was just keeping the people at a safe distance. Being from Kansas I can testify that it takes a really fit and trim grayhound to run down a coyote. That was back when most people believed that the coyote killed a lot of livestock. The truth is that they do not. They mostly do just what you have observed, pounce on little rodents many times a day. Kansans also learned that when you wipe out the coyote population the rodent population can reach plague levels.

[Wichita Wayne]

Don't know if you check these so I am letting you know here to look at your private messages. You can email me at the address in my member profile.

Thanks

[Swampy]

Originally posted by Wayne
Rather than being chased by mountain bikers I would guess that the animal was just keeping the people at a safe distance. Being from Kansas I can testify that it takes a really fit and trim grayhound to run down a coyote. That was back when most people believed that the coyote killed a lot of livestock. The truth is that they do not. They mostly do just what you have observed, pounce on little rodents many times a day. Kansans also learned that when you wipe out the coyote population the rodent population can reach plague levels.

Yup, I knew he wasn't actually being chased. It just appeared that way, two bikers behind him at 25mph. He was just jogging in front of them, not smart enough to just step off to the side of the road.

You probably already know, but I replied back to your private message....

[thapamd]

What a cool action shot! Well composed too...plenty of room infront of the dog for it to jump into.