jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Some things that could affect your sharpness is the light of day and the moisture in the air. Some days it's very difficult to get a good focus simply because of the light and moisture in the air. Distance from the subject can also be a big factor especially if the (as mentioned above) atmospherics are affecting your telephoto lens at greater distances. An example of this would be to look through some binoculars at something in the far distance and note the wavy artifacts you can see in the air affecting what you are viewing. Same thing but not quite as noticeable when using a telephoto lens on a subject in the distance that is too great on that particular day.

raw image: if you shoot raw and didn't add any sharpening, this can also be a problem. ALL raw images, no matter what, need some sharpening. Ignore this is shooting jpg. But take heed that ALL raw images not only need sharpening, but they need to be processed.

When having trouble with sharpness, take many pictures of the same subject. I like to use the burst mode and then cull through the images in post to find the sharpest one. Sometimes the press of the shutter can cause enough movement to slightly blur the image. But if you shoot 8 or 10 frame/sec and shoot a burst of 3 or 4 each time you shoot birds, you might get the look you are after. This is especially true when shooting birds. The wing and head position of a bird is everything when doing bird photography. This is why shooting in burst mode is most important, but also getting a sharp image is important. Keeping your shutter up around 1/2000th is also important when shooting birds, especially hummingbirds.

Older camera bodies such as your D200 don't have the best sensors so shooting at ISO800 isn't advised when shooting birds. It's better to wait until you have a day with better light and to use a lower ISO so that the sensor noise doesn't make your image appear to be soft. Noise can make your image appear soft. I hope this helps.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Not focusing on the subject seems to be the major issue, perhaps try the magnification in Live View to hone in on bird!

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

On my Canon, if I am shooting with a long lens at some thing like this, I go to LIVE VIEW which locks the mirror up. Then I shoot. It helps remove vibration from the mirror flipping up.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Do you by any chance have the capability of actually seeing where in the image the focus point was? I see you shoot Nikon. My Canon will show me with little red square(s) where the focus was. Sometimes if there's a breeze and I'm trying to focus on something that will move in the breeze (like a feeder), I think I'm focused on something, but when I click the shutter, the focus is actually on something else. I struggle with focus so I know how frustrating it can be. I did some pixel-peeping, and it appears that the lip of the opening he's drinking from looks to be in sharper focus than the hummer. But see if perhaps when looking at the raw image on your camera back you can see where the focus ended up. Might help.

PGHphoto Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Based on the photo, I would guess the feeder, suspended by a string and having an active bird perched, was moving in the wind. I would expect at 1/1600 it would have been frozen unless the focus was taken at a time when the feeder was moving and the shot taken when the feeder was not in the same plane. I would suggest focusing on the metal hanger that the string is attached to.

Jamers Loc: Michigan

When I was shooting with a D200, I remember having problems with a telephoto lens beyond an ISO of 400.

canon Lee

I would like to suggest a different approach to capturing movement... Camranger.com This is a wireless control, taking the output of your camera to an iPAD. This will allow you to be up to 150' away, to set your focus in live view, remote shutter control, set your exposure settings & at least 5 hour battery life per shoot. All you will have in hand will be the light weight iPAD, to stand or sit where ever you want. I have used this successfully for yrs.

rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

If you don't have a remote shutter release for the time being use the camera self timer set to 2-5 seconds it can work just as well.

Abo

As well as a stack of good advice you have had in this thread ages ago,
the 70-300 is typically not sharp when zoomed beyond 200mm.

Unless you've got of thousands of dollars to spend on a lens, avoid zooms.

Also, difficulty (for the photographer) in getting sharp images
rises proportionately with focal length... even with a good telephoto lens.

Kaib795 Loc: Maryland, USA

Well it looks like a focus issue that is either the setup or possibly the lens. If you are using a tripod and release or timer and are spot pre-focusing on the feeder yours shots should be okay (so in this case focus ahead of time on the feeder and wait for the bird to arrive). If you are not pre-focusing and the lens extended to it's max may have the F stop, as wide open, beyond f5.6 where some camera's struggle to focus. My Nikon cameras like to focus at f5.6 or less (so extending the lens lowers the amount of light available to take the shot and it simply fails to get the focus). Here is where the faster lens has the advantage. It's a common problem with folks buying a 300mm f4 lens, add a extender and it's beyond that f5.6 to focus and the camera struggles. As for a sharp picture, I'd get closer to the subject and not extend a 70-300mm out to 300 but stop at 250mm or less. Test your rig and see what it can and cannot do well. Sure the 300mm works but it isn't very sharp. Go here and see for yourself: https://www.opticallimits.com/ (and I agree with Abo).

WDCash Loc: Milford, Delaware, USA

I did not see anyone suggest this.

How steady is your tripod and its head. I was doing some testing on my own and was shocked (while watching through live view), how much vibration takes place with the pressing of the shutter and the movement of the mirror.

Longish lense May be adding to that vibration/movement. I have seen folks go so far as to set up for a shot and drape a heavier bag (think very dry small sandbag) over the camera to prevent movement and dampen any that might occurs.

aaciolkowski Loc: Sugar Grove Illinois

Get closer. Buy a longer lens.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

As Elvis emoted in one of his forgettable movies: "Git Closah!" If using a finger for shutter release, don't press the release like you were smooshing an UGLY spider! Remote release cord or IR is a goodness!

Bill P

Please explain this contradiction in terms.