Using a 1200mm lens to capture humming bird: In this photo I used a 2X TC on my 600mm lens. The camera will not auto-focus with this combination. I had to guess where the bird would be...

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

In this photo I used a 2X TC on my 600mm lens. The camera will not auto-focus with this combination. I had to guess where the bird would be and pre-focus at that distance. I came close in this photo. The advantage of doing it this way is that I moved the camera the width of my house away from the subject, this increases the depth of field, and that's what I was after.

Please take the time to download the image and magnify it.

Effective 1200mm
Effective 1200mm...

(Download)

haze63 Loc: Tiffin Ohio

Great job 👍👍👍👍👍

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Results looking good.

Now what do I do with the extra hummingbird in my family room? Being a PA bird it thinks it is too hot here in So Calif and wants me to bring a feeder indoors for it.

Blues Loc: Duluth, Mn

Great capture, Dave.

DLH13 Loc: Texas

Great, looks 3D👍👍

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

robertjerl wrote:

Results looking good.

Now what do I do with the extra hummingbird in my family room? Being a PA bird it thinks it is too hot here in So Calif and wants me to bring a feeder indoors for it.

It flew right out of your screen, eh! That happens. Now you have a new family member.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Blues wrote:

Great capture, Dave.

Thank you.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

DLH13 wrote:

Great, looks 3D👍👍

Part of the fun is interacting with the birds. They buzz all around my head when I'm adjusting my flashes. they are much easier to see in the photos than they are in real life.

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

Another one taken today.

Picking a flower.
Picking a flower....

(Download)

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

Davethehiker wrote:

In this photo I used a 2X TC on my 600mm lens. The camera will not auto-focus with this combination. I had to guess where the bird would be and pre-focus at that distance. I came close in this photo. The advantage of doing it this way is that I moved the camera the width of my house away from the subject, this increases the depth of field, and that's what I was after.

Please take the time to download the image and magnify it.

Nice shot Dave.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Davethehiker wrote:

In this photo I used a 2X TC on my 600mm lens. The camera will not auto-focus with this combination. I had to guess where the bird would be and pre-focus at that distance. I came close in this photo. The advantage of doing it this way is that I moved the camera the width of my house away from the subject, this increases the depth of field, and that's what I was after.

Please take the time to download the image and magnify it.

Great image!!!!

tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

Davethehiker wrote:

In this photo I used a 2X TC on my 600mm lens. The camera will not auto-focus with this combination. I had to guess where the bird would be and pre-focus at that distance. I came close in this photo. The advantage of doing it this way is that I moved the camera the width of my house away from the subject, this increases the depth of field, and that's what I was after.

Please take the time to download the image and magnify it.

WOW! That is a great shot Dave. Perfect just having the bird in focus, and if you were just guessing you are the best. Keep posting love it. Thanks

Tom

tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

Davethehiker wrote:

In this photo I used a 2X TC on my 600mm lens. The camera will not auto-focus with this combination. I had to guess where the bird would be and pre-focus at that distance. I came close in this photo. The advantage of doing it this way is that I moved the camera the width of my house away from the subject, this increases the depth of field, and that's what I was after.

Please take the time to download the image and magnify it.

Tom again. What camera and settings were you using. With the 2X this photo is really sharp. Thanks

Tom

CLF Loc: Raleigh, NC

Davethehiker wrote:

In this photo I used a 2X TC on my 600mm lens. The camera will not auto-focus with this combination. I had to guess where the bird would be and pre-focus at that distance. I came close in this photo. The advantage of doing it this way is that I moved the camera the width of my house away from the subject, this increases the depth of field, and that's what I was after.

Please take the time to download the image and magnify it.

Dave, as always I did a DDL and I fine the hummer is in focus at least for my eyes. I accomplish almost the same results using a 1.4 TC on my Tamron 150-600mm G2 lens. With my 80D it comes out at 1200mm with the focus still working. I rarely use it in this fashion and with my 80D I obtain 960mm but as we know the lens is still 600mm and cropped to the equivalent length. I do appreciate the increased DOF which to me is very important when taking photos of birds, etc. Again, the photo is great.

Greg

Davethehiker Loc: South West Pennsylvania

tshift wrote:

Tom again. What camera and settings were you using. With the 2X this photo is really sharp. Thanks

Tom

I was using a Sony A99II camera, an old Minolta 600mm f/4 lens, Sony 2X TC. A lot of people think that TCs do not work well and they do not if if the lens is wide open, but if you stop down to f/8 they become more useful. I was using five synchronized Godox flashes at 1/128 power to light the subject up and stop the motion, so it was easy to use f/16.