This got me thinking so much I grabbed a 75-300, & an older 70-210 Slide f:4. Behind my Studio Office is a Machine Shop, & call it luck, Karma, whtvr, I got a treat. Thinking I was slick my thought was max Focal dist + shake; I proved that immed, until I finally made the fence a Tripod, * my advice * absolutely Focus Point and shutter Shake. I always rapid fire, -as stated birds are SO hard, & hummingbirds! Ouch. The building is Concrete & aluminum by pure luck I got one to land atop a snowplow Guide Pole ( yellow ), & caught a full open wingspan showing yellow under feathers, & Beak all against a grey back. 1 final caught him in flight, at the tree line of all green Bokeh . I'm sure you r thrilled w/ my pics; but B4 that I caught one on a Corner rusted edge & even in CS/ Photoshop his head looked fuzzy, upon examination, that's how his head feathers look!! I'm on a cell & can't post pics 2- nite . I strongly believe you are a mere adjustment & subject focusing away from wonderful photos to be proud of!! It's not u , it's not the camera, it's a little misunderstanding between you both, good shots ahead!!

Reading answers, the filter note hit me. The new Digic processor in the D1100, is a dual layer, and 'predicts' based on similar colors, a subject. A good, brandname UV, even a Polorizer in sunlight Should Not, (good bright sunlight ), effect focus. A cheap, or smudged one may though. A recent IR undertaking reminded me of this, & btw, although I used my Nikon, I grabbed the D1100 for fun,( forgetting the Tiffen Polo on it ) I popped on a 720nmh & couldn't even meter w/ out totally blowing out W/Balance. I had been previously doing a B & W project & super adjusted settings. I again say, start from 0, lighting Optimizer (Y) normal, don't use enhanced let the Camera do it,( shoot w/ histogram; 'instant data!'. Like above focus on the perch, not the feeder, find away to not use 300mm, any lens maxed out is trouble. GL

All of above us accurate, but B4 you get despondent! I recently, 3 days ago passed an F4s 'Diamond AA+' for &90$, & yet Adorama had 3, 2 were like $300, 1, $1200!! I just happen to do bus. liquidation, & took on a camera / Gun shop. There were NEW lenses & cameras in boxes, 2,3,-10 yrs old! Film gear is tough, I actually buy more lenses buy purchasing an overlooked film body, Nikkor ED AF 24-120 F3.3 (new) & 24-55 ED f3.3 w/ an F-801 w/ a 35-80 kit lens, ( no-one read further ). My Suggestion, is eBay ( film / & vintage is + - ), or forums like this, but don't ask $$ engage someone, a Nikon Addict will slowly build a desire, & I say this only as I feel it's a tragedy, the Nikon & Canon film 35mm is going to waste, when we'll spend 3 hrs on photoshop vs. 15 min at Walmart!!

PinkyCat, I am not sure if you have gotten your answer yet, but I had this same question, @ a D1100(T3), so I thought I'd add my 11/2 cents. *btw 'Nikon', was funny, but until you get used to them 'WE' get a lot of setting adjustment & training by default,( as most won't fire unless accurate !). Fun aside, guys, I shoot a D1100 & I found the difference in 300mm lenses, incl date made, manufacturer, & even newer 75-300 all lose sharpness at max distance. Also many people find older LD lenses off film bodies, w/ slide zoom, I do a lot of work & modification on lenses, so I am very selective. I have had 2 Canon EF 75-300's w/ literally 2 distinct sweet spots, many times. In reading answers I, IMHO, think that A. The 'button' note is very likely, as the 1/2 depress meters & composes shot, &* the T3 has deep settings, allowing for blurred edges, + more* but gave up 'spot' metering. Evaluative is best esp. LD shooting; B. ISO, Canon took a lot of time to design this cam & feat set, let the camera do the work UNTIL you get comfortable. Over complicating is a very common cause for, poor pic results. B4 I write a manual, focusing on the feeder is good to set up a shot, but the camera is going to focus on the subject, or NOT in this case,( theory good, adjust a tad now). Good Luck (sorry to all, I'm a bit long winded!)

Cam1017 makes a supporting & excellant point, w/ out a Adobe suite Canon gets the job done, but the version, etc have to be matched perfectly on a pc. Especially since we don't know how many background prgrms u r running. Infraview ( google it, tons of links )& * how do you upload? From CPP? From inside Picasa straight to web? Sorry I realize this isn't a computer forum- & I read great stuff on tweaking your pics, your problem is simple bandwidth speed issue, I know it. ~

I'm glad I might be able to help!! I am new & thank all for a receptive patient, group. Uploading to picassa, I saw a huge change from * even 'HD' iPhone pics, to actual photos in jpeg mode. I suggest 3 things, A. Your upload file transfer speed, as cable is notorious for throttling. B Are you connected via wifi or Ethernet cable, a cable makes a huge difference. C. The overall file size, if Picasa is for display only, consider their uploader has a bandwidth restriction, there R safe & great 3rd party plugins that will help. Finally R U using I net explorer? If so, go open source, Chrome( google ) even has an inet Exp. shell overlay! All in all , transfer speed, your configuration, or limitations of provider of google, I'll bet R the real issue.( is DEP activated in windows?). MHO thank you/sorry if this has been solved.