CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Herb and Nada Mahler Family Aviary
Milwaukee County Zoo
December 2021

The red-crested cardinal is a songbird of the family of tanagers. Notwithstanding its similar name, this bird is not closely related to the true cardinal family. Residing mainly in south-central South America, it is sometimes known as the Brazilian cardinal.

Red Crested Cardinal by Paul Sager, on Flickr


The Waldrapp Ibis is a critically endangered bird, with maybe 500 individuals living in two small areas in Morocco.

Waldrapp Ibis


An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds. Unlike birdcages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly; aviaries are sometimes known as flight cages. Aviaries often contain plants and shrubbery to simulate a natural environment.

The hamerkop is named for their distinctive head, which combines a thick bill in the front and a pointed wedge of feathers in the back.

Hamerkop


The silver-beaked tanager is a common bird found in northern South America, eating mainly fruit, but also some insects.

Silver-beaked tanager


The Canon FD 300mm f/2.8L was (is) one of the most highly regarded manual focus super tele lenses of the 1980s. The lens is a fully manual lens so you have to change focus and aperture yourself and you need an adapter to use it on a mirrorless camera, a Sony a7II digital mirrorless camera for these images. All images are shot wide-open at f/2.8, showing the very smooth Bokeh where the background just melts away.

Tawny frogmouths are nocturnal birds, they use their large, bright yellow eyes and excellent hearing to hunt.

Tawny Frogmouth

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Excellent - nothing else better to be said.

morkie Loc: Simi Valley CA

Beautiful set! Illustrates the use of DOF.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Lovely work, Paul.
--Bob

philo Loc: philo, ca

paul will a fd lens fit on a ef mount? great work.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Super fantastic series.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Thank you philo! No, the EOS EF mount was developed in a way that FD lenses don't work on those cameras. Some very rare equipment was developed to try to support adapting FD to EF, but really it was / is a waste of time. It's been like that 30+ years. But now, in a world with mirrorless cameras, these FD lenses work on all the mirrorless brands with the appropriate mount adapter, including the EOS RF mount. The focus aids on mirrorless are even more important than the lack of a mirror for using these manual focus lenses.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Thank you BboH, morkie, Bob, philo, sippyjug104! The Milwaukee Zoo has a small flock of Waldrapp ibis. I didn't realize they were so rare until reading about the birds in the images. Glad you enjoyed.

lhardister Loc: Brownsville, TN

Fantastic work. Thanks for sharing.

philo Loc: philo, ca

That is really what i wanted to know; because i have an R6 with adapters. I checked Amazon and these old lens are still very high priced. Will check ebay.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

There are likely multiple FD to RF adapters. They're just metal 'donuts' that set the FD lens back to the proper distance from the sensor to retain infinity focus. For the FD lenses, they also need a 'pin' to allow the FD lens to manually adjust and hold the manual aperture setting from the ring on the lens. I use a Metabones adapter for the FD to the Sony E-mount. The Metabones has an arca-swiss mount on the adapter giving another mount point for the camera. One of the FD lenses I bought came along with a similar Novoflex adapter, also all-metal, but it just doesn't feel as rugged.

When I was considering selling off all my FD equipment, there were a lot of online reviews of FD lenses, all on Sony mirrorless bodies. Sony was pretty much the only game in the early 2010s for full-frame mirrorless, so I gave it a shot. Another difference now about 10 years later is that FD lenses have both gone up in price and nearly disappeared. You can use the Canon Lens Hall to at least get ideas / options of the focal lengths and apertures that were once available. You still might find some of the f/2 and f/2.8 models where maybe the sub-f/2 models are now only legend.

I've bought most of my FD lenses from ebay, but probably at least 1 too from each of the major sources, like KEH, MPB, B&H and Adorama.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Thank you lhardister!

RJW Loc: Oregon

The best of both worlds, Vintage and Mirrorless. Stellar images Paul. Thank you for promoting this avenue of photography. My primary system is mirrorless and I use vintage lenses for 90+ percent of my photography. I also appreciate your elaborate descriptions of the birds! RJW

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Thank you RJW! When I need critical focus, I use my EOS DSLR and AF / IS lenses. But, for a compact system and general messing around, the Sony and the FD lenses are my first choice. Or, my film camera with those modern AF / IS lenses.

RJW Loc: Oregon

The opportunity you have presented here Paul is that you can capture superb images with very high quality vintage glass at an affordable price. I am on a fixed SS income and delight in finding vintage glass lenses at Thrift Stores, Antique Store and Goodwill. You have to know what to look for and examine carefully for haze, fungus and extreme dust in the lens but once in awhile you get lucky and find a like new lens. There are many lenses out there other than Canon or Nikon that are of superior quality. Thanks for opening that door of opportunity to photographers of all levels and remind us of the treasures sitting out there in Vintage glass! RJW