Why couldn't we achieve a sharp focus? (Page 3): Definitly not a focus issue but a lens shake issue, if you look at the tiny blades of dead grass in the dirt you will see a double...

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Sugar'sDaddy wrote:

My friend and I had a great opportunity to shoot a... (show quote)

Definitly not a focus issue but a lens shake issue, if you look at the tiny blades of dead grass in the dirt you will see a double exposure caused because of lens movement.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Blurryeyed wrote:

Definitly not a focus issue but a lens shake issue, if you look at the tiny blades of dead grass in the dirt you will see a double exposure caused because of lens movement.

Or; under the conditions that was taken do not discount air movement. It is real and it mostly messes with telephoto shots. The effect on the image will be the same. something had moved, in this case very possibly the air

RRS Loc: Not sure

Sugar'sDaddy wrote:

My friend and I had a great opportunity to shoot a... (show quote)

A lot of good points. Did you try and use Live View? How long did you have before the owl flew and how many shots did you take. I had over an hour with Quad Mon and her two cubs in Yellowstone and the temp was +14. Could not get one sharp shot with a 600mm f/4.0 with a 1.4 extender. The sun was bright and early morning, heat diffraction coming off the sage brush. Went out the next day and was able to hike out about 1/2 mile and get up about 10 to 12 feet above the sage brush and under the same conditions as the day before got clear and sharp images. It would help to know more about where you were shooting from, hand held or tripod. Don't fret too much about it because there seems to be an abundance of snowy owls this year. Make some changes prior to going out and I'm sure you will have more opportunities to photograph some more snowy owls.

Sugar'sDaddy Loc: Hannibal, MO

Thank you all for the replies. I can see I didn't give you enough information. We both tried higher shutter speeds, higher ISO and f stops of 7.1 and 8. Nothing worked. I thought maybe the lens was fogged up because of the temp difference from shooting inside a warm truck, but I could see no fog on it. I cleaned it anyway and it didn't help. We weren't using any filters at all. Later in the morning, we shot some other birds without any problem, so I'm thinking maybe the cameras were going through a period of acclimation to the cold. Does that make any sense? If so, how do you avoid this problem. One other thing, I tried focusing on different parts of the bird, even on corn husk laying on the ground around the bird. Even in manual focus mode using focus peaking, I could not find a point where it would focus.

Steve Perry Loc: Sylvania, Ohio

Sugar'sDaddy wrote:

Thank you all for the replies. I can see I didn't... (show quote)

If you were shooting from inside the warm truck, you absolutely had issues with heat distortion. As the warm air exited the truck, it caused refraction - see the video I posted on the first page.

One of the worst places I've seen this happen is in the arctic. We were in a tundra buggy shooting polar bear. Some would shoot out the windows, others (like me) would go out in the -40 windchill and shoot off the back deck. The window shooters were warm but couldn't get a sharp image, my shots were always tack sharp. (Well, unless I tried out the window - which I did - but only once.)

Also, taking a warm lens to a cold environment doesn't cause a problem - although the other way around will.

RRS Loc: Not sure

Sugar'sDaddy wrote:

Thank you all for the replies. I can see I didn't... (show quote)

Shooting from inside a warm vehicle, that's it. When ever I am forced to shoot from inside a vehicle I open all the windows and turn off the heater to try and equalize the inside and outside temp along with shutting off the engine too. Dress warm and carry hand warmers. A vehicle makes a good blind if done right.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Rich1939 wrote:

Or; under the conditions that was taken do not discount air movement. It is real and it mostly messes with telephoto shots. The effect on the image will be the same. something had moved, in this case very possibly the air

Take a closer look at the grass behind the bird, the entire blades move in a straight line, definitely lens shake, if it were caused by wind the top of the blade would not have nearly as much movement as the bottom of the blade and the movement across the entire frame is too consistent to be from a breeze... At least that is my opinion.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Blurryeyed wrote:

Take a closer look at the grass behind the bird, the entire blades move in a straight line, definitely lens shake, if it were caused by wind the top of the blade would not have nearly as much movement as the bottom of the blade and the movement across the entire frame is too consistent to be from a breeze... At least that is my opinion.

I disagree to the extent that air movement, as in heat waves not wind. will shift an image. For an extreme example try shooting an image over an asphalt road on a sunny day.

Streets Loc: Euless, TX.

Bill_de wrote:

You should have raised your ISO so that you could shoot at a higher shutter speed. Your ISO was 200, and your shutter speed was 1/125.

Had you raised your ISO to 800 you could have shot at 1/500.

--

Amen and hallelujah!

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Streets wrote:

Amen and hallelujah!

Soon we will have 'praise jesus'....

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Rich1939 wrote:

I disagree to the extent that air movement, as in heat waves not wind. will shift an image. For an extreme example try shooting an image over an asphalt road on a sunny day.

I doubt that was the case last week in MO. I do a lot of BIF and the biggest obstacle I encounter is the balance between camera shake and noise, the balance between high ISO's and Shutter Speed, looking at that image what I see is camera shake.

(Download)

berasner

Thank you and Chackbay for the tips. I do have a Mac and before UHH....never cared about needing one as many do offer their settings. This morning, I just had to post after hitting command and I on the keyboard yielded no help

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

RRS wrote:

Shooting from inside a warm vehicle, that's it. When ever I am forced to shoot from inside a vehicle I open all the windows and turn off the heater to try and equalize the inside and outside temp along with shutting off the engine too. Dress warm and carry hand warmers. A vehicle makes a good blind if done right.

This is most (but perhaps not all) of the solution. The problem is pretty much what Steve Perry has described.

I have been shooting from a truck (see my avatar for an example, but other subjects too) for many years. Also I do that in the winter at -40 as well as right at freezing or above in the summer. The truck is a blind and is wind protection, but can't be a source of heat. Of course I am at the northern most point in the US too, so the frequency is high.

Sugar'sDaddy Loc: Hannibal, MO

Steve Perry wrote:

If you were shooting from inside the warm truck, y... (show quote)

Thank you Steve. What you say makes more sense to me. I realize the need for higher shutter speed and ISO too, but I tried every thing except getting out of the truck. I was afraid to do that because I didn't want to scare the owl. Sometime there just are no solutions.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Blurryeyed wrote:

I doubt that was the case last week in MO. I do a lot of BIF and the biggest obstacle I encounter is the balance between camera shake and noise, the balance between high ISO's and Shutter Speed, looking at that image what I see is camera shake.

We will have to disagree but, I hope you will at least keep it (heat waves)in mind. Store it away for future use. Heatwaves, aka air movement, is a fact of life in telephoto photography.