You need a horizontal component to your test targets so that you can see if your lens/body combo is focusing in front or in back so that you can make adjustments.
See birdsasart.com for discussion on this and how to do it.

I have shot a lot in the Yucatan; time of year affects what you will see. I highly recommend going to Celestun and rent a boat and shoot the flamingos. You will need your longest lens, I use 600mm. go in the late afternoon to get the good warm light. Hotbox Island can be great for Egrets. I got some great photos in Cancun by bribing the golf attendants for a golf cart on the Iberostar golf course. Lots of water birds and retiles. if you want a bird guide in Celestun, send me a PM: there is a guy that grew up in Celestun but got a degree in ornithology from Cornell and he is cheap and excellent. He will put you on a lot of birds in one day. I think I paid him $40 plus tip
Good luck, Bill

you will love it; one of my real "go to" lenses
Bill

One other option: consider a Canon 300 f2.8 prime. Rent one and try it out. Fabulous and works great with 1.4 and 2x and still reasonable f stop. it is my favorite lens.

Yep, the issue is going from cold into warm humid air.

So... in Costa Rica we never used air-conditioning in the vehicle, just kept the windows open and sweated, but the cameras were good to go on a moments notice.

Same thing in the south Pacific recently, don't use AC and the cameras are always ready.

Most of the places we stayed in both areas did not have AC anyway, so the only issue was in the vehicle.

Well Allen is a full time pro with great skills, I am an amateur that tries hard. Believe me, his skills, judgement are way better than mine, but thanks. I am not too proud to do setups, but I also just shoot what I can get. I am fortunate that my wife is tolerant and will travel with me to follow the birds so I have been able to get into position where there are a lot of birds. Do what you enjoy, and share some of your results. Good luck

Hey here is another suggestion. Read Alan Murphy's blog or info on his website about creating and shooting at setups. Then fix a perch that will be attractive and put your flashes near that if you are going to trigger with RF signal. That is what we did with the hummers in Costa Rica. Had a fill flash, one flash overhead to represent the sun, one behind to give the edge of the bird some definition and one flash on the background. All flashes on manual so if we wanted more light, moved it closer to the subject; less, move it away. Took some time but results were excellent. We were using the cheap Chinese copies of Canon flashes. If you wish send me a PM and I'll give you my phone number; I talk better than I type.
Bill

I got mine off of Art Morris' website:
https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=9 and it is only $40 rather than $70
Art has a lot of information about how to re: bird photography free on his website. He is also accessible via email and has always answered if I had questions. His workshops are expensive for me, so I have not gone on one. If you are interested in workshops I would recommend Doug Brown, Greg Basco, or Alan Murphy.
let me know if you have questions
Bill

Hey Bob, Glad you like the photos. I don't like photos that look "flashed" but I use fill flash whenever I can. I have successfully added noticeable fill light using a regular canon on camera flash with a better beamer up to 200-300 feet away. I do hook the flash to a large external battery on my belt so that the flash recharges faster when I am shooting burst.

I used a better beamer attached to my flash for the parrot photo and the hummingbird photos were made using four flashes set up around the flower triggered by a RF signal from transmitter on my camera. Then we just waited for the hummer to show up at the flower. Those were shot in Costa Rica and the bird density was so high that even waiting for the birds to show up, I shot about 750 frames per hour! Needless to say, I have a lot of hummingbird photos. The others were natural light

here is something that strikes me funny. I am hot for a new body like the Canon 5DSR with 50 MP. Can't wait for a high resolution camera. But all the photos I uploaded were shot with a 18 MP camera, the 1DX. I believe that the low noise is related to the big pixels that comes with only 18 MP on a full frame. So why do I want 50 MP??? I give up!

On the Egret photos I had really nice light on the chicks, but added fill for the mom. I don't think it looks flashed, but it is better than without the flash.
If you are not familiar with the better beamer it is only $70 and two pieces of plastic holding a fresnel lens that concentrated the light.
If you have any questions, let me know.
Bill

300 mm f2.8 with better beamer

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600 on tripod with better beamer

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I wonder if rbfanman is referring to lenses designed for crop frame cameras placed on FF cameras???

Craig, certainly a 600mm f4 opens opportunities that those will shorter lenses do not have, but producing "superstar" photos comes hard with a long learning curve. When I first got a 600mm prime I expected what you suggested; instant great photos. However, they were crap. I suspected the lens was bad, nope, my technique was bad. Much practice, study, and lots of frames later, I can produce super sharp photos with or without a tripod. Do I think that a 600 prime gives sharper photos than most zooms? Absolutely! I am fortunate that I could afford that lens; If you can't, learn great technique with what you have and can afford. One zoom that is superb is the Canon 200-400 with 1.4x built in, but I can't afford another lens like that.

I posted on this thread yesterday and I am loving the idea of more MP sensors after renting a Canon 5DSR for a couple of weeks, and on the verge of ordering one.

But I was posting a photo to a different thread and got to laughing. I am attaching a photo of a loon and baby taken with a Canon 1DX which is 18.1 MP & I doubt anyone would criticize the attached for not being sharp enough.

Canon 1DX 600mm f4 from fishing boat

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Thank you very much.
My happiest hours are either planning a photo trip or being on a photo trip toting camera gear hunting for some birds to photograph. I am 75 and toting is becoming a chore. Hope to get to the galapagos while I still can. We have a daughter living in Alaska, so I shoot quite a bit up there for wildlife and birds.

Wildlife/bird photography is not compatible with traveling light, but there is a real chance that I overdo it. I almost always carry two laptops also, and had one crap out due to humidity in Costa Rica. If I had traveled lighter with only one laptop, I would have been screwed. So I keep dragging what stuff I think i MIGHT need. Cheers

that may be defunct, but Tony Kuiper's website is up and running. GOODLIGHT.US I THINK MY SPELL CHECK CHANGED IT WHEN I TYPED AND I DID NOT NOTICE IT

once again, goodlight.us is good
Sorry for the confusion
Bill

here are a couple of more; download to really see sharpness

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600mm handheld

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600mm shot from fishing boat

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600 mm handheld

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