Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Goldfinch

This is what I get with 280mm (70-200mm + 1.4x extender):

goldfinch

This is a crop from the above:

goldfinch_crop

Do you think I will benefit from a supertelephoto lens?

:)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you will. 400 mm should be your minimum tele for serious bird photography, preferably on a 1.6x sensor camera like the 40D. I have the 300 mm f/4 L IS which is a fantastic lens, handholdable, and also suitable for landscape photography. The downside is that it is not long enough for bird photography.

Anonymous said...

What a great shot, even if it's slightly short on zoom...;~)

Now I can't tell for sure whether this finch is male or not. The yellow plumage seems pretty dull to be male material -- unless he's still in the midst of a spring molt. However, the jet black cap oughta be a dead giveaway that this bird is male. Be mindful, though, I'm a lightweight when it comes to bird watching, so my saying that this finch is male don't carry much weight, either.

And speaking of black caps and death, it's refreshing to see a goldfinch on a shepherd's hook, instead of a canary in a mine shaft...