K10D and Bigma focus

Before we start can I just say I am still new to this hobby so go easy on me.I am into mainly bird/wildlife photography and have the Bigma because I am disabled and unable to get closer to the subject unlike others and mainly take photo`s from a hide or a vehicle.I have been rather unhappy with the photo`s I have been taking lately (look out of phocus and wondered if any one could tell me if it`s me or the equipment.I downloade a focus chart and once printed laid t on a table then set up the camera and lens on a tripod at the end of the table,angled at 45 degrees and also used the 2 second delay to avoid shake (SR switched off )see pic.


Now to my untrained eye I would say there was a little front focus but the centre focus which I use looks ok.I went out today, and I know the bigma is really better in good light,I placed everyhting on a solid beanbag mounting and took a few photo`s. see pics.


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These sujects were no more than 3 metres away,so is it purely because the shutter speeds are so slow or is it me or is it the equipment.sorry for the long post.

Graham

Just to add these photo`s were straight out of the camera and here`s another photo which I couldn`t ad to the first post


Graham

The 2nd shot looks ok to Me Pal..

Can you crop the picture and post a picture of just the bird?

It's a bit difficult to see anything wrong atm because it's such a small subject.

The lights not helping things though because it's so flat.

Here are the crops Mike,

Second one looks ok to me since it's a 100% crop and you are shooting at 500mm wide open in iffy light. you can see feather detail in the picture and the eye seems sharp enough. First one is rubbish ... is the Bigma the old version or the newer OS?

Interestingly I am in the process of packaging up my Canon mount 50-500mm OS because it is consistently giving me shots like your first picture. I shot a whole days airshow with it and not one picture was in focus no matter what shutter speed I used. I wondered if it was me but recently took it out again and used it side by side with a Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 OS with 2x teleconverter. The pictures are like night and day.

That's better, the first is definitely out of focus, however the second is perfectly acceptable. You are shooting into a dark area and so your light is going to be reduced and this will likely affect your shutter speed. Don't expect every shot to be perfect there are always going to be missed shots. If this is a regular place to visit and you spend a long time there then use manual focus once you've got the focus close enough using the AF.
And above all practice, practice, practice and try to get closer they are after all very small targets.

Focusing on the chart looks OK to me, nothing that I'd be complaining about.

As for the Bullfinch, After looking at the Exif Data all I can say is under those conditions I'd have packed up and gone home, 1/80th wide open

10/10 for trying

So putting the flat lighting aside for a mo'
The K10D has SR built in and the camera was on a bean bag so maybe you could have got away with that shutter speed, but the thing to remember is these little critters are constantly twitching and they do it a lot quicker than you think, I wouldn't try shooting small birds with anything less than 1/125 unless it was nailed to the perch and stuffed

Get out on a day with good light and try and aim for 1/125, even better if you can manage to stop down to f8 as well, the Bigma and K10D combo is quite capable of stunning birds shots so keep trying and good luck.

Have a look at the Blue Tit in my portfolio, ISO200 1/200th f6.7 with the Bigma at 420mm on the K10D (and the shot has been cropped too)

I had a Bigma 50-500 (older version) that produced exactly the same symptoms - I couldn't get a sharp image out of it at any focal length above approx. 150mm. I sold it and bought a 150-500 and that is superb - like chalk and cheese.

I don't know if there is a general issue with the lens, but what you've posted here mirrors almost exactly what I experienced.

Regards
David

Thanks everyone for the prompt replies,I think i`ll have to wait for a bright crisp day wrap up warm and try again.Will let you know how I get on.

Graham

My lens is very old f6.8 total manual 400mm so with K10D 600mm and I have the same problem with focus. However bird table, nest or other fixed location set the lens on a tripod and focus then sit with remote in hand until something lands at where you have trained lens and focused to seems to work much better than trying to follow the subject.

This picture of woodpecker above nest (bottom left) is rather poor but instead look at woodpecker on bird table
it was far easier to get the picture. What I have done is cheat and take picture of nest and picture of woodpecker on bird table and combine both in Photoshop.

I was always taught if at first you don't suck seed cheat!