red kites

hi all hopefully off to red kite country(mid wales) this week and would like some info with setting to photograph this great bird i will be taking a k20 and a sigma 135-400 apo and posibly a sigma 70-300 dl advice please
phill

Were about are you off Reso ?

If it is Gigrin farm it is worth getting there early for a decent seat in the hide - the Kites take a while to settle in and it is worth hanging around after most people have left as the kites continue feeding for some time and as the numbers of kites fall your shots will be a bit less crowded

I used a 70-300 for my first visit and got some ok shots - second time I went I wondered if I could get any decent shots with an old 400mm mf lens in poor light - big failure that day

Hope this helps if only a little

Cheers


Stu

thanks stuey not going to the farm just in that area for the day and the last time i was there i spoted lots of kites
phill

I am lucky enough to have quite a few birds of preys flying around my back garden as I am surrounded by farmland, and I had a visit from a pair of kites a couple of years ago. Getting the light right is quite tricky on a sunny day as they are big birds. I would go for a least 300mm as I only had a 50-200mm back then and the reach was not far enough.
Here are a couple of shots I took on my old K-x and 55-200 at full stretch wide open and also cropped so not too sharp either.






Getting the pair in the same frame was the hardest though, especially with power lines in the way

I was at Gigrin farm a couple of years ago to photograph the kites, they seem to hang in the air but it's quite deceptive when they move they're really fast. Managed to get some reasonable results with the K20D using the DA*300/4 but faster or more sophisticated AF would be a real advantage.

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/_IGP5092.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/_IGP5111.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/_IGP5121.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/Red_Kite.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/_IGP5089.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/_IGP5086.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/_IGP5085.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/johnwhit24/Red%20Kites/Red_Kite_2.jpg[/IMG]

John

Blimey those are good shots John. Nailed the focus on everyone, beautiful sharp eye. First shot in the series is staggeringly good.

Had both those lenses myself last year but on a Canon body. The 135-400 went everywhere with me. An old lens but absolutely great for the price. Great for airshows, so i guess great for Kites too.
I didn't have the 70-300 DL long enough to really test it. It was cheap, so couldn't resist but i couldn't see a time when i would need it as i had a Sigma 18-125 which covered everything below 135. It was a lot noisier and slower than the 135-400.

Good luck with the Kite pics, hope they come out well.

Thanks for the kind comments Russ.

John