Rufford Park

Got some at Rufford Park today , my focussing seems to be letting me down although it was getting dark any tips ?? getting frustrating. Wildlife heaven though

1

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1301.jpg[/IMG]


2

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1318-1.jpg[/IMG]

3

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1305-1.jpg[/IMG]

4

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1310.jpg[/IMG]

you.ll be glad to know i can now sort my noise out took a bit of figuring but think i got it in a fashion must of been driving you guys nuts . these better are they not noise wise ??

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1310_filtered.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1301_filtered.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1300_filtered.jpg[/IMG]

Rubbish light don't know what kind of ducks and geese these are. Plenty of variety

[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1316_filtered.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa349/nipper2/IMGP1308.jpg[/IMG]

Nice collection of shots - looks like a good place to head. For your last two pics, I think the duck is a Tufted Duck and the Goose is a Greylag (although someone will correct me if i am wrong). In terms of focussing - are you focussing manually or autofocus? have you checked that the lens is calibrated correctly with your camera? I guess as well that if the light was poor you may have been using a wide aperture, where the DOF gets thinner and focussing becomes more critical? could there be any slight camera shake?

Don't know if that helps?

Regards

Lovely shots nipper, the swan is a cracker. Yes Mat the duck is a female Tufted Duck and the Goose is a Greylag. Mat you said about calibrating a lens with a camera, how is this done? Any help appreciated.

Some nice pics there.
On the squirrel you are using f2.8/3.5 1/125 at 200mm ISO 400.

Push the ISO more, the K-5 can take it and then use f4/5.6 and a bit faster shutter speed if possible.

Also, draw back to about 180mm, very few lenses are best at their full focal length (presuming its the 70-200mm).

Some lovely shots in their Nipper - and yes, they look much cleaner ! Swan wins best shot for me.

Is that a Tamron 70-200/2.8 or Sigma 70-200/2.8 ? Either way they are both supposed to be very sharp - even at 200mm.

Agree with Mike on the settings. I have my K5 set to max out at 6,400 but in reality rarely go above 3,200 - 5,000. Clean up the shots in PP and they look great. Doing that enables you to set a much faster shutter speed.

My usual settings for birds are : TAv - 1/800 and f5.6 to f8 (depends on how far away the bird is). Even 1/800 is not going to freeze wing beats but will stop body / head movement - the birds as well as yours !

Thanks for the comments i think i'm improving , to be honest i was in a bit of a rush has i went and did'nt check my bag and when i got there guess what forgot my lens so had to rush back and get it. Its a tamron 70 -200 i think its my favourite love it.does anybody else feel very self conscious when walking round with a camera i do , don't know why just do This forums great learn't loads of here , think i need a back up camera k-r maybe Really happy i chose Pentax.

His that a Bullfinch not much of a bird expert

Here's a shot I took on Sunday to exemplify what Mike and I said about pushing the ISO :

In the rain, ISO 5,000, f5.6, 1/400, TAv.

If you mean the little chap feeding on the ground its a chaffinch, hope this helps

Is it a male ? They are much prettier than I remember !

Yes it's a male.