You're right about Lapwings - they have what seems a really awkward flight pattern. Almost indecisive - luckily they're a reasonable size otherwise I'd have never got that shot. As for the GCG, I'd say being an inexpereinced juvenile, possibly this helped with the closeness, around 50/60ft , but mum was right next to him. I had to keep fairly still and was half hidden by shrubbery which helped

yeah thats me on US forum. I dont think there are too many bird photographers in that 300mm + lens club that shoot with a lens built for taking shots of stars and planets

The scope is an Orion 80ED, which is 80mm objective lens size, F ratio 7.5 ( this gives you FL ... 80mm x f7.5 )
Mine has an upgraded Williams Optics dual focuser, replacing the stock unit.

This is the best i could with 1mp camera phone

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/slapper/Lenses/Orion1.jpg[/IMG]

BIF are a bit of a nightmare for gear like my Orion scope with its lack of any help, but its possible if you're used to the way you use a scope. Quality on that Lapwing isnt as good as i'd like ( you can see this in the photo ) but i was taken by surprise, because i had set up to get a shot of the young Great Crested Grebe you see below. Still, not bad for off the cuff. I'm sure i could do better if was planning BIF shots.

Cheers Algi

The complete lack of any luxuries whatsoever is just about the reason. So, no AF, no IS / OS, not even variable aperture. The cost savings go on.. only 2 glass elements in the whole thing. Just 2 ! Compare this to a 600mm f4 / f5.6 / f8 telephoto

Advantages - this thing weighs 6.5LBS. But you have to add mount plates and ext tubes. So in reality, about 9LBS. My scope was under £400 used.

The ' sometimes sharper ' is subjective and depends on the comparisons, but i know what you mean. If using a scope for astro work, then you can go way cheaper, but for terrafirma photography, you need ED / LD glass, and that puts up prices. Nothing like Canon / Nikon / Sigma big gun prices of course.

My only long birding lens, adapted to K-7. Local bird reserve ISO 200 + 1/500th ( IS set to 400mm )

I have this in document form on my PC, so took a screen print, in case its any use to you?

Yes, I agree it would take a little more effort as you say, but still not difficult in CS. But like you, I would keep a decent lens, despite a small flaw here and there.

Thanks Chappy - the sun was in my favour that day. Really helps with detail in some situations ( as opposed to blowing detail )

Shot her with FA 80-320 / ISO 200 / f6.7 / 1/250th. Taken with ( new to me ) K-7 bought from Mike P here. Just happened to be visiting a friend during the great weather we had recently, and she keeps horses







Bigger links here

http://photo-sharing.winsoftmagic.com/cgi-bin/share.exe?CMD=FP&ID1=b99v51bb&PID=...

http://photo-sharing.winsoftmagic.com/cgi-bin/share.exe?CMD=FP&ID1=b99v51bb&PID=...

I find myself agreeing with the Tubeset option, mainly because i've never used magnifying add-on lenses like Raynox, and never used the reverse lens option, whether directly mounted to the camera via reverse mount ring, or mounted reversed onto another lens via a coupling ring.

I did some tests using a cheap Tokina 24-70 SD zoom, plus a set of original Asahi Pentax 12,20,36 tubes, and got the following results.

Boring ( sorry ) subject matter, i agree, but this is just for the purpose of showing what a tubeset can do. I would also say that despite the Tokina 24-70 being a cheap lens ( £12 ebay ) it has fabulous IQ





Subject matter is a standard 16ft tape rule

All these are resized













100% crops

http://photo-sharing.winsoftmagic.com/1/omvy4l8j35.jpg

http://photo-sharing.winsoftmagic.com/1/61g5d0cnz4.jpg

http://photo-sharing.winsoftmagic.com/1/gueu8v9wo6.jpg

You certainly can use Fill Light in CS4 / ACR ... which version are you using ?