14.09.2020 More of the Grebes with the Leica 100-400.

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 Monday 14th Sept. 72F. Unexpectedly warm sunshine found me back at the lake photographing the Grebes. The young were much more independent this time. As they explored much of the pond either singly or in groups. All five of the family dived at intervals.

I had taken my lightweight stool for more comfort than the timber guard rail. Again I deliberately sat right on the edge of the water, on the grass bank, in full view. 

Sitting right back under the the shade of the trees only adds more distance. It seems not to put the birds at ease. They still kept their distance for the first hour. Hugging the far, wooded shore as usual. It was only when I raised the loose hood of my camouflage jacket that they became curious. One adult and a juvenile would dive and surface closer to me. Though still over 30 yards away.

Following the success I had last time, I took only the Lumix G9 camera, the Sirui CF monopod and the Lumix Leica 100-400mm lens. The monopod is everything one needs for a seated position. The Leica lens and G9 body provide all the image stabilization one could possibly hope for. 

Struggling with the tripod and Sirui gimbal head becomes pointless. The stiffness, or complete freedom, is a hindrance. While the horizontal freedom of the monopod can be easily adjusted. Simply by exposing more, or less, of the steel spike in the rubber foot. Gently rocking the camera from side to side will bring the image upright. The gimbal cannot be adjusted without changing the tripod leg lengths.

Yet again I made use of the in-camera teleconverter [TC 1.4x] and the 2x digital zoom. It is the only way to get close enough to the birds at the considerable distances involved: Often 120 yards or longer. 

I captured lots of stills and only a few videos. Even trying slow burst exposures at one point. This is very controllable. The harder one presses the shutter release the more images are captured. Ease off on the pressure and it becomes single exposures again.

Towards the end, as the birds came closer, I switched back to native focal length [400mm] or with the 1.4x onboard TC. Now I just have to master the same image quality using the Kowa 88mm spotting scope!

 

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6.09.2020 Success at last! Leica 100-400 + shorter distance. ✔

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Sunday 6th. Bright with a speckled sky due to high cloud. I walked a loop to take in the Grebe pond. This time my patience paid off. I had taken my Sirui CF monopod. So I sat on a wooden bar right beside the water, dressed in my cheap camouflage outfit. There seems to be no need for a hide.

The monopod provided the vital prop for effortless support of the heavy lens and body. It is no use having perfect image stabilization if the narrow field of view wanders away from the subject due to tired arms. 

 Do Grebes smile?

Over time, this morning, the grebes grew less afraid and more curious. I usually sit right back in the shade of the trees. Today I sat boldly but unmoving at the front of the grass bank. Yet again, the monopod allowed me to remain perfectly still for long periods. It actually seems much less clumsy than the tripod with the very clumsy, Sirui gimbal head.

It helped that the wind brought them towards me. They are highly susceptible to drifting in the slightest breeze. They even bumped into each other when the wind caught the upwind bird. Like little dodgem cars.

A short distance to the subject is everything in photography. One adult and a juvenile came within 30 yards of me today. I had tried onboard TC and 2x and 4x digital zoom at a distance but the results were very mixed. The problem is not knowing which image has had the augmentation. It doesn't register in the image data.

The young are growing dark crests now but still seem to be dependent on the adults for food. None of the three young dived today. Nor did the adults for that matter. 

A juvenile begs for food from its parent.

It is extraordinarily difficult to capture attractive images where the birds are too distant. There is also the completely random behaviour of birds which preen so often. Perhaps they are itchy but they seem to stab at their back feathers quite frequently. 

Sudden head twisting to reach their backs is very commonplace. Catching the light in the bird's eye can mean twenty or thirty exposures just to catch that one instant. I am avoiding exposure bursts to give myself practice in anticipation of favourable behaviour. I took 600 images today. Only half a dozen are up to my rising standards.

The Grebe family stayed together more today. On previous visits they seemed to be studiously ignoring each other. They are known to select favourites amongst their young and feed them in isolation. Even driving the others away. I have seen this behaviour repeatedly over the course of my visits. Though not today. They seemed much more relaxed than before. Were my attempts to remain invisible under the trees counterproductive? Was being of unknown identity actually upsetting them? Or have they simply become more used to the weird bod on the far bank?

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5.09.2020 When 400mm MFT is never enough!

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Saturday 5th. I walked to the Grebe lake to capture the grebe family. As usual they were hovering near the far shore at ~120 yards. Just too far away to make much impact at 400mm. 

So I tried the in-camera x2 and x4 Digital Zoom and the onboard 1.4x Teleconverter. The problem with 1600mm focal length is supporting the camera steadily enough. 

The IS works incredibly well but needs just a bit of extra stability to function at such extreme focal lengths. 1600mm = 3200mm in FF 35mm terms! [See image right.] 

This is serious digiscoping territory but in a compact, zoom telephoto lens. One only 170mm/7" long. Which can be carried for miles on a standard camera strap! An absolutely amazing performance!

Interestingly [?] the Lumix G9 doesn't record use of the onboard zoom and TC. I can usually read every detail of an image in Picasa3 but it only records 400mm MFT. 800mm FF.

I should have taken the lightweight Sirui monopod just to take the load of the camera and lens. I also had the battery grip fitted. Because the camera battery was low as I left home. This made the camera much more comfortable, where it rested against my stomach, but added a little more weight. Not that I noticed it until I needed to manually support the camera and lens for over quarter of an hour while I snapped away.

For video, a tripod would be absolutely vital at such extreme focal lengths. If only to avoid the viewer becoming sea-sick! 

 

Later I rode to a more distant lake. One where a field is ploughed up to the edges of the water. Making it impossible to approach nearer than the footpath. Gulls were mixed with lapwings at 200 yards. A family of swans drifted at 150 yards. Then there were shots nearby and the birds scattered. I snapped away as the lapwings circled and caught the group below.

 

When things settled down again I captured the swans. It rained lightly as clouds blew across in the headwind.  Then there were more shots and I gave up the struggle.

The Leica 100-400 is proving its value in providing sharp images. I used the onboard teleconverter again for 560mm [MFT] to bring the swans closer. A small convoy of ducks chugged back and forth.

 

I don't think I'll bother with this lake again. It is just too open, exposed and unfriendly. Particularly when hunters are disturbing the peace!

It could be so much more than it is with a few bushes and reeds around the banks for cover. Perhaps, even a hide for people to enjoy the birds without disturbing them. Though it is rather near to a village. With all the risks that entails. There is a track which ordinary cars can easily manage.

 

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4.09.2020 Leica 100-400 Testing-testing.

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Friday 4th September. First outing with the new lens. It takes some getting used to the narrow field of view and high magnification! Previous experience with the 50-200 with the 1.4x TC was valuable. The 400mm zoom is almost extreme. Its reach is remarkable. Sharpness at the long end is impressive! 

 

The Image Stabilisation is shockingly good! The shaking image just settles and holds steady. It magically freezes the wobble due to being handheld. 

 

I deliberately switched off the IS on the lens to check and the image became impossibly shaky. This is the equivalent of 800mm in 35mm Full Frame terms. In a package not much bigger, nor heavier, than the 50-200. The weight of the lens and G9 camera became effortless to carry for over an hour with the strap worn on the diagonal.

A telecoms tower seven miles away was an interesting target. Though the early morning light was rather poor. Despite the slight haze the detail is astonishing. The elements of the antennae on the upper tower are clearly visible in the original image.[Right] 

5184x3888. 1/1300s f/11 ISO 1000, 400mm. I could have reduced ISO for greater sharpness but will wait for a sunny day to try again. I ought to take the Kowa '884 telescope to where I can see the tower in the distance to make direct comparisons.

Cropping has robbed the image of its sharpness. Increasing contrast and sharpening in PhotoFiltre hasn't matched the original. Just increased the artefacts. The various images here are my attempts to improve the original in PhotoFiltre.

The image [Left] is untouched except by Google's auto-resizing to 2048 × 1536 pixels. As the blog author I have privileges to expand the image to full size. Visitors may not be able to double click for a huge view.

I might still think of a better way of sharing the

fine detail from my images. Matching it to the needs of the blog format, while retaining the detail, is proving extremely difficult.

It is ironic that there are those who still insist on full frame 35mm cameras and long lenses. They must spend many thousands of pounds/dollars. Then carry the huge and heavy lenses via a vehicle and set them up on massive tripods and heads. 

A closer view [Right] for comparison.

 Totally impractical and expensive for most users. While I, as a fit septuagenarian, can easily carry an 800mm equivalent. For hours at a time on a simple camera strap over very rough ground. Up steep firebreaks and banks without even noticing the weight and bulk of the relatively tiny, Leica zoom lens and G9 body.  

 

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3.09.2020 100-400mm: A new chapter.

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Thursday 3rd September. While I had been enjoying snapping away with the Lumix Leica 50-200 + 1.4x TC for 280mm, it still lacked enough reach. Distant subjects were shrunken below the tolerable level for heavy cropping. 

 

So I have added a [hopefully] final lens to my Micro 4/3 collection. The Lumix Leica 100-400mm. [200-800mm in 35mm FF terms] With twice the reach of the bare 50-200 its power is truly remarkable. It also holds serious promise for close-ups.

 

Here are some first examples though not standing very close. I could have done with more light but the sky had become overcast. 400mm 1/200s @ f/8 ISO250. Pinpoint metering. Cropped from 5000 to 2000 pixels. Then resized to 1000 x 800. Not ideal for maintaining the original sharpness.

My experience with the 50-200 is that its size and weight are easily tolerable on a diagonal camera strap. I hardly noticed the camera even after a couple of hours of walking over very rough ground. The size and weight of the 100-400 is not really that different to the 50-200. So it looks promising as a do-all lens for the great outdoors.

Any fear that I would be too close to many subjects evaporated after using the 1.4 TC on the 50-200. I spent most of the time at 280mm. 70mm minimum with the TC was fine except for near pictures of buildings. So 100mm minimum is not a deal breaker. I was hoping to test it out on the grebe lake but the sky has become solid grey and overcast. With rain promised for this afternoon.

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1.09.2020 Another exposure disaster at the lake!

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Tuesday 1st September. Another visit to the lake in bright but cloudy conditions with sunny periods.. 

Despite having Continuous Preview set on the Lumix G9 many of my hundreds of digiscoping images were so dark they were almost black. Yet again, most of them looked out of focus or grainy. 

 

Meanwhile, video was great on the 50-200 x 1.4 TC. Sharp and bright but simply too distant. So I tried the 1.4x, in-camera teleconverter on video and it was surprisingly good. With much better reach at 400mm equivalent focal length. [280 x 1.4 = 392.]

As I have reported before: The Kowa '884 images are absolutely stunning visually. Best I have ever seen in a long lifetime of telescope and binocular use. Why do I have such a problem capturing what I can see so clearly? 

If only I had not trusted my settings and the viewfinder and had checked Review. I could have seen, yet again, that there was a serious exposure problem. I must be missing something about settings for a contactless [manual] lens.  I shall have to do some serious research on settings for "dumb" or legacy lenses with smart camera bodies.

Update: This morning I set up the tripod in the garden with the telescope and camera attached. I used the PA7 "lenseless" Kowa adapter at 25x on the Kowa zoom eyepiece. I used the wireless shutter release to kill the obvious shake whenever I touched the camera or telescope. 

 

BTW: The Pixel Oppilas wireless sender eats AAA batteries. It is always on without any switch. The receiver has an off switch. Removal of the batteries is a bore due to the ridiculously tight battery cover! Broken thumbnails tight!

 

Otherwise it works well enough for single and short burst releases. Sadly it doesn't work for video on the G9. Now that would be real magic! Try pressing a button on a camera dangling from a 2000mm telephoto lens without causing a massive  wobble! NEWS: A YT poster suggests you should use Creative Video instead of normal. This allows the wireless remote to start and stop video. I'll look into that. 

 

Wireless Remote Video control: Setting the G9 dial to Manual Video provides start and stop on the wireless remote. That's a relief! Video is a great shortcut to worthwhile digiscoping results. Getting sharp stills is the difficult part.

The Manfrotto 055 CF tripod is not remotely stiff enough for digiscoping with the legs fully extended. I usually have only the first, thicker sections extended and sit on a camping stool behind the camera. I use a Sirui gimbal head but it has its own serious issues. Like a complete lack of friction. A total waste of money! If only I could get it apart I could modify it to provide the vital, smooth drag in panning. Complete freedom makes for jerky movements.

The "secret" to getting sharper pictures and correct exposure seems to be going over to all manual settings. Manual focus. Manual ISO. Manual exposure. Manual on the settings dial. 

 

Today's tests had ISO in the low thousands. [More image noise?] At least it meant movement freezing, shutter speeds. I captured wind blown trees at 40, 100 and 600 yards. Not razor sharp but a definite improvement. Whether this translates into sharper water bird images at the usual 80-120 yards I shall have to see. I can only judge progress after a new trial at the lake. 

 

This time I pressed the Review button on the G9 after each and every single exposure to check sharpness and brightness. Continuous Preview seems to be worthless after a useful start. Perhaps it is switched off under certain other settings? Some menu settings ae blacked out when another choice is made.
 

There is a Kowa digiscoping product advertisement/guide online. The Micro 4/3 camera and 25-60mm eyepiece with the PA7 adapter: 25x = 2000mm equivalent. 40x = 3500mm equiv. 60x = 4900mm equiv. No wonder the image magnification seems so extreme! And, so very different to the superb, visual appearance at the eyepiece. 

 

Full frame would be far easier with its much lower equivalent focal lengths halved compared to the 4/3 format. Adding the Lumix 20mm pancake lens reduces the magnification but still needs the correct settings. Another area of research to attend to.

I am guessing that these quoted figures are equivalent focal lengths in 35mm FF terms due to the usual crop factor of 2. Dividing these f/l figures by 50 will give the effective magnification. 2000mm = 40x, 3500 = 70x and 4900 = 98x. There is also the 1.6x Kowa extender = 3200mm, 5600mm & 7840mm respectively!! You do the maths!

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