Young Blue Wren

[Mickoid]

Hi folks, another bird shot I took with the same lens I used for the Eagles. Tamron f8 500mm Mirror lens, difficult to focus but I nailed this one. There was enough light for a fast shutter speed which helped eliminate blurring due to camera shake. :)

[AstroViking]

Poor little thing looks like it's freezing cold, all fluffed up like that. Brilliant shot - great focus and the background is blurred perfectly.

Have you thought of trying that lens for astro?

[Mickoid]

Thanks Steve, it was a coolish day yesterday here in Melbourne but I think it's fluffiness is more due to the remaining feather down left not long after hatching. Yes, this lens does a reasonable job on astrophotography: https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=203498

[Hans Tucker]

This is truly a nice capture and framing of an elusive target. There is an area near my place where there are a number of these birds but they are a fast very timid creature that wont stay still for a long period so this capture is special. Nice work.

[Mickoid]

Thanks for the compliments Hans. I have a technique of bringing out these little fellas when I hear them but can't see them. I'm fortunate to have mastered their high pitch call and they are quite territorial. When they hear me they usually come out to see who the imposter is. It gives me time to have the camera ready for their brief appearance before they work out it's me mimicking their call. They soon disappear again.

[Outcast]

G'day,

I'm impressed.. also very impressed with your AP with this lens... so much so, I've just pushed the button on a Samyang 500mm f6.3 mirror lens... likely not quite in the league of your Tamron but, I have other samyang lenses & these seem to get a pretty good write up... anyways, the price was right...

So, I'm curious about a couple of things...

1. For terrestrial photo's do you use 'focus peaking' or just rely on live view magnification to tweak your focus?

2. For Astrophotography, have you made up a bhatinov mask, if not, how are you achieving sharp focus?

I was planning to get out of AP totally as it was never more than a passing interest vs visual astronomy... heading this route with a sky tracker will be way more convenient & with some effort, probably provide more than adequate results for me...

Happy to move this to a private message if you think it more appropriate

Cheers

[Mickoid]

Carlton, I will PM you regarding these questions. :thumbsup: