Bird Photography --- Sharp as a Tack?

I have been trying for the longest time to get my bird photos nice and sharp. I have seen some great bird photos

sharp as a tack. I have not had much luck. Please see my latest. ATTACHMENT:

 

Some Info,

 

Used a tripod and a remote.

Canera Sony A 100

Aperture set at - F6.3

Shutter set at - 1/500.0

ISO at - 250

Lens Focal Length 400.00mm

Max Lens Aperture - 5.31

 

Used an Phoenix Lens, 100 - 400mm 1:4.5 - 6.7

 

Do I just have bad glass?

 

Any help would be GREAT. Thank You, jan<div></div>

To me it looks like you missed the focus. The branch to the left actually looks sharper than the bird.

As I have also discovered, some makes of inexpensive lenses just don't have the crystal clarity of higher-priced optics.

On the other hand, your picture doesn't look terrible, either. Just remember that long lenses have very shallow depth of field and you will probably need to "touch up" the focus manually in order to get the sharp eyes that normally trick the viewer into believing that the photo is sharp all over.

 

There are a few exceptions to the "you get what you pay for" like some of the old manual Spiratone long lenses, both normal and reflex (mirror).

 

"Cheap lenses are often worth what you pay for them, expensive lenses are not always worth what you pay for them." attributed to Adsel Adams, Ansel's little known younger brother.

In auto focus use the spot mode or try manual focus. your image looks good. you might be at a point also no matter how sharp you are getting your photos, not good enough, could be better! Some of the images you see here are from big dollar glass and cameras with full frame sensors. ($5000.00 is a start)!

I agree with the others 'comments and might add, that most outstanding bird shots are taken with prime lenses rather than zooms, which may account for a small sharpness differential. Other than that, I think fine focus might be the answer...lots of birders focus on the bird's eyeball letting DOF take care of what's in front and back of it. Keep practicing, I probably have one strong keeper (among bird shots) out of every 20.

It's your depth of field. That's all. If you haven't already, put the camera in aperture priority and put in f/8 or higher. That should put the bird completely in focus. If not, mess around.

Birds in trees are hard to capture, because the tree branches can easily throw the AF off. You can use AF to get the bird in the frame then tweak the focusing manually. Also a good tripod should help or use a shutter speed of at least 1/500 of a sec.

Walt is correct that you missed focus.

 

The last thing I would do would be to follow Jon's suggestion to stop down. You'll wind up with a distractly in-focus background, and maybe a less sharp subject due to the longer shutter speed. You just need to learn to focus your camera. Your lens is not the best for this sort of thing, but sharpness can be made acceptable.

Jan, I would add one more thought........ increase your ISO. With a slowish lens, it sometimes is difficult to nail the subject. Increasing ISO will get you to an f/8-11 range without much loss.

When comparing with other shots, do look out not to include over-sharpened photo's. Often when looking at wildlife photo's it really stands out that the photo has been sharpened beyond real life.

The twig to the left of the bird is tack sharp, so the issue is with focus not lens sharpness. Try to get the focus on the birds eye, or at the very least the bird itself. Stopping down to f. 8 is most likely going to give your distracting backgrounds and in lower light, motion blur from slow shutter speeds. High ISO is going to give you some degree of noise. The challenge is to balance these factors to get the best compromise. IMO concentrating on focus placement is the best option.

I think the lens simply cannot deliver. I tried birds with Sigma 135-400 occ I will get a keeper mostly they were either soft or just not crisp and colors were less vibrant. Then I got Nikkor 70-300-VR (100mm less) and they are sharp crisp and rich in color. <P> I have never used Phoenix although the price always attracted me. This picture also have noise.