Zorzal Colorado (Rufous-Bellied Thrush)

This is a Zorzal Colorado....I mean...Rufous-Bellied Thrush.

Thanks for your comments. Nicolas

Many really nice compositions in this portfolio. I think this one is my favorite.

Provia 100F +1 stop is a combination I also like for this kind of lighting.

On a number of shots in this portfolio (not this one so much), it looks like you're getting some reduced contrast, probably due to lens flare. In part, this is just the effect of using a 50-500 zoom, which can be quite prone to flare problems, but you can improve things by being sure to use a sufficiently long lens shade. If you find you are shooting mostly at the long end (probably so for birds), you might even consider making a hood extension out of flexible plastic, with black flocking or velvet on the inside. You can find black flocking designed for optical work from www.scientificsonline.com.

David: Thanks a lot for your comments. I will take your advise and extend the lens hood I actually own (sigma's) with some black plastic.

Anyway, let me tell you that the scans aren't excellent at all....the slides looks quit better.

Bye.

Ps: How long do I have to extend the hood from the glass, david?

I have the same problem with my scans, so I entirely sympathize. Without an expensive drum scan, it is very difficult to come close to the original slide.

Theoretically, the hood should be almost long enough to cause vignetting, but on a very long lens this will be impractical and may cause new problems, like susceptibility to wind vibration. On zoom lenses, the hood has to be short enough so that it doesn't vignette at the wide end, which usually means that it will be far too short at the long end.

I have an old Canon FD 600/4.5, and the built-in hood is about 12.5 cm, and the clip-on extension hood is another 12.5 cm. Optically, it could probably take a much longer hood, but then the hood would need its own tripod! So maybe for a 500mm lens about 20-25 cm in total combined length would be a good place to start. You could make it longer than you think you will need, see how it works, then cut it down if it's too long.