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2-24-08
Ok, I'm finally done
buying myself toys for a looong long time. I kept going back and forth
on whether or not I wanted to spend the money on this lens, but
temptation finally got the best of me and I gave in. Sure, the lens
cost a pretty penny, but it definitely feels nice to spend some hard
earned cash on something I really want to do. Unlike the purchase of
the 17-40L, I actually didn't hesitate or have any 2nd thoughts
whatsoever as I handed my debit card over. So, naturally I had to get
out on my first day with the lens. Unfortunately it was an overcast
afternoon. It's tough to get any good shots let alone constantly moving
eagles. But, this was mainly just a test anyway.
My new toys. The lens on the camera would be the 100-400. It's pretty dang heavy. The others in this shot from left to right, starting with the back row: Wide angle converter, Canon 2x TeleConverter (although currently not working correctly), crap Sigma 28-70mm (which I'm still trying to figure out why I still have it), Canon 18-55mm, Canon 50mm (Nifty Fifty), Canon 17-40L, Sigma 70-300mm, Kodak CX7525. Front two are the Canon HV20 and the Canon 100-400L mounted on the Digital Rebel XT (or 350D).
The sun's disc was perfectly viewable at times. All of these following shots are at the 400mm end unless otherwise noted. First shot with the 100-400.
Immature bald eagle. I am still trying to figure out how this came out so clear. This sucker was soaring WAYYY above my head. Even with the 400mm reach, I didn't think I had a chance at this guy. I was very surprised it came out this good, although it's still not great. The image stabilization equipped with this lens sure shows on this particular shot.
After this shot, I was actually very disappointed. Even though it's still better than any moon shot with the Sigma, I would think that this would be much crisper. I do have to take into account my cheap/flimsy tripod and that I turned the IS switch off. It almost seems that on mounted shots the IS function tends to over-correct itself and blurs an otherwise still image.
The next day I didn't get to shoot at all. I really, REALLY wanted to get another crack at some eagles or wildlife in general. Oh well. Enter Saturday. Of course, I had to work. But, seeing as how we are sort of catching up on things, I decided to leave at 1:00 and go after some more. So, back to the Hampton Dam I go (Illinois side).
This one was up in a tree (obviously) WAYYYYYYY down the bank. It was the ONLY one I saw. I couldn't believe it. There are at least a few flying overhead once in a while. But today, nope. I kept creeping down the bank trying to get closer and closer, but this was the best I could do. These awesome birds are extremely skittish. They definitely do not like to be bothered.
Here's a good example of it's zoom capabilites. I see these planes as little white dots normally. Out of curiosity, I pointed it at this jet and was rather surprised to see how close it got me. This thing was way up there.
So at this point I was ready to just give up and head for home. As I was walking back to the truck, a lady in an SUV pulled up and started asking me a few questions. I told her the eagles weren't out today apparently and that's when I learned of the Iowa side. She informed me that there were hundreds of them and many people were already over there. I don't know HOW I missed it before, but after she told me this I looked over and sure enough, I could see the railings above the lock-through lined with people. So, off to Iowa I go. Normally I don't want to be around ANYONE when it comes to photography, but I was so deadset on using this lens today that I really didn't care.
This is just a small example of the sight. There were three trees total and they were packed full of these birds.
Just an amazing sight. These huge birds are so fun to watch.
As as I was taking these, I couldn't help but look through the viewfinder to see how they were turning out. Again, I wasn't too thrilled. I was getting disappointed very fast. I even considered selling the lens on Ebay already. I guess I don't give certain things much time to work out. I would certainly change my mind a little later on.
I'm pretty sure that one dropped that fish he's going after. This was freaking fun to watch. I saw this happen four times in the two days I was here. I have more coming later. Every time an eagle would grab a fish, he would be chased by three, four, five, sometimes six or more who all wanted a piece of the pie. Most of the time the original captor would land on a branch of the victor and down the gullet, but there was a time where a younger bird befuddled an elder.
This is the eagle who was on the upper left of the last image. After the first eagle's failed attempt, he came in immediately and swooped it up. This was actually very far out in the water so it wasn't very sharp.
...aaaand the chase begins!!
One more joins in on the chase. Every time the prize holder would call out continuously as some sort of warning. Like it mattered. I think it just attracted more interested participants into the mix.
The chase disappeared over the other side of the dam and at the same time the Colona MedForce chopper flew overhead a ways upriver. Just testing out the zoom here.
1/3 of the most populated tree. Too bad I couldn't get any closer than this.
How many can you spot? Actually, the middle tree thinned out pretty good before I took this.
Uh oh. You know what this means....
It's gotta be rough being an eagle. It has to suck not being able to have a single meal in peace and quiet.
Not sure the outcome of this one. This immature joined in the chase shortly after. They all disappeared around the corner of that yellow wall soon after this.
Huge bird. I'm going to contact the DNR to see about having one as a pet.
Kidding of course.
So right about now I'm REALLY starting to fall in love with this lens. There would be times when action would stop for a good 5-10 minutes so I had time to go back and view the pics on the LCD. They just kept getting better and better.
The eagles over here are a completely different type than the Illinois side. If I attempted to get this close on our side, they wouldn't let you get within 200 feet of the tree. I was almost literally directly underneath this one. He just gave me a look from time to time, but other than that he was completely ok with me being there. It was pretty cool.
Young and old.
This next sequence was pretty funny. The eagle on the left is either extremely territorial or these two are married. As this one came in for the landing, eagle #1 wasn't having it from the get-go.
The eagle has landed. The one on top is immediately giving the other an earful.
"Hey, you'd better get out of here if you know what's good for you."
Now he's starting to get really angry. I think the other one is looking for an out now.
Now that's a smart eagle. He only stuck around for about a minute.
This one wasn't too clear of a shot, but I still thought it was cool.
GOOSE!!
Another fight is about to ensue, but I couldn't follow this one too long.
I think that immature one missed the fish. I had other pictures from this fight, but they didn't turn out too great. It sucks that all the action was happening pretty far out in the water.
Birds on the Iowa side of things are definitely different than the Illinois side. You can't get within a couple hundred feet of one without it flying off on our side. Over in IA though, the perched eagles would let you literally walk directly underneath them. They'd give you an eye or two, but that was it.
Click here for page 2
My new toys. The lens on the camera would be the 100-400. It's pretty dang heavy. The others in this shot from left to right, starting with the back row: Wide angle converter, Canon 2x TeleConverter (although currently not working correctly), crap Sigma 28-70mm (which I'm still trying to figure out why I still have it), Canon 18-55mm, Canon 50mm (Nifty Fifty), Canon 17-40L, Sigma 70-300mm, Kodak CX7525. Front two are the Canon HV20 and the Canon 100-400L mounted on the Digital Rebel XT (or 350D).
The sun's disc was perfectly viewable at times. All of these following shots are at the 400mm end unless otherwise noted. First shot with the 100-400.
Immature bald eagle. I am still trying to figure out how this came out so clear. This sucker was soaring WAYYY above my head. Even with the 400mm reach, I didn't think I had a chance at this guy. I was very surprised it came out this good, although it's still not great. The image stabilization equipped with this lens sure shows on this particular shot.
After this shot, I was actually very disappointed. Even though it's still better than any moon shot with the Sigma, I would think that this would be much crisper. I do have to take into account my cheap/flimsy tripod and that I turned the IS switch off. It almost seems that on mounted shots the IS function tends to over-correct itself and blurs an otherwise still image.
The next day I didn't get to shoot at all. I really, REALLY wanted to get another crack at some eagles or wildlife in general. Oh well. Enter Saturday. Of course, I had to work. But, seeing as how we are sort of catching up on things, I decided to leave at 1:00 and go after some more. So, back to the Hampton Dam I go (Illinois side).
This one was up in a tree (obviously) WAYYYYYYY down the bank. It was the ONLY one I saw. I couldn't believe it. There are at least a few flying overhead once in a while. But today, nope. I kept creeping down the bank trying to get closer and closer, but this was the best I could do. These awesome birds are extremely skittish. They definitely do not like to be bothered.
Here's a good example of it's zoom capabilites. I see these planes as little white dots normally. Out of curiosity, I pointed it at this jet and was rather surprised to see how close it got me. This thing was way up there.
So at this point I was ready to just give up and head for home. As I was walking back to the truck, a lady in an SUV pulled up and started asking me a few questions. I told her the eagles weren't out today apparently and that's when I learned of the Iowa side. She informed me that there were hundreds of them and many people were already over there. I don't know HOW I missed it before, but after she told me this I looked over and sure enough, I could see the railings above the lock-through lined with people. So, off to Iowa I go. Normally I don't want to be around ANYONE when it comes to photography, but I was so deadset on using this lens today that I really didn't care.
This is just a small example of the sight. There were three trees total and they were packed full of these birds.
Just an amazing sight. These huge birds are so fun to watch.
As as I was taking these, I couldn't help but look through the viewfinder to see how they were turning out. Again, I wasn't too thrilled. I was getting disappointed very fast. I even considered selling the lens on Ebay already. I guess I don't give certain things much time to work out. I would certainly change my mind a little later on.
I'm pretty sure that one dropped that fish he's going after. This was freaking fun to watch. I saw this happen four times in the two days I was here. I have more coming later. Every time an eagle would grab a fish, he would be chased by three, four, five, sometimes six or more who all wanted a piece of the pie. Most of the time the original captor would land on a branch of the victor and down the gullet, but there was a time where a younger bird befuddled an elder.
This is the eagle who was on the upper left of the last image. After the first eagle's failed attempt, he came in immediately and swooped it up. This was actually very far out in the water so it wasn't very sharp.
...aaaand the chase begins!!
One more joins in on the chase. Every time the prize holder would call out continuously as some sort of warning. Like it mattered. I think it just attracted more interested participants into the mix.
The chase disappeared over the other side of the dam and at the same time the Colona MedForce chopper flew overhead a ways upriver. Just testing out the zoom here.
1/3 of the most populated tree. Too bad I couldn't get any closer than this.
How many can you spot? Actually, the middle tree thinned out pretty good before I took this.
Uh oh. You know what this means....
It's gotta be rough being an eagle. It has to suck not being able to have a single meal in peace and quiet.
Not sure the outcome of this one. This immature joined in the chase shortly after. They all disappeared around the corner of that yellow wall soon after this.
Huge bird. I'm going to contact the DNR to see about having one as a pet.
Kidding of course.
So right about now I'm REALLY starting to fall in love with this lens. There would be times when action would stop for a good 5-10 minutes so I had time to go back and view the pics on the LCD. They just kept getting better and better.
The eagles over here are a completely different type than the Illinois side. If I attempted to get this close on our side, they wouldn't let you get within 200 feet of the tree. I was almost literally directly underneath this one. He just gave me a look from time to time, but other than that he was completely ok with me being there. It was pretty cool.
Young and old.
This next sequence was pretty funny. The eagle on the left is either extremely territorial or these two are married. As this one came in for the landing, eagle #1 wasn't having it from the get-go.
The eagle has landed. The one on top is immediately giving the other an earful.
"Hey, you'd better get out of here if you know what's good for you."
Now he's starting to get really angry. I think the other one is looking for an out now.
Now that's a smart eagle. He only stuck around for about a minute.
This one wasn't too clear of a shot, but I still thought it was cool.
GOOSE!!
Another fight is about to ensue, but I couldn't follow this one too long.
I think that immature one missed the fish. I had other pictures from this fight, but they didn't turn out too great. It sucks that all the action was happening pretty far out in the water.
Birds on the Iowa side of things are definitely different than the Illinois side. You can't get within a couple hundred feet of one without it flying off on our side. Over in IA though, the perched eagles would let you literally walk directly underneath them. They'd give you an eye or two, but that was it.
Click here for page 2