Rainbow Bee-eater

Merops ornatus.

Although the exif says this was at 1200mm with the 2.0x TC, it actually had a 1.4x and a 2x TC stacked, so the real focal length was 1680mm. (i.e. 600mm x 2 x 1.4) Additionally, I've cropped it just a little for compositional reasons.

View all photos taken: Saturday, 25th April 2009, This photo: 12:43pm

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Comments

  • suburbanvoodoo said:
    Georgeous bird Dave. :-)
  • David de Groot said:
    They are indeed :) I wasn't expecting them back so soon, as they mostly winter around here and go somewhere else in the warmer months. 'twas very happy to see them back.
  • mitchell burns said:
    dam thats a big zoom..lol.. what is the focal length with out the TC's? good shot btw...
  • David de Groot said:
    Native focal length would be 600mm. It's a damn heavy lens, and this one was the 1st Ed. so no IS either - tripod is essential.
  • accesser said:
    Wow the old 600mm I don't think I'd be able to hold that sucker. Pretty bird nice colors and interesting feather ? thing at the end of it
  • HPVD Photos said:
    Considering the focal length, that is an excellent shot David.
  • David de Groot said:
    Tripod dude, tripod :)
    It's definitely not in the range of hand-holdable lenses.
    Didn't turn out bad at all. I figured there'd be more image degradation with the two TCs stack on the end, but it's remarkably clear and sharp all things considered.
  • [ Kane ] said:
    Dam!
  • David de Groot said:
    No, that's where I went at dawn :P
  • James Lagden said:
    1680mm, I don't believe that!
    Nice capture Dave, I might have to do a bit of cropping with mine.
  • David de Groot said:
    Oh you do too, you were there :P
  • looby88 said:
    you have some wonderful birds down under, quite jealous I am
    lovely photo sir !
  • David de Groot said:
    Yep, makes up for all the poisonous, biting, killer beasties we have... of course, some of the birds fall into that category too...
  • SkattyKat said:
    Nice Capture Dave Beautiful bird
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks Kat. They're one of my favourite birds, colourful, graceful and very fast.
  • Peter Hegarty said:
    Hi Dave, how long have you had this lens, was it expensive?
  • David de Groot said:
    Alas, it isn't mine - just got to use it today. Is it expensive - if you have to ask, you can't afford it. ;-)
  • Garry' said:
    Dave...I think you are on track to become an equipment junkie. Something you might have inherited from Sydney J. ....;-)
    Seriously, I never even though to stack multiple converters. Smart move and i am surprised about your perfect focus. Spot on. (Autofocus?)
  • David de Groot said:
    Ah yes, it's a terrible disease.
    No AF, with both TCs on it, the wide open aperture is effectively f/11 and that's too much for any Canon body to AF with.
  • jaclyn_teh2000 said:
    Lovely bird..love the colour on its body...
  • leadegroot said:
    @garry - he's always been an equipment junkie - its the geek in him, he likes his hardware. :)
    I have to keep him on a strict budget, for fear of having no room to move in the house (and those of you who have visited know how laughable that is :))
  • David de Groot said:
    Yep, they're lovely birds :)
  • Grauniad2 said:
    David, What are you saying? That Canon bodies will only AF with aperture wider than f/11?
  • David de Groot said:
    Not quite Rodney. It's got to do with the max aperture of the lens. So if you have a 70-200/2.8L, it's maximum aperture is f/2.8. This is the aperture the camera uses when focussing, only stopping down the iris to your preferred aperture when you press the shutter.
    However, all non-1 series Canon bodies will only AF with lenses that have a maximum aperture of f/5.6 or larger. 1 Series bodies will AF with lenses with a max. aperture of f/8 or larger.
    When you add a teleconverter, you lose 1 stop of max. aperture for a 1.4x or 2 stops for a 2x, so with a 600/4 and a 1.4x you get 840/5.6, but with a 2x you get 1200/8, and with both TCs, 1680/11.
    Make sense ?
  • Grauniad2 said:
    Yes, I understand. Many thanks. And phew. (You can delete these comments now if you like.)
  • David de Groot said:
    Cool, I'll leave the comments there for others, as it may be helpful. :)
  • baar_01 said:
    Wow, that is alot of focal length. I can't imagine these birds stay still for too long so bravo on moving the tripod around and manually focusing all while this little bugger was jumping in and out of frame :P
  • David de Groot said:
    The beauty of these little guys is that they generally sit still for periods of time. This one was turning it's head right and left scanning for "tasty" flying insects.
  • {Rory} said:
    Very nice!
  • David de Groot said:
    Thanks :)