New river pics (Canon SX30)

[hal]

I've been out to my river area (american river near sacramento) serveral times recently and it seems that the dead snowy egret I found a while back was indeed my ol buddy. The only other snowy egrets I've seen were very different and neither was at Edgar's favorite spot (yes, I've named him Edgar the Egret)...

But I got some new pics to share...



This guy was at Edgar's favorite spot, but he's a Great Egret (a big one) - think I've seen this guy here before










By FAR the best quail shot I've ever taken


Updates about the camera: still really loving it, but here are some weaknesses...

Tends toward over saturation - many of the above pics required me to tone down the saturation. In particular yellows go WAY overboard in the very soft, late afternoon light. I'm having a very hard time panning with flying birds and getting solid shots at full zoom. I'll get better...

There's some nasty green fringe on the egret shot - this is the first I've seen this. The sun was very low - the light very soft...

[DRR]

Nice shots.

The fringing and the softness are some things I've noticed in your other shots - looks to me like you're pushing the lens to its limits. Still, it is a very impressive little camera.

I also love that you seem to have a lot of fun shooting and sharing. And that is much more important than MTF charts.

[Buzz]

Try backing off max zoom just a hair... it seems to help w/ fringing and other color aberrations. I've gotten into the habit of when zooming to the max, just barely hitting the back button a scootch. If the shot absolutely has to be maxed, I figure a little crop around the edges gets rid of the worst of it. I love how versatile the SX30 has turned out to be. I don't mind occasional post processing, plus, you can tweak the shooting settings pretty good to start with to minimize the necessity. With decent settings, you're left with what the camera can really do. If I'm going to shoot in the same types of places, I'll fiddle w/ the settings to see what works best first time out, then subsequent visits keep getting better and better. A slight tweak to your "American River" color profile may be all you need, then just save it in the camera. Maybe pre-set three slight gradations before you go next time, and see which one works best, then keep refining from there.

///

[MartyStickle]

Hal. I've appreciated your bird shots with SX30. In fact I went out and bought one. But, I'm not won over yet. I can't seem to get over the lag between pushing the shutter and getting the shot. Also, the focus seems to really have to work hard...in and out...repeatedly, especially when at a long zoom. I know I need to work harder on it, as I've only taken maybe a few dozen pics so far. My Canon rebel seems so much more responsive. I have tried pre focusing by holding down the shutter half way. Using flash indoors to shoot my granddaughter has been a bit frustrating as well...such lag!

Thanks again for posting. BTW, do you use a tripod for the bird pics?

[haikuman]

Thanks for sharing Hal.....
Besides the nice photos I actually get a hit from the magic of being in a natural environment,
I can smell the grasses and feel your pulse as you try to quietly approach the wild life.

Rudie :priate:

[blooz]

I love the one where the river looks like some kind of metal with stripes painted on it.

[hal]

DRR wrote:
Nice shots.

The fringing and the softness are some things I've noticed in your other shots - looks to me like you're pushing the lens to its limits. Still, it is a very impressive little camera.

I also love that you seem to have a lot of fun shooting and sharing. And that is much more important than MTF charts.

very, very true... I do it mostly as an excuse to get outta the house and moving about. Just going out on a hike feels like too much work, but if I'm chasing down a good photo, it's just fun.

Buzz wrote:
Try backing off max zoom just a hair... it seems to help w/ fringing and other color aberrations. I've gotten into the habit of when zooming to the max, just barely hitting the back button a scootch. If the shot absolutely has to be maxed, I figure a little crop around the edges gets rid of the worst of it. I love how versatile the SX30 has turned out to be. I don't mind occasional post processing, plus, you can tweak the shooting settings pretty good to start with to minimize the necessity. With decent settings, you're left with what the camera can really do. If I'm going to shoot in the same types of places, I'll fiddle w/ the settings to see what works best first time out, then subsequent visits keep getting better and better. A slight tweak to your "American River" color profile may be all you need, then just save it in the camera. Maybe pre-set three slight gradations before you go next time, and see which one works best, then keep refining from there.

I haven't really started to fine tune things yet, but I like this advice - thanks...

MartyStickle wrote:
Hal. I've appreciated your bird shots with SX30. In fact I went out and bought one. But, I'm not won over yet. I can't seem to get over the lag between pushing the shutter and getting the shot. Also, the focus seems to really have to work hard...in and out...repeatedly, especially when at a long zoom. I know I need to work harder on it, as I've only taken maybe a few dozen pics so far. My Canon rebel seems so much more responsive. I have tried pre focusing by holding down the shutter half way. Using flash indoors to shoot my granddaughter has been a bit frustrating as well...such lag!

Thanks again for posting. BTW, do you use a tripod for the bird pics?

I've never used a DSLR so I don't know what I'm missing, but I suspect that you'll be frustrated on many levels if you are hoping to get DSLR performance outta this camera.

haikuman wrote:
Thanks for sharing Hal.....
Besides the nice photos I actually get a hit from the magic of being in a natural environment,
I can smell the grasses and feel your pulse as you try to quietly approach the wild life.

Rudie :priate:

glad to have you around, but keep the noise down please :-)

***
thanks all