Cooper's Hawk

[war]

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Chicago's lakefront bird sanctuary. Photographers in huge crowds gather here with their hand held Canons and obscene three foot long camouflage covered lenses.  Almost more fun to watch than the birds.  This was taken with the Q2 and an enormous, not too fuzzy, crop.

 

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[RexGig0]

Wonderful capture! Cooper’s Hawks are very active, so, the trick is to capture an image when they finally sit still. You did it, with your Q2. Beautiful! 😀

Regarding “obscene” long telephoto lenses, I had been planning and budgeting to acquire a Nikon Nikkor 600mm f/4 AF-S FL, to be a post-retirement self-gift, but, when the time arrived, I was rehabilitating my left left shoulder, after having tweaked my rotator cuff during the clean-up after Hurricane Harvey. I had been interested in the Leica M system, and a pre-owned Summilux-M 50mm ASPH, in a display case at Houston Camera Exchange, caught my attention. During multiple visits, I tried the lens on pre-owned and demonstrator M9 and M Type 240 cameras, and finally decided to buy THIS lens, without having yet decided which camera I would add, upon which to use it. I would have to postpone the “super-telephoto,” but my left shoulder would not have allowed me to use a heavy, long lens, for some time, anyway.

I was then told that it had just become possible to finally buy a new M10, without having to be on a waiting list. An employee brought a just-delivered M10 from a back room. I knew that this would be the ideal combination for me. I ran some numbers, in the calculator app or my iPhone, and decided to scuttle the plan to buy the big 600mm lens, which enabled me to buy into the Leica M system, and buy a Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 ZF.2 lens, for the Nikon F-mount SLR system, for less than what I would have paid for the obscenely-expensive, obscenely-heavy Nikon 600mm. (This was before Leica M10-series cameras increased to ~$9K US in price. The original M10 intially sold for less than $7K US.)

Five years later, I have no regrets. I will never be able to justify the expense of buying a such “status” bird-shooting lens. I am at peace, with that. My shoulder healed, and strengthened, by the end of that year, but the idea of schlepping a status-symbol-length super-telephoto is no longer appealing.

Sorry for the long, rambling post. It is, however, intended to support why one does not need a long telephoto lens to shoot bird images, and to support the Q2’s versatility, and your skill in using it.

Edited May 21, 2023 by RexGig0

[Idawhat]

Nice image. Nothing wrong with cropping an image. An image should just be what you want to convey.

I like your comment about long lensed cameras. I photograph a lot of eagles every year and get a chuckle out of seeing some of the gear. I'm often tempted to ask if they have a license to have such weapons. 🙃

[war]

4 hours ago, RexGig0 said:

Wonderful capture! Cooper’s Hawks are very active, so, the trick is to capture an image when they finally sit still. You did it, with your Q2. Beautiful! 😀

Regarding “obscene” long telephoto lenses, I had been planning and budgeting to acquire a Nikon Nikkor 600mm f/4 AF-S FL, to be a post-retirement self-gift, but, when the time arrived, I was rehabilitating my left left shoulder, after having tweaked my rotator cuff during the clean-up after Hurricane Harvey. I had been interested in the Leica M system, and a pre-owned Summilux-M 50mm ASPH, in a display case at Houston Camera Exchange, caught my attention. During multiple visits, I tried the lens on pre-owned and demonstrator M9 and M Type 240 cameras, and finally decided to buy THIS lens, without having yet decided which camera I would add, upon which to use it. I would have to postpone the “super-telephoto,” but my left shoulder would not have allowed me to use a heavy, long lens, for some time, anyway.

I was then told that it had just become possible to finally buy a new M10, without having to be on a waiting list. An employee brought a just-delivered M10 from a back room. I knew that this would be the ideal combination for me. I ran some numbers, in the calculator app or my iPhone, and decided to scuttle the plan to buy the big 600mm lens, which enabled me to buy into the Leica M system, and buy a Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 ZF.2 lenThs, for the Nikon F-mount SLR system, for less than what I would have paid for the obscenely-expensive, obscenely-heavy Nikon 600mm. (This was before Leica M10-series cameras increased to ~$9K US in price. The original M10 intially sold for less than $7K US.)

Five years later, I have no regrets. I will never be able to justify the expense of buying a such “status” bird-shooting lens. I am at peace, with that. My shoulder healed, and strengthened, by the end of that year, but the idea of schlepping a status-symbol-length super-telephoto is no longer appealing.

Sorry for the long, rambling post. It is, however, intended to support why one does not need a long telephoto lens to shoot bird images, and to support the Q2’s versatility, and your skill in using it.

Thank you for your comments. Yes this youngster sat on that branch for perhaps 10 seconds before it saw its next meal. 

Take care of that shoulder, I've been there. Long lenses are a thing of the past. I can't lug anything around bigger than the Q. I put a spare battery in my pocket and leave the camera bag behind now.  

 

 

[war]

29 minutes ago, Idawhat said:

Nice image. Nothing wrong with cropping an image. An image should just be what you want to convey.

I like your comment about long lensed cameras. I photograph a lot of eagles every year and get a chuckle out of seeing some of the gear. I'm often tempted to ask if they have a license to have such weapons. 🙃

Thanks for the comment.  I watch these guys trying to find the bird with the super long weapons after they've spotted it and it's gone before they zero in. The thing that really puzzles me though is the camouflaged covers on the lenses, what's that about. I guess the birds would be spooked by the camera lens but not by the person holding it and pointing and whispering to his friends.

[Idawhat]

32 minutes ago, war said:

Thanks for the comment.  I watch these guys trying to find the bird with the super long weapons after they've spotted it and it's gone before they zero in. The thing that really puzzles me though is the camouflaged covers on the lenses, what's that about. I guess the birds would be spooked by the camera lens but not by the person holding it and pointing and whispering to his friends.

I think the camo is a carryover from hunting. With the size of the gear the bird might take it for shotgun. 😄

 

[Lelmer]

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17 hours ago, war said:

Chicago's lakefront bird sanctuary. Photographers in huge crowds gather here with their hand held Canons and obscene three foot long camouflage covered lenses.  Almost more fun to watch than the birds.  This was taken with the Q2 and an enormous, not too fuzzy, crop.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Amazing you got this one with a Q2..👍

[stuny]

Lovely, and well done.  The crop ability of the Q line is one of its greater strengths.