My photos in the cold yesterday morning were actually sharp! Thanks to a friend I may (or may not) have arrived at a partial solution to my problem with soft photos while shooting from my pickup in unusually cold temperatures.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
My best photos yesterday morning at Bear River MBR were of Northern Harriers. I like this one in part because of the somewhat twisted body posture – the hawk was flying to my right but my shutter clicked just as she began a turn to my left so she’s looking that way with her tail flared just as she was beginning to change direction. I also like the strong hints at habitat and the complementary colors throughout the image.
Readers will remember my recent issues with soft images on the very cold morning when I photographed a Golden Eagle in flight from inside my warm pickup. Yesterday morning was almost as cold (I saw 13° F. not long before this photo was taken) and I sure as hell didn’t want it to happen again. So as I tried to think of a possible, practical solution some advice from a good friend came to mind. Jim DeWitt (Wickersham’s Conscience on his blog) made this statement among others when he discussed possible causes of my problem on Facebook:
- “Warm air rises and changes the path of the photons, because the index of refraction changes. The warm air in your lens hood can be a really bad offender.”
So very soon after I arrived at the refuge I decided to remove my lens hood. The result? Nearly all of my photos that should have been sharp actually were!
That’s far from conclusive evidence that my lens hood was the offender causing my soft shots but on cold mornings I’ll continue to experiment with having my lens hood on and off and see what happens. At this point I’m at least slightly encouraged that there’s a possible, partial solution to my problem.
Thanks Jim.
Ron
Notes:
- With the hood removed the overall length of my huge 500mm lens is reduced by about a third. In 12 years of shooting with two different versions of that lens yesterday was the first time I’d ever shot without the hood attached. It seemed like I was shooting with some little toy lens. It really felt weird.
- Shooting without the hood is potentially perilous and expensive. With Canon’s 500mm lens there’s no UV filter in front of the big glass in front so there’s danger of scratching that very expensive piece of glass.
- I sure hope I never lose that lens hood. Replacing it would be insanely expensive. Check out the replacement price just for the hood! In case you’re wondering, the hood contains zero glass – it’s just a hood. The reason it’s so expensive is because it’s made of magnesium and titanium to save weight.
Beautiful photo, Ron. You really capture the turns well, as you’ve done in previous posts.
The post and the comments regarding temperatures and lenses reminds me of the documentaries I’ve seen of astronomical observatories and the astronomers with wool caps and down coats. The solution to your problem is obvious: build a portable observatory for your truck:)
Question: Do you see females more than males? That seems to be my experience.
Lyle, I suspect the sex ratio is close to 50/50 but young males look similar to females of any age so seeing the “gray ghost” is often fairly unusual.
Ron, love this shot. Hope that Jim’s suggestion about the hood continue to work for you. That expensive lens cover is protecting a very expensive and large camera. Good luck with all of this. Thanks
Thanks, Alice. Actually the cost of the camera is a relative drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the actual lens that the hood protects.
Ron, thanks for the clarification. The hood serves a very important purpose.
Once again, I have learned something useful from the discussions here.
Many thanks to you all.
Glad to hear it, Martha!
If you want to keep hood on, well before you reach destination turn off heater and roll down window so camera can adjust to outdoor temp.
Yeah, I thought about that. But driving to my shooting destination for an hour or more without the heater on when it’s 20° below freezing just isn’t in the cards. At least not for me.
Hooly dooly. At that price I am not surprised they have them in stock.
Hooray for perhaps finding a solution to the issue.
And a big hooray for the photo of this stunning contortionist.
“Hooly dooly. At that price I am not surprised they have them in stock”
Thanks for the laugh, EC. However, if you need one you need one and the alternative (damaging a $9-10K lens) isn’t an appealing alternative.
Yay, Jim! 🙂 Ron, time to whittle a cup holder for that mondo-expensive lens hood! This is a spectacular shot — I’m by myself and I still oohed and aahed and talked to the computer. 😉 She is definitely wall-worthy!
Ha, I should probably buy a safe it would fit in and strap it in the seat of my pickup!
I’m glad you like the photo, Marty. I’m fond of it too.
Harriers are hard to photograph, I mostly have harrier butts!
My jaw just dropped at the price of the hood.
It’s crazy, isn’t it!
Fantastic photo! Love the body position. And, of course, it’s sharp, well exposed, and pretty close to perfect! Their facial disk has always tempted me to call these predators owl-hawks.
And thanks for the lens hood info. I shall try that one of these cold days.
Thanks, Nancy. I hope the info is helpful to you if you ever need it.
Oh What a beautiful photo! 😍 You captured him so well. ‘Frank’ is right…a beautiful picture to hang! An interesting perspective on the hood…never would have thought of that but does make sense.
I probably wouldn’t have thought of it either, Kathy – one of the advantages of having good friends… 🙂
This reminds me of hauling my telescope out on a cold night. There are big ventilation holes at the bottom of the tube to allow the cold air to exchange out of the tube and cool the mirror and the tube interior. It takes an hour or more. Some larger scopes even have a fan to make this go faster. The shimmering mirage effects are not the friend of sharp images.
Thanks for wading in on this, Joel. What you’ve said gives me even more hope that my lens hood is at least part of the problem.
We used to lug our 10-inch SG up to the mountains to get away from light pollution. It would take an hour or two, depending on temps, before we could really see everything clearly. Fortunately, there were usually other cold weirdos like me and hubby with whom to commiserate (and share “beverages”). 😉 I haven’t thought about that for years — thanks for triggering those fun memories, Joel. May have to talk hubby into bundling up and trekking out soon (or at least unwrapping the ‘scope). 🙂
WOW! Wonderful photo Ron! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Face almost looks like an owl in that shot! 😉 Drop dead gorgeous bird…… As to the lens hood – also WOW – that’s an insane price for a hood in my opinion BUT considering the cost of a new lens…… Will be interesting to follow your testing on using/not using the hood in cold weather.
Judy, I know of a photographer with that lens who dropped his lens hood over the Grand Canyon. Oops…
Hope he had insurance! Need a tether of some sorts it appears! 😉
WOW!! I’ll now look at my lens hood as a piece of jewelry . WTF.
An expensive piece of jewelry at that.
OOOOOhhhh! That’s a great pose with a great background. Should print up nicely and is a wall hanger. Interesting speculation on the lens hood. Yep, their pricy.
You’re right, Frank – at this point it isn’t a lot more than speculation but at least I have hope…
Those Harriers in flight make such great photos. I always find it so difficult to stay with them with my smaller camera as they twist and turn so quickly and so often. Beautiful photo as always. Never thought of removing the lens hood, but that does make sense. Thanks to your friend Jim.
Everett, we ALL find it difficult to follow them in flight! Their erratic flight makes it so.