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<\/p>\nThe first test shots taken with my newly repaired lens.<\/p>\n
Yep, I got my lens back from the Canon repair facility in California late yesterday morning. Free overnight return shipping is one of the perks of Canon Professional Services, for which I’m grateful. They were still working on it Tuesday morning and before noon on Wednesday I had it in my grubby little hands. Can’t complain about that.<\/p>\n
As you can imagine I was itching to take some test shots to see if the replacement of my 4th group IS lens assembly and other necessary work fixed my problem with soft photos. So almost immediately I took my lens down to a local pond to take some test shots of the Mallards that reliably hang out down there.<\/p>\n
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1\/8000, 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<\/em><\/p>\n It was midafternoon so the light was a little harsh but the warming sun had inspired a group of about a half dozen Mallards to join in communal bathing. Their bathing activities had begun even before I got my pickup stopped so I didn’t have time to make any camera adjustments, I just aimed, fired away and hoped for the best.<\/p>\n The action was fast and furious as I tried to predict which Mallard would be the next one to bathe. I got lucky with this female.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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<\/em><\/p>\n When birds are bathing it’s always a challenge to get light on their face and in their eye but I succeeded a few times. The water splashes and flying water drops really add to the excitement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/6400, 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<\/em><\/p>\n At times there were three or four Mallards bathing simultaneously so I had to make a choice and run with it. This male was kind enough to give me a broadside view.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, 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<\/em><\/p>\n I thought this was a somewhat unusual and interesting perspective on a bathing duck.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Overall I’m encouraged by the results of my lens repair, at least so far. The photos I took of static Mallards during my test session were sharp and so were most of the shots I took when their bathing action was fast, furious and frenzied. But I know from experience that it’s folly to come to a final conclusion before I’ve done more extensive field testing. I need more testing with birds in flight and smaller birds in varying lighting conditions.<\/p>\n Hopefully over the next few days our weather will cooperate so I can get out into the field for more testing. Besides, it’s been about two weeks since I’ve spent any time with birds so I need to get out there again for my own mental health. For me birds are therapeutic.<\/p>\n I’m also looking forward to getting back to my daily blog posting schedule, or close to it, which is another form of therapy I’ve been missing. To be perfectly honest I’ve been a little off-kilter for the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first test shots taken with my newly repaired lens.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/mallard-9779-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"mallard-9779-ron-dudley\\"")
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