Awesome Bird Shots With Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5, Lumix 100-300 f4-5.6, and a Telescope

 

By FernandoBatista on mu-43.com

Shot with DMC-G5 and Lumix 100-300mm f4-5.6

Image Source: http://www.mu-43.com/f54/bird-new-g5-image-heavy-33977/

 
FernandoBatista on mu-43.com has posted several amazingly sharp bird photos, all shot with the new Lumix DMC-G5. Some were shot with the Lumix 100-300mm f4-5.6, others with an apochromatic telescope adapted to the Lumix body.
 
(Click Here) to see them all.
 
I have really gotten some nice images with the 100-300mm Lumix lens. Sitting birds are one thing. Shooting them in flight, which really helps to make them look less like stuffed taxidermy models, is much harder. The Lumix lens' fast autofocus is pretty good, but it's definitely still not a high hit-rate endeavor.
 
 

Red-Wing Blackbird, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, Lumix 100-300mm f4-5.6 at 275mm

iso400, f5.6, 1/80sec

 
This is about the best I've done on birds in flight with the Lumix 100-300:
 

Osprey in Flight, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, Lumix 100-300mm f4-5.6 at 177mm

iso400, f8, 1/1250sec

I've actually done much better with a manual focus Nikkor 500mm f4 than with any autofocus lens. That said, I've spent a lot more time perfecting my technique with that lens, and matched with the superb Nikon D700 full-frame sensor, it's not really a fair comparison:

Ospreys in Flight, by Reed A. George

Nikon D700, Nikkor Ais 500mm f4 (manual focus)

iso500, f5.6, 1/1500 sec

I have this one enlarged to 12x18 on my wall, and the sharpness is remarkable. It's easy to tell these guys aren't stuffed!


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