The catch of the day

[Kawarthabob]

I went out to see what I could down the road and was happy that I got soemthing worth shooting. After my return home I decided to go out back with a beer and my camera and just relax. This is what I saw...

[Mad Aussie]

That's some fish he's got there!!

[Bambi]

That's some fish he's got there!!

no kidding! it took me a minute to figure out the second shot!

[Marko]

i like the comp on shot 3 - on my monitor it looks like it could use a good contrast boost though just as an FYI.

[thoughton]

i like the comp on shot 3 - on my monitor it looks like it could use a good contrast boost though just as an FYI.

+1! The first couple are a bit OOF too. Are you using a mirror lens?

That is one hell of a fish though!

[Kawarthabob]

Thanks everyone. yes I have a rokinon mirror lens. It's really weird because i had some great crisp shots before with it. I think either i need to get glasses ( which i know i need) and someone has goofed around with the diopeter adjustment. It looks crisp in the viewfinder....any suggestions?

[JAS_Photo]

First, I would make sure the forum software is not causing the lack of sharpness. Do your photos look sharp on your computer? Lol, secondly get glasses! When you look through the viewfinder, you do not want to be correcting for your own sight. Third does the little in focus dot show up in the viewfinder when you focus the shot? I am assuming you are not using an old split prism viewfinder in a vintage camera. The 500mm f8 mirror reflex is a difficult lens to handle, actually, and the higher you can get the shutter speed the better to reduce camera shake. I did not spot the donuts in the bokeh of the first shot until Thoughton mentioned them, a tell tale sign of the mirror lens.

And woah, that heron has himself one heck of a catch!

[Kevin McRae]

That second shot is awesome! It took me a good stare to realize what I was looking at. haha.

[thoughton]

Yeah it was the doughnuts that gave it away, plus the low contrast in 2 and 3. I had the Tamron 500mm f8 for a while, I found it very difficult to nail the focus even on something at infinity (like the moon for instance). I've heard that all mirror lenses have this problem (focussing past infinity) as they have to allow for thermal expansion. Plus all my shots needed large contrast boosts. I later replaced it with a 1000mm f11 mirror lens, that's even worse I installed a split prism focussing screen in my dslr, I find it very helpful for manual focussing. Something to look into perhaps.