Took this out today for a try. Unfortunately ended up with some dreadful weather, dank, cloudy and rain. Did get some reasonable images though. A couple of examples.



Heron was cropped but then needed some post processing, mostly gamma correction and a little sharpening, probably overdid the sharpening very slightly.

Swan was cropped and then reduced to 800*600

Both hand held. 1/160th sec, f6.3. [edit]For the Heron[/edit]

I was probably lucky to do this well on some of the images, the weather was really grotty.

Yeah, the swam is quite sharp, first bird a little less so.

Would be interested to see what can be achieved with this sort of lens from a tripod / in better light with a faster shutter speed.

The lens and camera combination is well over 2KG so its not going to swing around as much as a lighter lens. Some pics were good, some a little blurred. I just took a few and hoped a couple would come out. Most of the swan photos did.

File name IMG_2633.CR2
Camera Model Name Canon EOS 40D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.8
Shooting Date/Time 23/09/2010 15:37:17
Tv(Shutter Speed)1/160Sec.
Av(Aperture Value) F6.3
Metering Modes Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 800
Lens 150-500mm
Focal Length 500.0 mm
Image size 3888 x 2592
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
White Balance Auto
AF mode AI focus AF
Picture Style User Setting3(Standard)
Parameters
          Tone Curve :    Standard
          Sharpness level :    -
          Pattern Sharpness :    -
          Contrast :    0
          Sharpness :    3
          Color saturation :    0
          Color tone :    0
          Long exposure noise reduction :    Disable
          High ISO speed noise reduction :    Disable
          Highlight tone priority :    Disable

File name IMG_2635.CR2
Camera Model Name Canon EOS 40D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.8
Shooting Date/Time 23/09/2010 15:37:25
Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/320Sec.
Av(Aperture Value) F7.1
Metering Modes Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 800
Lens 150-500mm
Focal Length 500.0 mm
Image size 3888 x 2592
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
White Balance Auto
AF mode AI focus AF
Picture Style User Setting3(Standard)
Parameters
          Tone Curve :    Standard
          Sharpness level :    -
          Pattern Sharpness :    -
          Contrast :    0
          Sharpness :    3
          Color saturation :    0
          Color tone :    0
          Long exposure noise reduction :    Disable
          High ISO speed noise reduction :    Disable
          Highlight tone priority :    Disable