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February 26, 2012 12:18 pm

Kingfisher in Late Sun, and other window shots.

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by    in bridge cameras,cameras,Canon Powershot,Canon SX40HS,p&s4wild,superzooms,technique

One of the advantages of today’s long zoom Point & Shoot cameras is their relative speed and ease of use, when compared to either a digiscoping rig, or a conventional DSLR long lens combo. The Canon SX40HS I use is tiny compared to either, and rides securely in the passenger seat while driving loops at places like Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Bosque del Apache, or even Viera Wetlands (a municipal wetlands…settlement ponds…designed for birding). It is up and in my hand and pointed out the window of the car quicker than I can write this sentence.

And, with the useful digital tel-extender function putting you out at 1240-1680mm equivalent fields of view, you have the reach to capture many birds without getting out of the car.

That is the only way (in my experience) to catch at Kingfisher at any reasonable distance at Merritt Island. Kingfishers on Black Point Wildlife Drive are skittish to say the least. Only once have I ever successfully gotten out of the car to set up my digiscoping rig before the bird was off down the channel, or up over the mangroves and out of site.

This bird was perched on the far side of the water channel next to the road just beyond the eagle nest station. I pulled up beside it, rolled down the window on the passenger side (thank you for electric windows!) got the Canon SX40HS up and got off a burst of 6 shots before she took flight. The light was amazing. The distance was reasonable. I could not have done it with either a digiscoping rig or a long lens (unless I had the long lens mounted on a window mount and ready to go).

This is another out-the-window shot, this time on the driver’s side. The bird was right below the car, at the edge of pond, up against the dyke. As you see if you look closely I was shooting down through grasses, reeds, and even a small mangrove bush. The bird was feeding actively, never still. It got so close I backed off on the 1240mm equivalent full optical zoom and 1.5x digital tel-extender would have given me to shoot at about 1000mm equivalent.

This Great Egret was at the foot of the dyke at Viera Wetlands on the driver’s side. Again, I pulled up, pointed the Canon SX40HS at full optical (840mm equivalent), and shot point blank. It does not get any better than that.

Same drill on these White Ibis (2nd shot is an immature) a bit further around the loop.

Finally here is a comparison shot of the view out the passenger window at Merritt Island. The first is at 42mm equivalent, so it is about what the naked eye would see. The second is at 230mm equivalent. They were taken within seconds of each other. Not possible with any other kind of camera. Superzooms rule!

At least they rule the window shot.

4 comments!
October 29, 2011 1:09 pm

1680mm handheld? Canon SX40HS makes it possible!

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by    in Canon Powershot,Canon SX40HS,p&s4wild,wildlife

I have covered the use of superzoom Point and Shoots for wildlife, and birds in particular, in some detail not too long ago, in a two part article…the second part of which focused on small birds…warblers in particular. (See…Wicked Warblers.) Warblers, kinglets, sparrows and the other small passerines are not easy to photograph at the best of times. I have had some success with my digiscoping rig when birds are resting or feeding in a predictable pattern, but for most small birds you need something faster. Most people carry a DSLR with 300mm f2.8 or one of the 100-300mm or 100-400mm zooms…and then crop heavily to get image scale and fill (what is left of) the frame. I carry an advanced P&S with a long zoom.

Over on my Point and Shoot 4 Landscape site, I have detailed my latest superzoom, the Canon SX40HS (in comparison to my previous superzoom, the Nikon P500). The Canon is a clear advance in image quality over any other existing superzoom (with the possible exception of the Panasonic FZ150 which is also getting good reviews) and I am loving it for general photography. This weekend I had a chance to give it a workout as a Point and Shoot 4 Wildlife camera.

The shot above was taken at full zoom on the SX40HS. That is 840mm optical. But Canon has built in a digital tel-extender…not to be confused with any incarnation of digital zoom you have experienced in the past. The Canon DTE is not continuous…it can only be set to 1.5x or 2x, but, through the magic of the new Digic 5 processor and the super fast Back-Illuminated CMOS sensor, Canon has managed to nurse pretty amazing image quality out of the system. As you see above the DTE goes well beyond simply blowing up the pixels.

So, the shot was taken with 2x DTE on, which gives it the equivalent field of view of a 1680mm lens! Here is another shot, taken when the bird was a foot closer.

At any normal display or print size this shot looks pretty fine. At full resolution, viewed 1 to 1 pixels on the screen you can easily see the digital artifacts. What is interesting is that they disappear totally in normal viewing. Canon has calculated very well for human perception and matched the output at reasonable sizes to what we want to see.

Now, consider that the top image is at ISO 320, and the bottom image, which is more bird and less background, is at ISO 640. And, further, consider that both are handheld…at 1680mm, the first at 1/200th and the second at 1/400th. Between the super efficient image processing in the Digic 5 engine, and the amazing hybrid image stabilization system in the Canon lens, you can achieve some amazing results.

Here is a House Wren at 1.5x DTE plus full optical.

and a Catbird at the same settings.

All these shots are in Programmed Auto, with iContrast and auto focus. I keep continuous auto focus on and set the focus frame to the smallest rectangle in the Flexfocus setting. The SX40HS will lock on focus very quickly almost every time. Though I have not had much chance to try it…it will even lock on flying birds. This Osprey was at regular 840mm optical zoom, and then cropped slightly for image scale.

And of course the Canon SX40HS works on non-feathered wildlife too.

1.5x DTE.

2x DTE.

Yes, you might say I am having fun with the SX40HS. Great camera for landscpes. Great camera for macro. Great camera for wildlife and birds.

7 comments!
July 3, 2011 1:03 pm

Point & Shoot 4 Wildlife for LBJs. Gotta have the reach!

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by    in bridge cameras,cameras,Canon Powershot,digiscoping,nikon,nikon coolpix p500,p&s4wild,superzooms,wildlife,ZEISS DiaScope

The smaller the bird, the more reach you need to fill the frame effectively. Simple. You can take convincing (and satisfying) shots of Herons at close range (under 50 feet) with the 800mm end of a super-zoom P&S camera…but shots of sparrows and other Little Brown Jobs at that same range are not very satisfying. Sometimes, of course, you don’t have a choice. I would not take a digiscoping rig with tripod out on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh…just would not do it…so there the P&S super-zoom has to work…and does…see P&S 4 Wildlife. Part 2. Wicked Warblers. The saving grace at Magee is that the birds are close…sometimes within 12 feet…rarely over 20…and the birds are bright…so any reasonable capture is going to be satisfying…even if you can’t see the inner details of the individual feathers.

Still, given the choice, for sparrows and other LBJs, I would always choose a digiscoping rig.

This is a shot of a Song Sparrow at 45 feet with the Nikon Coolpix P500 at full (810mm equivalent field of view) zoom…and cropped down from full frame at that!

If you run the zoom up into the digital range, at 1600 mm this is what you get, again, cropped from full frame. Not bad for digital zoom, at that.

This is the same bird as the first image, from the same spot, using the Canon SD4000IS behind the 20-75x Vario eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 85FL, first at just over 2200mm equivalent, and then at about 3500mm equivalent…full frame…uncropped…10 mp images.

Clearly, there is no comparison between the level of detail captured by the P&S and the digiscoping rig from the same distance, nor should anyone expect there to be. That reach is one of the primary advantages of digiscoping after all…and it is why we are carrying the scope in the first place.

Now, of course, if you live on the west coast, where some of the Song Sparrows are the size of Robins, you could probably get away with just the super-zoom most days :)

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June 25, 2011 8:58 am

Point and Shoot for Wildlife Takes a Tern at Bolsa Chica

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by    in bridge cameras,cameras,Canon Powershot,digiscoping,nikon,nikon coolpix p500,p&s4wild,superzooms,wildlife,ZEISS DiaScope

On a recent birding, digiscoping, and photography expedition to Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach California I captured a series of images of a Forster’s Tern that dramatically demonstrate the range possible with two Point and Shoot cameras and a spotting scope. Equipment: 1) Nikon Coolpix P500, with a 36x zoom, 23mm to 810mm equivalent fields of view, 2) Canon PowerShot SD4000IS  behind the 20-75x Vario eyepiece on a ZEISS DiaScope 85FL spotting scope, for equivalent fields of view in the 1000-5000mm range. I have also included an HD video shot with the Canon SD4000IS and ZEISS DiaScope, and a few flight shots of the Terns, taken with the Coolpix…just to demonstrate further possibilities.

23mm equivalent field of view, Nikon Coolpix P500, notice the Forster’s Tern on the post.

Same Tern, 810mm equivalent, Nikon Coolpix P500, pretty amazing range in a compact P&S

Preening action, 1300mm equivalent, Canon SD4000IS at 65mm equivalent and ZEISS DiaScope at 20x

3650mm equivalent, Canon SD4000IS at 91mm equivalent, ZEISS DiaScope at 40x

As you can see, these four shots, taken from exactly the same position within moments of each other show off the advantages of a two camera Point and Shoot / Spotting Scope rig for wildlife.

To add spice to the mix, the video below was as easy as flicking the capture switch on the Canon SD4000IS from still to video. All these shots, by the way, were taken in pretty poor light, from a boardwalk with lots of traffic. I had to run the video through the image stabilization in Sony Vegas HD to remove the boardwalk bounces…and I am sure the process degrades resolution somewhat.

Forster’s Tern Preening, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, CA: Canon SD4000IS and ZEISS DiaScope 85FL

Finally, I set up on the boardwalk with the Nikon Coolpix at about 160mm equivalent to attempt to capture some Terns in flight. I used my self programmed Flight and Action scene mode (saved to the User mode on the Coolpix), but the birds were moving so fast I had to back well off on the 810mm reach. These are cropped from full frame.

All the still shots were processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

I am not attempting to convert conventional long lens photographers with posts like this. I am well aware that with an investment of $20,000 or more in an outfit weighing something close to 20 pounds, I could get, perhaps, better image quality over this same range. What this series does for me is to confirm that the equipment I can afford (total, including tripod, around $4500) and am willing to carry (total weight, again including tripod, in the 9 pound range) will produce satisfying results with most any wildlife challenge I am faced with.

If you are like me, you might also be inspired to consider the Point and Shoot for Wildlife solution.

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