Pleasant Eden surprise

I got up the morning and the heavy overcast skies made me cancel my plans to head over the the Great Salt Lake to search for Eagles. Instead I headed out with my Mamiya 200/2.8 APO mounted on the 5D figuring to shoot some snow scenics in our little valley. Luckily I had the foresight to bring the 800mm setup anyways.

About 5 minutes from the house I noticed 3 large birds about 100 yards off in a field. Pulled over, took a look, and realized I had 3 immature eagles feeding on something. Then I noticed an adult perched on a fence post even farther away. Set up the tripod and snapped a few shots but then moved on to look for better opportunities. The eagles where in fenced field and I don't cross fence lines without permission.

Ran around the valley shooting other stuff for about a our and then passed by again. This time I noticed the dirt road running alongside this fence. Quick check of the GPS showed that it was indeed a rood leading up into a draw, not the private driveway I always took it to be. So I headed in and was able to get fairly close to the two remaining birds. I positioned by truck at an angle to the birds so that I could hide my movements behind the cab while shooting the lens over the hood. Here are the results.















I'm no eagle expert but the immature is quite dark and the breast feathers still seem awful downy to me. I wonder if this is just a year old bird.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I have to decide whether to head for the lake before sunrise or stick at home and hope these guys come back in to feed.

Hey Jim,

As usual, great shots.

"Instead I headed out with my Mamiya 200/2.8 APO mounted on the 5D figuring to shoot some snow scenics in our little valley. "

Pardon me if this is a stupid question, but is this a medium format lens? How does it work with the 5d?

James

Hi James!

The lens is indeed a medium format lens. It's just several hundred dollars cheaper than a Canon version, is APO, and very sharp. It is attached to my EOS bodies with a mechanical adapter, in this case purchased from Fotodiox. The lens has a built in hood with an aadditional accessory hood that screws onto that. Beside from the fact that it is very sharp, I like the tonal range it shows for colors as it tends not to be so contrasty that it blocks up the shadows. It seems to handle this much like most of the Leica R lenses I also adapt to my DSLRs.

Basically you control the aperture via the ring on the lens and use you DSLR in either aperture priority or manual mode. TTL metering is pretty accurate with this lens. The only real drawback for me is that it is a very front heavy lens without a tripod mount on it.



This is a sample of what it can do. I find a real nice feel to the way it's rendered the yellow in this shot.

Nice work Jim -
Have you shot Farmington Bay lately?

Very nice set Jim.