Red Bellied Pecker
A friend called me up and said “I have a pecker in a tree!”. I told him “Get out of there, you’ll get splinters!” …. And the jokes continue to this day………
This Red Bellied Wood Pecker, male and female, were in a tree about 30 feet from my friend’s back door. What great luck. I had limited time and only spent about ½ hour total shooting time but, as I always do, I snap a ton and ended up with the keepers here.
A Pecker Poem
Paterson poked a peek at Penelope, it was said;
Penelope peeked a poked pecker, just a head;
Please ponder the possibilities as,
Paterson and Penelope peeked and poked all day.
600mm Prime vs 70-200mm Zoom
There is no doubt, prime lenses (one fixed focal length) are just better than zooms. In the carousel above, I shot one of the Pecker pictures with the 70-200 and it just is not the same quality as the others. This 70-200mm 2.8 IS II lens is probably the finest zoom Canon ever produced (about $2,000) and it just does not produce the quality of the prime. To be fair, the 70-200 shot was cropped more than the 600 and cropping will always reduce quality….. but not that much with my Canon 5DS. The decrease in picture quality you see is from lens quality not cropping. I shot these on a tripod and shot a ton of shots so these represent the best of the bunch. Look closely and you can see the differences….. the colors are more saturated, the detail is better, and there is just something so much better about a picture shot with a prime.
600mm prime vs 70-200mm zoom
So, if you enjoy shooting a particular type of photo, such as flowers, you will produce superior results by buying a single, dedicated, prime lens such as Canon’s wonder full 100mm f/2.8 IS macro (about $800). Most of my recent flower and bug shots are with this great 100mm lens. Buying a collection of zooms is a common strategy, but once you see the results of a good prime…. you will be hooked.
The Equipment:
- Canon 5DSr
- Butterflies: Canon EF 24-105 L f/4.0 IS
- One Pecker: Canon EF 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS II
- Peckers: Canon 600mm L f/4.0 IS II
- Gitzo 3530LS carbon fiber tripod
- Wimberley II gimbal head
- LightRoom 6
