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500mm Repair Update!

Following on from my “500mm F/4 Lens Disaster“, I have finally sent the Lens off for evaluation.

A big thanks to Eunice Lopes who contacted me after a plea on Portuguese Nikon Club’s Facebook page. Eunice suggested that I could take my lens to El Corte Ingles (a department store) in Lisbon for them to send off on my behalf.

This got me thinking, if one major seller can do this, can other Nikon dealers do the same? I contacted FNAC (an electrical store) and asked if they offer the same service. Not only do they offer it, but I could take it to my local store in the Algarve. So, the lens is now in FNAC’s possession and I await a response.

However, about 2 hours after leaving the lens with FNAC, AtlantPhoto finally responded to my service request stating that I can actually take the lens to their offices in Lisbon where it would be shipped to their service centre in Barcelona for evaluation and, hopefully, repair.

Therefore, if I have no joy with FNAC, at least I can take it direct to AltantPhoto.

More when I know!

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500mm F/4 Lens Disaster!

It was enough to almost make me want to cry!

Sitting in the Lounge, I heard a quiet bang from the bedroom, on investigation it seems that one of our (many) Cats managed to open a door to the built-in Wardrobes.

Broken 500mm F/4 Collar
All of my camera equipment is stored in this particular wardrobe and normally right up high on a shelf. However, as there has been some activity around the house (flyby of Short Toed Eagles for instance) I kept both my 500mm f/4 and 300mm f/2.8 standing up ready to grab.

Yes, you guessed it, one of the Cats (who still remains unidentified) knocked the 500mm f/4 over.

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Linnets spotted in the garden

Over the last week I’ve spotted a pair of Linnets in the garden. Our back garden is mainly surrounded by Hawthorn seperating us from farmland so the perfect habitat for many birds including Linnets.

Today I spotted just the male frequenting the electric cable that feeds our house. As the sun was setting I decided to stick the camera out of an upstairs window to get a shot of him. As a complete fluke, he hopped on top of the Hawthorn right in my line of sight and a perfect angle to the setting sun.

I had a 1.4x teleconverter attached to my 500mm f/4 so expected a small amount of sharpness drop-off but still a shot I’m happy with.

There is no sign of the female, but it’s only the female that sits on the nest, so hopefully he’s just keeping lookout and bringing her food.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Male Linnet - D810, AF-S 500mm f/4 with TC-14III @ 700mm, f/8, ISO900, 1/800sec - {Flickr Link}
Male Linnet - D810, AF-S 500mm f/4 with TC-14III @ 700mm, f/8, ISO900, 1/800sec - {Flickr Link}

The Goldfinches are having to share their Nyger seed!

WARNING! Terrible quality photo, look away if you are offended!

This afternoon, I was running a cleaning procedure on my pond pumps which is about 4 metres from one of the bird feeding stations in the garden when I heard a bird call I didn’t recognise.

I look up and there is a pair (Male and Female) of Siskins looking to come down to the Nyger Feeder. It required a bit of a top up, so I grabbed some seed and topped it up. Of course, by now they had flown away, so I went back to the kitchen and waited.

Soon enough they came back to feed. It was raining at the time and as the kitchen window is around 25 metres away from the feeders I grabbed my D7100 (crop sensor for extra reach) and put my 500mm f/4 and 2x Teleconverter on to try and at least get a record shot.

Actually, it’s a terrible photo, but considering it’s a crop sensor at ISO4000 handheld at 1/125second through a window with it raining outside and with a 2x converter, I didn’t expect it to be this good!

Once the weather clears over the next few days, I’ll get out there in the hide and hopefully get a few snaps.

It’s the first time I’ve seen Siskins in the garden so pretty happy that more and more birds are visiting.

Pair of Siskins
Pair of Siskins

A very short appearance by a Short Eared Owl this afternoon

I waited for an hour for one to take to appear, it did one lap of the field (unfortunately too far away from me) then landed in the long grass for 5 minutes before clearing off not to be seen again.

I did manage to get close enough to take a shot of it sitting in the grass.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Short Eared Owl - D810, AF-S 500mm f/4 @ 500mm, f/5.6, ISO280, 1/400sec - {Flickr Link}

Waxing Gibbous (68%)

As the sky was clear tonight, I thought I’d try a moon shot with the 500mm and teleconverter to see how much quality was lost.

I first tried it with the 2x converter (TC-20eiii) to give a whopping 1000mm but didn’t like the final outcome as I thought it looked too soft. This photo was taken with the 1.7x converter (TC-17eii) and it was a little better.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}

Waxing Gibbous (68%)
Waxing Gibbous (68%) – D810, AF-S 500mm f/2.8 with TC-17e II @ 850mm, f/8, ISO64, 1/60sec – {Flickr Link}
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