Some pictures from my neighborhood.

[Second Hand Pat]

I think they are all great but my favorite is the duck poking it's head out of the vegetation. Do you feel that the tweaking of the camera/lens at Tanron helped?
Pat

[Iminit]

Pat I’m still a beginner. So no clue. Tried a lot of flying shots a not many came out. Got real lucky with the eagle. Have to keep trying .

[Second Hand Pat]

Pat I’m still a beginner. So no clue. Tried a lot of flying shots a not many came out. Got real lucky with the eagle. Have to keep trying .

Hi Tom, which focus mode are you using? When I was a beginner I would use Group-area AF, place it in the middle of the viewfinder and center the birds within the viewfinder so that the Group-area AF was on the bird. I'm sort of assuming the D7500 has that as an option.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Tom,
Looking at the pics I dont see much improvement after they worked on it. Assuming both Lens and Camera are fine its got to be a technique issue. I know the impulse is to get out there and shoot the fun stuff but if you really want to be able to capture that fun stuff when you see you need to really get a good understanding of technique and settings.. Spending a day or two doing that will have a huge impact on your wildlife images..

I suggested this earler.

If it were me I would spend sometime shooting that lens at the same stationary object at various distances.. Can it focus clearly at 15 feet? 30feet ? 60 feet? etc. repeat at various lens lengths .. 150 mm -600mm

next try the lens in manual mode. If the lens has an auto focus issue it will still focus manually fine. just switch everything to manual and see if you can get better shots

If you can't get clear sharp images when practicing on a stationary object, moving ones will never be sharp. Its boring I know but honestly if you dont start with a good understanding here and technique you will get frustrated and leave the hobby.

[Iminit]

Al I listen . I did just what you said last weekend took about 200 shot of some plastic flowers and 150yrds. Shot from 150mm up to 600mm on the Tamron and 80-400 o the Nikon. Even did different iso settings. 800,1600and 3200. Different stops too 6.3,8 and 11. Came to the conclusion that it’s all me!!!. Shots looked clear all the way through. Did these shots on a tripod. Still let them play with the lens. It was free. Practice,practice practice. It is a great fun hobby. Went out this morn .DSC_5676.jpgDSC_5673.jpg place I’d never been. Turkeys were in the parking lot . So I walked around and found another great horned owl pair.DSC_5696.jpgDSC_5697.jpg. Lightened up the second owl.

[brewmaster15]

Came to the conclusion that it’s all me!!!. Shots looked clear all the way through.

Tom thats awesome. Seriously. Now you know its not the lens and just need to work on it. Keep it up.


What autofocus settings are you using?

If you press the button that selects Af/manual

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and hold it down. the back of the camera will show what mode you are in . You can then use the wheel in the front of the camera to select different AF area modes. options include spot (center),9 points,21,points and 51.. and the whole AF as sn average..

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The rear wheel switches between Focus modes.. for birds AF-C works best.. that keeps the camera focusing until the image is captured (AF-C=auto focus continuously)

For focus points.. center spot is best for wildlife.. though 9,21,or 51 is useful for birds in flight,animals running,racecars etc.

[Iminit]

Ok thanks. Set it to center and the other to AF-C. So much to this camera . Discus are getting neglected.

[Iminit]

Eagles are just tough shots.DSC_5762.jpg. Never know when they’re going to show up. But there were some bigger birds out!!DSC_5743.jpgDSC_5750.jpg. Plenty of info when these guys were coming!!

[Iminit]

I can swim where I want!!!IMG_3326.jpg. Ohh that looks yummy!!DSC_5706.jpg. Here I come to save the day!!DSC_5719.jpg

[Iminit]

Got some photos today. Eagle was flying and gave me some chances to film it.IMG_0522.jpgIMG_0528.jpgdid some editing with an app called Snapseed. Also enlarged.DSC_6208.jpg this next one was edited with a morning edit.DSC_6231.jpg. Took about 30 shots of the eagle and around 20 were good . These were all with the tamron.

[Iminit]

Also got these Egret shots with a red wing blackbird miminicing it.IMG_0527.jpgIMG_0526.jpgIMG_0519.jpgDSC_6289.jpg. The sky was grey and I really like the way these shots came out.

[Second Hand Pat]

Looking good Tom and the closer the subject the more impact of your subject in the image like your eagle images. It's always cool getting a chase shot.
Pat

[brewmaster15]

Tom, Looking better all the time. Keep at it.

A few things to mention here. Your camera has a mind boggling number of settings in it. You should check those. In particular here check in the photo shooting menu that you are capturing the images best..

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Set

"choose image area " to dx
"image quality" to " Raw+F*)
"image size" to L

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These setting let you take the best image quality. You need that to edit well. The files are much larger but thats because they have more info and details.
These setting will save you two file types... one is "Raw" the other Jpeg. You can use the high quality jpeg settings
for most web viewed images..No one will know the difference .Working off Raw is far better but you will need a monitor for that.

The other tip is when shooting. Coming from film you probably were conditioned to use the shutter release at the top of the camera. You press the button half way and AF snaps on.. Look for the focus lock in your viewfinder before pressing the button all the way. When half depressed its black until a focus lock.. then its red.Take the pic by pressing the shutter all the way at the lock. If the bird is moving and you are tracking with the lens practice keeping that button half pressed while tracking and then take the pic when you have a lock..
Using the button on the top to take focus and take pics works ok but its easier to use the AE-L/ AF-L button on the camera for hand held. This is called "back button focusing"

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I keep my thumb on the back button to focus and keep my index finger on the top shutter release. It lets me easily hold the camera stable and easily capture images in focus once theres a lock.

Its better ergonomics and easier to use for wildlife and when balancing a long lens. The top button is best for tripod use or stationary objects.

Last tip of the day...

On the mode wheel theres settings "C H"

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Use that for moving critters. It takes multiple pics fastest of your subject and can often give you best odds for a crisp shot. warning! It blows through memory but memory is really cheap. Note also that the setting on Image capture earlier this post also blow through memory.

al

[Iminit]

Thanks again Al! Didn’t get a chance to go out over the weekend. Went out today but not much to shoot. This hobby is a lot like hunting or fishing. You do wait a lot for something to show! Set the camera as you’ve shown and got a few good shots.DSC_6524.jpgDSC_6504.jpg but nothing much was moving. Went out again after dinner and got this shot of 2 Willets I spooked upDSC_6548.jpg. Just pulled the camera up and shot. 1 shot and I was shocked it came out. Got this pic of one watching me and a black crowned night egret juvenile DSC_6550.jpgDSC_6559.jpg. I tried the back button focusing. But couldn’t get it. Rereading are you saying to hold the top button so it’s focusing and than press the back button for the shot? Cause I was just pressing the back button and nothing was happening.

[brewmaster15]

for back button focusing you press the back button with your thumb to focus and when in focus .. press the top button with your index finger to take the picture. Most people find it gives them a more stable hold with a big lens and less camera shake when capturing the image. It also prevents you from taking the pic accidentally when focusing.

Nice images .. getting better all the time. Todays note is on your Tammy G2 150-600 lens. Though it shines as a telephoto lens for wildlife it has a close focus distance of about 7 feet. That means you can use the lens for alot more than just wildlife in the distance.
Its actually pretty capable for flowers,larger insects, and structures..

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