First time birding

First time birding, originally uploaded by john m flores.

The Panasonic 100-300 is the longest lens I've ever owned or used by a good margin, so I thought that I'd try doing what many are considering this lens for - birding. With the GH2 set to AF.C, AF Tracking, and high-speed shooting, I set upon my prey, namely this fellow that sings way into the eveing from a neighbor's tree.

The first thing that I noticed is that as long as 600mm is, it's still stretching to reach a bird in a nearby tree. More respect to those that manage to capture birds nearly filling the frame.

Second thing I noticed is that the GH2 is plenty reponsive, and the little AF Tracking box stayed pretty faithfully locked onto the bird even as the effect of my unsteady hands were magnified by the 600mm equivalent zoom.

ISO1600 was used here as it was dusk. I daresay that this came out ok for a first-time birder...