What's in your back yard?

I've been rediscovering my backup 400mm lens, a Leitz f/6.8 Telyt. It's completely retro - the thing has manual focus and a manual diaphragm (gasp!). Try to focus it with Canon's EOS 20D and you'll have a hard time.

Use the optional gridded focusing screen in the EOS 1D mark II, though, and it's much easier. You have to get a little closer with the 1D to fill the frame, but it's worth having sharper pictures.

I thought it'd be fun to photograph my backyard critters. All of these pictures are with the 400mm Telyt, on either EOS 20D or EOS 1D mark II (mostly).

These sparrows aren't returning to Capistrano - they're wintering in my yard. Golden- and white-crowned sparrows eat grass and whatever else they find on the ground. If you can't get close enough to a single bird, pretend you're at a dual slalom race and get couples:
http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Birds/Sparrows_&_Starlings/DBY-DS0002-56.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/7pd4c
http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Birds/Sparrows_&_Starlings/DBY-GS0057-56.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/775aw

But sometimes you just want to be alone:
http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Birds/Sparrows_&_Starlings/DBY-GS0098-66.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/96qqq

There's always somebody with a comment:
http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Birds/Sparrows_&_Starlings/DBY-OC0043-56.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/ctwso

And somebody goes away in a huff:
http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Birds/Sparrows_&_Starlings/DBY-BT0026-5.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/cmn4w

Squirrels always look for handouts, especially when my dog lets them eat her dog food:
http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Mammals/Tree_Squirrels/DML-TS-WG0186.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/bmsu2

There are always a few guys who just want to hang out and watch:
http://www.mountain-and-desert.com/Wildlife/Mammals/Tree_Squirrels/DML-TS-WG0191-5.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/7usm6

(Look closely at the outlines of the out-of-focus tree branches in this last image, and you'll see evidence of the Telyt's chromatic aberration: green areas along the tan and black. In a simple achromat like the Telyt, not all the colors focus to the same point.)

All comments welcome.

Mark Bohrer
Precision Copywriting
www.precision-copywriting.com

Technical copy in plain language
= more customers 


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