Rain had been forecast for today and I was keen to get out for a walk before outdoor activities were rained off. I took my 18-200mm lens and headed off to town. The local newspaper had published a few old photographs of the area from many years ago. This led me to think about the type of photographs I could take that would give people an idea of what Manurewa looked like in 2011. I'd decided I'd get a few shots of the local shops, the main street, perhaps the railway and bus stations. Well, none of this happened! Instead of taking shots in the local town, I ended up taking a few shots of a Fantail in small reserve in Hillpark.
Light levels were really quite low. It was overcast as rain was expected and I was under lots of trees. As such the ISO was way up at ISO3200, aperture was f5.6 and shutter speed were 1/100sec or less. The little Fantail was very active, hardly ever sat still, and was a challenge to capture in such low light levels. My 18-200mm lens isn't the best performer at 200mm and f5.6, but you perhaps get the idea of the bird.
The Fantails often come quite close to you and that was quite fortunate. It meant I didn't really have to crop the images to get an reasonably sized bird in the shot. Nevertheless, you may notice the shots aren't as sharp as they could be. It would be good to compare how a faster 200mm lens would have performed under the same conditions, but until I get a sponsor that's not going to happen in a hurry! I suspect with an aperture of f2.8 I may have realised a more pleasant bokeh and reduced the noise levels. It would be nice to compare, just to see if the extra money for a fast lens really makes that much difference.
Needless to say, the expected rain arrived and I never managed the shots in the town. Perhaps that will happen on another day. For now though I'll leave you with the couple more shots of the Fantail.
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