Boars and Deers - 300mm + 2x Converter Tests

Boar heard me...
600mm, 1/25s, f/5.6, ISO 6400

I keep on testing 300mm f2.8 lens and yesterday afternoon I also took 2 times converter to give whole setup a go. Results are good and bad, I am still not sure if I should go for the lens in the longer run. 300mm is a lot but sometimes still not enough. Problem with 2x times converter is that it takes 2 full stops of light i.e. from f/2.8 you start with f/5.6 which is crucial in the woods.

I went to Lainzer Tiergarten, at the edge of Vienna, and headed deep into forest where I spotted boars last week and hoped for new meeting. Afternoon light relatively strong, simply disappeared within shadows of wood, when I measured the scene and camera metering system told me simply... it is dark. To get relatively fast shutter speed I had to pump up ISO to 6400 and even 12800 in some cases. Even with those settings I was not able to go higher that 1/100s. Boars, and deers were relatively still but if I had to shoot running object, I would not be able to do so.

On the other hand 600mm is 600mm. Few days ago I was complaining about stabilization while shooting sports, this time having to go down all the way to 1/100s and even 1/50s stabilization and monopod did the miracle. The basic rule says that shutter speed should not be slower that focal length, in my case that would have to be 1/600s... I had to go down by around 3 stops and in this situation I was really grateful for stabilizer.

Boar in Lainzer Tiergarten
600mm, 1/50s, f/5.6, ISO 12800

I remembered the places where I had seen boars last week. While wandering through the woods I was getting a feeling that I would bring nothing back, forest seemed so deserted, and ... dark... I had really bad feelings about potential photographs not to event mention that I would meet any boar. But getting deeper into shadows I did spot boars family in the distance but they quickly ran away. I found a spot with good view, hid behind fallen tree, and waited hoping they would come back. Acorns fruits were all over the place and they were my bait.

Boar in Lainzer Tiergarten
600mm, 1/50s, f/5.6, ISO 12800

After about an hour I did spot one in the distance, the family came back. I silently (tried to be as silent as possible) and slowly moved towards them and and again hid behind the tree and waited. They were coming towards! Camera set - aperture priority F/5.6 (minimum I can go with 2x converter), ISO 6400... reading on shutter speed between.. 1/30-1/50s. Slow, very slow. I raised ISO to 12800. I still believe it is better to go higher with noise and get the picture instead of worrying about it and coming back with nothing.

Deers in Lainzer Tiergarten
600mm, 1/160s, f/5.6, ISO 1600

Boars family came quite close in the end, herd's leader got something like less than 100 metres from me and kept digging the ground completely not aware of my existence.

But at one stage it heard me... looked up scanned the are... I hid behind the tree, and she started to dig again. Same situation took place 3 more times, but when she got really close to me... looked roared and quickly ran away. Upon the roar all others quickly gathered and ran away into safety... if I they only could understand I was not any threat to them. In any case I was happy to have had this chance.

Wandering back, it was already close to 6 p.m. i.e close to sunset and things got really dark I stumbled upon second family of boars! This time they were much faster and disappeared before I managed to set myself up.

Great session.
I have to get more involved in nature photography.
It is so relaxing and so different from every day live.
Fantastic feeling.

Deers in Lainzer Tiergarten
600mm, 1/160s, f/5.6, ISO 1600

I also took some pictures of deers...

Few more pictures are available on my Flickr  photostream and will be uploaded to my website.

Cheers
Jerzy