Out with the 280/2X in good light for shooting targets this morning, the good part was that the amount of detail the combo captured was mind-blowing. The bad was that contrast in fine details was a bit lacking, even when I tried stopping down a stop. It’s no wonder feather details just weren’t there yesterday.
Same as my impression from previous copies, the lens paired with the 2X is really a middle-of-the-pack option for chasing birds. If the past is an indication, it will do just fine wide open with a 1.4X as soon as I can source one. That’ll likely be the sweet spot both in terms of reach and image quality with an extender. Focus magnification for fine details wasn’t much help with the 2X because the EVF gets jumpy. That’ll be less of an issue with less reach.
Weather didn’t cooperate in the afternoon, which provided mostly dim overcast. Three of the most challenging friends for manual focus showed up: a Scarlet-Backed Flowerpecker, a Common Tailorbird, and an Olive-Backed Sunbird (depicted below). The former two are barely two inches in length and never sit still. The sunbird is only a bit larger.
The lens was extremely impressive at MFD (also with the 2X yesterday), which may prompt me to see if there’s a compatible Elpro out there somewhere. It’ll also get a try with a Canon achromat, but something in my memory says it didn’t mesh well with a previous copy.
Having tried many of the more recent teles, some with amazing optics, it’s interesting to see that, while the Telyt now doesn’t seem as “amazing” as when I first tried one, the bare lens is probably still the best available option for ~280-300mm focal length.
More experimenting to do, and that’s the fun part!
