Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline

The Old and the New

January 6 & 7, 2014

Black-necked Stilt

I went to the estuary Sunday morning to take some pictures.  I had both cameras with me, but since I ended up mainly shooting birds and my zoom lens hadn't arrived yet I used my old camera a lot.  My new lens arrived on Monday so I went back to the estuary to try it out.  This new camera is definitely a game changer.

Again, I've got no real complaints about my old SX40.  I captured some images that I really like on Sunday, including the snowy egret and black-necked stilt photos here at the top of the page.  The funny picture of the white-crowned sparrow was also taken with my old camera.  Such a tough guy, that sparrow.

White-crowned Sparrow -- Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

The old SX40 couldn't have captured these Cooper's Hawk images, though.  It's good with stationary objects, but was never fast enough for moving targets.  There's also a delay of about a second between when the shutter button is pressed and when the picture is actually taken.  So, if it's not the shutter speed burning you it's the delay.

Cooper's Hawk -- Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

This shot of the hawk sitting on a fence?  The SX40 would have handled it fine.  I couldn't have gotten those shots of the bird landing, though.

Cooper's Hawk -- Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

I think that's a cooper's hawk, anyway.  I can't really tell the difference between a cooper's hawk and and a sharp-shinned hawk.

American Avocets -- Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA

The 250mm zoom doesn't have the reach of the SX40's zoom.  The pictures are sharper, though, so even though I'm cropping more than before I think the pictures are still crisper than what I was getting with my old camera.  I can only imagine what this thing would do with a nicer lens.

Great Blue Heron -- Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, CA