I've been having similar problems, even at 55mm. I use manual focus and am wondering if my eyes are just too old to focus well. I'm going to try a faster "film" speed and maybe auto focus. I like to set the aperture so I can blur the background. Any advice would be appreciated.

I think that first one is great. As for the second one if you look at green weed in the bottom right corner, it is in focus so I am thinking the camera focused somewhere other than where you wanted it to. Is the third one full frame or did you crop it at all? I am wondering on that one too if it focused somewhere else. The nestbox and birds are alittle washed out so you may want to adjust your fstop to let in less light or up your shutter speed. Good luck, I would love to have your camera and lenses!!

Donna

I don't use that equipment, but from what I've read, many zoom lenses have "soft" focus at their longest focus. I just know that I get as close as I possibly can to the subject with the strongest fixed lens I own, the Canon 400mm lens, and brace the camera on my arm against my knee or some other obstacle. I found that Canon lenses work best with Canon cameras and that fixed focus gives the best chance for clarity as there's less glass involved.

I use auto focus because it's faster than I am and I can't tell the difference in sharpness between photos I manually or auto focus if there is strong light. I only use manual focus if there are surrounding leaves or branches that attract the auto focus, and even then I can only get a clear photo if the bird is very close. That's why I like to take bird photos from cliff edges down onto the tree tops or from the car, always keeping the light source low and from behind if possible

OK, based on comments here and from others, I played around a bit tonight (thankfully the tree swallows haven't fledged yet). I tried a higher ISO, then adjusting the f-stop to get the shortest shutter speed I could. Even so, the best I got was a shutter speed of about 1/320 and the pics were still not crisp. Then I tried manually setting the shutter speed to either 1/2000 or 1/4000. This seemed to help. Then I did use a tripod and 1/2000 shutter speed. This was really quite a lot better. Here's a couple of shots.

zoom=250 mm, ISO=400, fstop-5.6, shutter-1/2000

Feed me NOW, dad!

Same settings.

Thanks dad, I feel much better.

Again, same settings.

Dad goes off to find more bugs for his kids.

With my Canon I experienced similar problems with focusing either manually or in auto. One thing that helped was the ability to spot focus. It looks like the same button on your XTI-1- the AE/FE LOCK button. This allows you to change the focal points so to speak. I usually pick the centered dot and it will focus more on one point rather than when all are lit and it tends to focus on an object that may not be your intended target. The image below shows what button I'm talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000I1ZWRC/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

Well, your photos are adorable any way you take them!

Timmer, thanks for the tip. I will check out the spot focus. I have also been told to try center metering.

Getting better! I have much more hope now and confidence that the problem is me (and I am teachable) not the camera.

Thanks Rachel, they are cuties, aren't they? I love watching them with their heads sticking out, scanning the sky for mom or dad. When they see an adult coming, the mouth immediately goes to full open!

heres my 2 cents. first of all if your shooting on a tripod turn your is off. canon glass does not play well with is on a tripod. secondly canon glass does not work well with alot of filters. so if you have a filter on your lens try removing it and do some test shots. i just got my 100-400 and could not take a photo in focus. removed the uv filter and it solved my problem. also make sure you have center point focus so your camera does not try ot focus on targets around your subject.

mrbass, thank you. I have read elsewhere too that I should turn the IS off. That seems very strange to me, because how can the camera tell if it's on a tripod? But I will try it. I did remove the filter I had on (a neutral density one) and am using center focus. Someone also suggested I try center metering, which I have not done yet.

Thanks, I will try your suggestions.

"... how can the camera tell if it's on a tripod?"

Because it's a computer. It probably knows what kind of toothpaste you use!

All of the zooms are soft focus at the end of the f-stop range .... in other words get away from the 5.6 f-stop, try at least 6.3 but 7.1 and above is even better. I've not seen any difference in sharpness at the end of the focal length so I keep mine zoomed to the max.

Hope that helps!

Another trick I've seen people have success with is to a remote with the camera on the tripod. Manually focus it and step away, the birds are less nervous and no shaking.

I took this picture this morning. There was over a hundred TS in this little area. They would glid to within 10 ft of us in the canoe.

Some good advise!...I never use tripod, I like to be free in movement, ...to the question about turning off IS when on tripod,..
as soon you're screwing the camera on the tripod, the screw going into the camera base switches off IS...this what I still remember reading manual long time ago, I think??

Your pictures are pretty good for a start with using 250mm lens.
To make your bird look larger you really have to fill frame in your camera, so either get 400mm or 800 lens, or get
closer to your subject.
I use a 200mm lens with converter, still very handy and flexible,...I would hate to use a big gun like 400 or 800mm, have tried the 400mm but took it back, about 2 weeks ago have tried the new Professional body with video, think it was 5 D Mark 2, 21 megapixels,....I didn't like it, but now I'm trying to get closer to subject with camouflage / blind.
One from today...Yellow Warbler

Konrad

Here is a website that might be helpful. I wanted to learn about photography, but not to be a professional, so didn't really want to spend a lot of $ on a class. I was searching YouTube (as recommended by a friend) for helpful photography videos & found this website... It has really helped me a lot! And best of all, it's free! :)

Good luck!

~Shannon

Here is a link that might be useful: Photography tutorial videos

Find out in your manual about AI Servo, and use the center focus mark. I think doing those two things will help tremendously.
You have some really nice pics here, I especially like the first one and the flying adult!

Nice web site, Shannon, thank you. I've bookmarked it and will be taking some lessons!

Joan, thank you. AI Servo - I just did a quick google on it and you're right, it does sound like I need to try this. Hopefully it will be a nice weekend and I can play around some!

Thanks all again, I hope to have some better pics soon.

Ann