I was starting to get the hang of the new camera gear. The depth of field at 600mm was soooo tight, it was rather unforgiving. Only a few centimetres of the photo could be in tight focus. This meant I had to always try to focus on the bird's eyeball. If eyes are in focus, then the shot is in focus. If the wings or shoulder are in perfect focus, but the eye isn't, then most viewers would instinctively regard the shot as out-of-focus (the same applies to photographs of people). Focusing on the eyeball of a small bird in deep shade with a 600mm lens from 6-12m away where the bird is likely to move within a few seconds is not easy. (Some birds kindly stay put for a minute or two though.)
Another major point. Today is the day I started shooting RAW. I'm not sure why I didn't earlier. I wanted the convenience of jpeg I guess. RAW provides plenty of options in post-processing that are difficult if you've shot jpeg, such as white balance adjustments, decent de-noising etc.
These three all have eyeballs pretty much in focus (the first one less so), all wide open (f6.3), 1/640s and ISO in the 9000 - 15000 range. I also like the soft, mostly-round bokeh delivered by this lens.
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