A subjective test of the FA* 400mm F/5.6

[To test description]

[To test conclusion]

Magpie. Again, forget about AF. It'd give you focus on the diagonal branch in front of the bird. This boid inhabited the pictured nest. This is as close as the bird let me come.

The magpie is a reasonably clever bird. It has learned to exploit the virtually predator-free environment of human vincinity, but still avoids us pretty well. To my amusement, I found myself victim of this bird's critical inspection. It just sat there, issued warning calls to it's mate, and WATCHED me. It considered every move I made for possibly malign intentions. After 3-4 minutes it flew off to some location unseen. However, I'm pretty sure I was still WATCHED. I waited for 15 minutes to see if it returned with another branch for the nest or something, but nothing happened. So I turned and walked. When looking back after 20 paces, the bird was back...

Tech: FA*400/5.6 at f/5.6, 1/500 s. freehand. Film: Kodak Elite 200