Wildlife Photography across the Water: The X Factor??

Wednesday 19 October 2011

The X Factor??

Sorry about the doom and gloom in my last blog, Things have moved forward and now all is right with the world, The builder is very good and has sorted or agreed to sort the problems out, It turned out to be the irrigation system that has a leak or 2 and needs fixing, We move in a week Thursday and i have to say i cannot wait, There were fresh deer footprints in the garden and a very furry pooh in the back yard which i can only imagine would be coyote-now that would be something,
So Canon rumours came through and the 1DX was announced , I have spent a lot of the day reading specs and forums and i must admit to be somewhat bemused, I think Canon have spent the last few months reading Dpreviews thread on what Nikon owners want in the upcoming D4, There is good and bad as far as i can see, I think somethings may change before the camera is released next spring-first strange thing is that Canon are announcing gear way ahead-Then theres that horrible price will hopefully drop if preorders are low (Do not be silly and pre order), There is an all new AF system so that would need to be tested in the real world before i would hand over any lolly-once bitten etc, The one thing that i cant see is that by combining the 1D and 1DS you will satisfy everybody, The wildlifers are not happy at loosing the crop factor and the landscapers will not be happy with loosing pixels, 1D owners will not be happy at paying basically 1DS prices either, I think maybe Canon marketers lead the way again(highest frame rate,highest ISO and most focus points) by wanting more speed and stupidly high ISO-204K come on, Saying that the 1D4 has 104k ISO and i have to say over ISO 800 grain is noticeable and with careful use of NR you can get good results up to say 3200 max,In the press statement Canon stated this to be the best EOS for high ISO-Not the best of any camera just the best EOS which i thought strange, If its aimed at landscapers then high ISO is not in there vocabulary, I am guessing that the new 5D3 will take care of the landscapers but that still does not make the 1D4 a wildlife photographers dream camera, Maybe a wedding photographers and maybe press/sports but the price is just so high, I said before that if the 1DX is FF then Canon need a good cropped sensor camera to make a wildlifers kit complete and i dont think that they yet have that not even with the 7D, I think Nikon will go the same way and offer the D4 as a combined D3s and D3x model but at least they have a the D7000 which is good at 800 and 1600 and the D400 will be out soon which you can only hope will be as good, I wonder now looking at the pricing structure if there will be a new model out between the 1DX and the 7D that will bridge the gap and i am not talking about the 5D3,Anyway its a long time until anybody gets their grubby little mitts on a 1DX so we will see, I like the idea of having an ethernet connection which means that you could have your camera connected to your laptop 100m away, I can see the benefit in that but then Canon have taken a huge step backwards and stopped AF over F5.6-yes thats right, Stick a 2x on a F4 lens and its manual focus-same when putting a 1.4x on a 800 F5.6, Thats another reason why its a no no for a wildlife photographer, As i said at the start i am perplexed, If i were a Canon 1D4 photographer i think i would either grab another 1D4 or a 1DS3/5D2.

I popped down to the state fair grounds to see if i could get some ferris wheel images without having to pay so i had to set up on the side of the road and be ready to move if one of the hundreds of state troopers came over, Luckily for me the moment i set up the heavens opened so it was a quick session with little success, I think i will have to pay the $10 to pay and $8 entrance and get close with a wide angle to get a decent image

Dave

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.