tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79920819019902146382024-02-19T03:27:17.195+00:00Wildlife Photography across the Waterwildlife photography blog news views reviews imagesWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.comBlogger1462125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-79035327968480868402012-08-03T17:55:00.004+01:002012-08-03T18:20:14.704+01:00New BlogI have started my new blog <a href="http://blog.wildlifeinfocus.com/">here</a><br />
or go to my website www.wildlifeinfocus.com and click on the blog link at the bottom of the page<br />
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Enjoy<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-5898001199657528662012-07-15T17:56:00.003+01:002012-07-15T17:56:52.649+01:00All good things.....This will be my last blog on this site, Its been in my mind for some time now and last week i finally made the decision to end my part in this blog, Its been over 3 1/2 years which is amazing in itself, There are a few reasons but mainly time and now a health condition that needs to be sorted means that i have to put my efforts elsewhere for the time being, I have only managed to get the cameras out twice this week and only manged to get some shots on one of those times, The foxes are coming out later and the evening that i shot them i had to shoot at ISO 3200 so i used the D3s and 200-400 which is a great combo, The deer came out first including the fawn which came out to the side of the garden on its own and decided that my plants were more attractive than the corn i had put out, There were already 3 other deer in the garden, one i think was the mother as they fed together, The foxes came out at nearly 8pm and i would normally just watch them at that time as i have decent shots in decent light but as i havent shot them for a couple of weeks i decided to sit it out, The female came very close all but very nervously and in the end was less than 10 feet from me, She is in great condition and her tummy is slimmer an the teets not so pronounced so i guess that she has weaned the kits and that they are now on solids, I have to say that i still get a kick out of them coming into the garden and watch them every night<br />
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The next night the animals were out earlier and i had other stuff to do, Isnt that always the way,<br />
On a side note i had an e-mail from my website company last week asking if i wanted a blog on my website, It was a real coincidence and had nothing to do with my decision here but as they will do the work for free i have accepted and once the work is done i will be doing blogs via my www.wildlifeinfocus.com site, I am not sure when it will be finished but i hope that by the time i am in California in 3 weeks it will be done, It will give me time to decide how i want the blog to look and feel, If you have any ideas then please drop me a line at dave@wildlifeinfocus.com, I am not sure what Martins ideas are on this blog and if he will continue to run it, I hope that he does but either way it will be here to come back to and read for future reference<br />
I see that Nikon are doing a Canon and have announced that there will be a 800 F5.6 lens, No other details like cost and weight or minimum focus distance yet, One things for sure is that it will be expensive and i for one wont or cant afford one, I do like my 600VR and i like the F4 aperture, The 800 on the other hand should be lighter than the 600 and should be sharper than a 600 with 1.4x attached, Depending on the minimum focus distance i am sure that it will be popular with the small bird photographers and because Nikon allows F8 focusing on its camera bodies (Canon now doesnt) you can add a 1.4x and still get AF,<br />
Canons new 1DX are starting to hit the stores in limited numbers but some reports i have read look very good, I cant wait to see the head to head reviews with the D4 and 1DX, Both should be great, My gut feeling is that the Canon may be slightly ahead in noise but i am sure it will be close and anybody being able to afford one is very lucky indeed,<br />
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So thats it from me, I really do appreciate all those that have taken time to read and comment on my scribbles over the last 3+ years and i want to thank Martin for asking me to participate in the blog<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-5941234698565938192012-07-09T18:41:00.001+01:002012-07-09T18:41:36.706+01:00Heat and PortraitsFirstly i will apologize for the lack of images this week-wildlife ones anyways but the USA has been on fire literally, We have just had 6 consecutive days over 100 degrees, Sunday topped the week with 105 and that's without adding in the humidity which takes it over 110, There are heat advisories telling you to stay indoors and that's basically what i have been doing, Its been a very social week having 4th July in the middle and then lots of meets and eating, One evening we had 8 deer in the garden joined by the fawn but once i had the camera outside it instantly misted up and that was that, I normally put the camera gear in the garage to warm up a couple of hours before a shoot but didn't have time and that was the result, The fawn has been in the garden twice this week and i hope to get some shots of it this week before it gets too big, The other deer don't seem to like having it around and it gets bullied a lot, One of the young bucks is getting dominant and will rear up and kick any other deer close by, The foxes are still coming and i have been watching them most evenings and the hummingbirds are still very active, Doesn't help telling you all this without shots but i hope to get some very soon,<br />
We have a very good friend here called Faye, Shes been through a rough time and is recently divorced, We have been helping her to move into her new home and now she is ready to carry on with her life, Like a lot of single people looking to move forward she decided the easiest way to meet people is through on line dating but after a few weeks without much success she talked to us and the first thing that struck me was that the photos that she was using did not do her any justice, So on the 4th July she came to our house and spent the day getting some better images, I set the studio lights up and did the normal black or white background, Like most people they think 3 or 4 shots and its job done but i have shot enough portraits to know that it takes some people time to relax and get comfortable in front of the camera and lights, We shot for over an hour and shot around 210 images, Out of those she really liked about 20, We had a glass of wine and i reset the lights on our upstairs landing and found that she was much more comfortable and relaxed standing as opposed to sitting, Over the next 2 hours we shot a lot with different clothes and background and afterwards sat down with more wine and went through the images and she liked about 80 of the 2nd shoot, A big improvement and it was really hard to wheedle them down further to the final 20, The next day i had processed them and sent them over, She uploaded them and over the next couple of days her e mail box filled up with guys from as far as NY to Georgia, Its just goes to show the power of a good image, I enjoy shooting portraits and am still learning the lights and placement to get the best from your subject, The more mature the person the more critical it is in getting the placement right so as not to show too many 'character' lines, As with ALL forms of photography understanding light will always get the best results<br />
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I used the D800 and 70-200 F2.8 VR for all the shots, Lighting was with 1 Elinchrom D Lite 4 and a large silver reflector, The D lite had a 53'' softbox attached, I had just ordered an Elinchrom Beauty dish which should arrive this week so that will give me something else to play with and learn<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-36430666015095816992012-07-02T18:16:00.001+01:002012-07-02T18:16:48.328+01:00Boy has it been a hot week, Saturday it peaked at 105 degrees and with the added humidity it was over 110, Most days were either high 90's or low 100's, Way to hot for most animals who kept deep in the woodland and only venturing out once the sun was set, Even then the temperatures were well over 80, One thing to do when the heat is up is leave out water fro the birds and animals, Its the least that you can do, One day i walked out into my screened porch around 5pm and could hear a Barred Owl calling close by, I had just purchased a couple of apps for the ipad so quickly grabbed it and played the Barred Owls call to see if it would bring it into the open, Its something i had never done before and am unsure of the ethics of using bird calls but either way it didnt work and i could hear and see Crows mobbing the tree where the owl must have been, Later that night i could hear the Eastern Screech owls in the nearby trees and again put the bird call out and instantly 2 owls flew into the open, I had the 600 and D800 combo set up with a single flashlight and took a couple of images before they flew off,<br />
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The highlight of my week was a trip up to the Great Smoky Mountains to meet with some guys from the CNPA (Carolina Nature Photographers Association) that i mentioned in my last blog, We met up at Balsam Mountain to shoot some captive birds of prey, There were 7 species from the tiny Eastern Screech Owl that i had shot in my back garden a few days before to the mighty Bald Eagle, All the birds had been either in accidents or badly treated and were unable to be reintroduced into the wild, I very rarely shoot captive animals as there is little challenge involved but i decided this time to go and meet with some other people in the group and maybe get some other photography done whilst in the mountains, It was a good distance to drive, over 250 miles each way and as i had to be there by 9am i left at 3.45am to give myself plenty of time to find the place, have a coffee etc, The shoot was only a couple of hours and i decided afterwards to head straight back as the weather even in the mountains was touching 100 degrees and it was just too bright and hot to shoot and get any decent results, A very long day for 2 hours shooting but i did meet some very nice people, made a few mental notes and got a couple of decent images, All the birds had jessies/restraints on them which was not the best and made life difficult getting a clean image, The bigger birds were put on a man made perch which was not very photogenic so i decided to do 2/3 body/head shots, Birds of prey have 3 striking features, Eyes.beak and claws so 2 out of 3 would have to be good enough, There were some nice old fencing around the area so the smaller birds went on those which was much better,I used a variety of fill flash and no flash to see what looked better, The images were taken with either the D800 and 600VR or 200-400VR<br />
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Eastern Screech Owl<br />
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American Kestrel Male<br />
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Barred Owl<br />
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Harris Hawk<br />
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Red Tailed Hawk, The background was not under exposed by the flash, It was a dark green bank and i darkened it further in processing with Curves and Nik,<br />
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Bald Eagle</div>
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You can see the restraints in a lot of the images which makes them pretty unsaleable but there you go, What it does show is how well the D800 with the 600 or 200-400 performs, One problem i did have was the SB900 flashgun over heating, Its a known fault and the reason why Nikon announced its replacement SB910, It was more the heat in the air than the over use of the flashgun but it dies for 10 minutes which would have been a nightmare if i was shooting a wedding-good reason to always take a spare<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-54076127205784950562012-06-28T12:39:00.003+01:002012-06-28T12:39:39.065+01:00Quick Garden UpdateWell you dont need me to tell you about the bizarre weather we are having in the UK this Spring and Summer(?). Suffice to say it has played havoc with the wildlife in my garden. <br />
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We had a good burst of Red Damselflies a while back, a few Blues and Azures and one beauty that was new to this garden was a Banded Demoiselle. But not a sign of other other form of Dragonfly yet.<br />
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There was a good burst of butterflies in the early Spring on the one or two warm days, but virtually nothing since. The weather has been so depressing I haven't even risked putting out the moth trap for risk of overnight heavy rain.<br />
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On the bird front, we are seeing quite a few fledglings, with our 'home' Blackbird on her second brood which we will see hatched very soon. Juvenile Thrushes are now a daily sighting to although they are not nesting with us.<br />
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On the wildflower front, we have had the regular stuff from previous years coming up, with the pleasant addition of Ragged Robin around the pond edges and lots of lovely blue Vipers Bugloss. There is no sign of my orchid this year, but again regular checks of my local wild patch has indicated they are all much later this year.<br />
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Once again, the Council have mown down the Bee Orchids I noticed this morning - I despair of the incompetents that we have to pay for.<br />
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So when will my camera come out again? - goodness only knows but I need the weather to buck up, and I need to find some time as there have been a lot of other distractions that have been taking my time away, which I will share with you on my next blog.<br />
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Happy Summer<br />
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MartinWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-1213767036662940472012-06-25T17:23:00.000+01:002012-06-25T17:23:25.307+01:00Garden WideI forgot to mention in my blog that last week i decided to put a remote camera near to where i put some corn down for the deer, I have done this before a few years ago and the deer would not come anywhere near the bait as they didnt like the glass, This time i put the 14-24 on the D3s, I placed it on a beanbag next to a tree and put some camo netting over it, All you could see was the glass but the deer spotted it before coming out of the trees and over the period of an hour licked the air,stamped their feet and came closer and closer until one of the young bucks started to eat, Then they all came out and relaxed a little, I had the camera on silent mode and when the shutter went off they did little but raise their heads, I was just testing the water and think with some fine tuning and maybe the use of a different lens i could get some interesting results, the camera was triggered by a <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/743183-REG/hahnel_HL_HW433_80_Wireless_RF_Pro_Remote.html">hahnel pro</a> remote<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-13885810449081545242012-06-25T14:47:00.001+01:002012-06-25T14:48:43.272+01:00Heat, Processing and MemoriesBoy has it been hot this week with temperatures over 90 degrees and a couple of days hitting 97, Add to that its been very humid and the heat index has been said to be well over 100 degrees, Its too hot for me thats for sure, Leave the coolness of the air conditioned house and its like walking into a furnace, Last week and for the next few weeks i need to play catch up with processing images and getting submissions out to agencies, Its a must do, I have been putting it off but now must really buckle down and get some money in rather than have images and good images at that just sitting on the hard drives,<br />
Its good to go back through your images as you find little gems that you had forgotten about and also some images invoke memories of good times when everything has come together, One image i reprocessed was taken in the Great Smoky Mountains one fall when the sun was setting, I was sitting on top of Clingmans dome along with many other people and the light was beautiful and just got better and better as the sun went down<br />
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I have shot the foxes in my garden on a few evenings and have managed some very nice images, There have been more and more deer coming as well, 8 one night and we had an added bonus of a 'Bambi' come with its mum on Friday evening, I grabbed the D800+600VR combo as it was by the door ready but it was really too much lens and the 200-400 would have been perfect, I got some record shots but nothing special, Its not been back since but mum comes so it cant be far, I have seen a few fawns around the area close to the road with its parents and one was dead the nest day, Its was one of those weeks where everything tried to get killed, I had deer, squirrel and even a black snake shoot out in the road in front of me, The snake was very lucky as i managed to swerve and get it between the wheels, I watched in the rear view mirror as it shot off across the road none the wiser, Its the first live snake i have seen here near my new home, A few dead ones but none alive,<br />
The female fox now comes very very close to me, Infact she will come as close as where i place food, I invited a friend over on Saturday evening for dinner and the opportunity to shoot the fox and deer, Its always a concern incase nothing appears but that's wildlife, On this occasion things could not have gone better, I told her that the foxes will appear anywhere from 5.15pm and sure enough at 5.15 the male walked across the top of the garden, 10 minutes later and he came to feed, The deer the arrived and hung around the garden for some time and then the female fox and in good light, She came very close allowing just head shots with the 600VR,Once she had gone the deer continued to come and go, We hoped the fawn would turn up but that was not to be, We both got some good images and it was a good night with plenty of beer and wine thrown in,<br />
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I very very rarely shoot captive animals, I have only done it a few times in my life, I know some people like zoo type photography but for me it leaves me cold, The animals do not look like they do in the wild and i always feel very sorry seeing them locked up, I do have fond memories of shooting captive owls and falcons with friends in the UK and when i was asked if i wanted to shoot some Captive owls here in NC i had to think about it before saying yes, I am off to a guy in the Smoky Mountains this coming Saturday to shoot his collection with some people from the CNPA (Carolina Nature Photographers Association), It will be good to meet with some other like minded people and as the place is not open to the general public and only cost $10 it was a no brainer, Two things i hope for is that the birds are not wearing jessies or restraints and that there are some nice perches,<br />
We had the small owls flitting around the garden the other night and i did manage to get a good look at one with the aid of a spot light but it was gone by the time the camera gear was ready, I really thought it was a Northern Saw-Whet owl as i could not see its ears which the Screech Owl has but on Sunday i purchased a couple of apps for my wifes ipad and could confirm that it was indeed a Northern Screech Owl by the call, I could also confirm that what i thought was a whip or will is infact a chuck widows will, Who names these birds? anyway I purchased two apps, One called <a href="http://www.birdtunesapp.com/">Bird Tunes</a> which does what it says and the other called <a href="http://birdseyebirding.com/">Birds Eye</a> which tells you of bird sightings in your area and gives maps of when and where they were seen, Both very good apps and not very expensive, <br />
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The above from my Canon days, A memorable weekend for sure<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-24102750393428404482012-06-18T14:55:00.000+01:002012-06-18T14:56:16.689+01:00The week that wasn'tI was in my garden this morning around 7am, Complete silence, Very eery and the sky looked very threatening, We have heavy rain and thunder for the next couple of days, Its exactly what we had last week, The rain on Monday and Tuesday was torrential, The foxes didn't like it and i didn't see one until Wednesday and even then it was a fleeting glance, I cant say that i blame them, I have seen the male in the garden very early in the morning but i am glad to say that the female keeps her routine of between 5.15pm and 8pm,One good thing about the amount of rain was that it bought a tortoise out into my garden so i grabbed various lenses from my 150mm macro to the 200-400 and 600 and took some images, I like the longer lenses for this type of work and they have a lovely diffused background, I used the beanbag and tried the lens on the deck as well as some handholding, After about 20 minutes of laying in the dirt the tortoise left and that was that, The deer seem to hang around the garden most of the day and go in and out of the woodland, One young male has a liking to my bird food and goes there before anywhere else, What with him and the squirrels the birds don't get much of a look in, I have managed a few decent deer images this week, I haven't shot much in the way of deer as i put food around the edges of the woodland and it doesn't make for a photogenic scene, i used to put food out on the grass but soon learned that its only a good idea if you want big bald patches, The garden has kept me very busy and i spent 2 long back aching days weeding and re mulching, I had 2.5 acres of mature garden in France and here i have only 1.5 acres but it takes 10 times longer to keep it in check due to the amount of flowers and bedding,<br />
So not too much in the way of photography, It was national wildlife photography day on Friday which was started by NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) 7 years ago and they ask you to go out and shoot something and post it on their facebook page, Luckily the fox and weather co-operated and i put up and nice female fox image,<br />
When i got my D800 i shot a couple of times in my studio, i set the lights up using a Sekonic hand held light meter and shoot in manual, I noticed that the images were a good 1-1.5 stops under exposed, I didnt take too much notice and adjusted the exposure by using the histogram, I then read of somebody on line having the same problem, I set the studio lights up in the usual fashion and shot side by side with the D3s, I am glad to say that both cameras had the same (correct) exposure with identical histograms and that the test images of me looked good, I can only think it could be 1 of 2 things, Either i had set something wrong like the ISO or there was an secret adjustment in the recent firmware update, Either way things seem to be how they should, one thing people go on about with the D800 is the greenish tint to the LCD screen and its something i noticed when i first got mine, I guess i am now used to it and it makes no difference to the actual image, I was only reminded of it when i did the studio tests and held the D3s and D800 next to each other to check the image and histogram, Although the D800 does look a small amount on the yellow/green side holding it next to the D3s makes the D3s image look cooler, Nikon say that the D800 is more true to life and they may be right, i think its a tad off but its just a preview and the images look great out of the camera.<br />
Nikon announced 2 new lenses this week, A 18-300 DX lens and a 24-85 FF lens, The full frame lens being a cheaper lens for the soon to be announced D600 which already has leaked photos on line so it cant be far away, Rumored specs are 24mp and $1500, Now that would be something if correct and although it will be a base model with a low spec AF system and plasticy body for a landscape photographer it may be all you need as you dont need fast FPS (D600 rumored at 4FPS) and you dont really need lots of focus points and fancy AF system, Its the specs and price are true i would expect to see Canons 5D3 drop in price pretty quickly, If nothing else it will make a good back up body and a great travel camera<br />
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Rainy day Tortoise <br />
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National Wildlife Photography Day Fox<br />
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A curious deer that walked towards me giving a decent background, the small ray of sunlight coming through the trees catching its chin and whiskers,The D800 always amazes and when you zoom in you can clearly see the tick around the eye and my house in its reflection<br />
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Sunflower seed loving deer<br />
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Canons big guns telephotos are starting to hit the shelves after huge delays but it seems from a few people on forums that have managed to get one that the wait was worth it even if the costs are very high and they sound awesome, It would be nice to have some weight removed from the 600 and with the new Canon 600 weighing the same as the old 500 that sounds like heaven, I will interested to see some reviews and tests in the coming weeks/months to see how they compare with the older lenses in both IQ and AF speed.<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-61524570846930481652012-06-14T19:42:00.002+01:002012-06-14T19:42:26.091+01:00A few interesting bits for saleOk apologies for the lack of blogs from me lately.<br />
<br />
Reasons:<br />
<br />
Terrible weather (in case you hadn't noticed) so camera just hasn't been out of the bag/cupboard/house.<br />
<br />
Too much work on at the moment - lots of bids/long hours etc.<br />
<br />
Getting motorcycle touring logistics sorted for later this year<br />
<br />
However, I will bring a garden update on my very local wildlife at the next shout.<br />
<br />
Having had a clearout of a lot of my gear a while back, I have a few other bits for sale now that are a bit more specialist wildlife gear that may be of interest to our readers.<br />
<br />
They are on eBay now and have just two days to run.<br />
<br />
So if they appeal get over there, check it out, bid and grab a bargain.<br />
<br />
The gear is as follows;<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320923898952?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Wimberley Sidekick</a> - probably one of the best tools for use with the 500 lenses and lower in conjunction with an Arca Swiss or other ball head. Light and very adaptable<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320923903865?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Wimberley P40 Foot plate</a> (for Canon 500 amongst other lenses)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320923908363?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Wimberley P30 Foot Plate</a> (for Canon 300f2.8 among other lenses)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320923918955?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Kirk Flash Extender</a> (for Canon 580EX or EX11 flash head) These are also known as Better Beamers<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320923914079?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Naturescapes Skimmer Pod</a> (for use with a ball head and low level to skim across mud/sand/water etc)<br />
<br />
Plus a little <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320923895459?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649">Manfrotto 484RC2 head</a> - OK for little cameras or remotely mounting flashheads on stands<br />
<br />
Cheers<br />
<br />
MartinWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-35919853007054757692012-06-11T18:46:00.001+01:002012-06-11T18:46:51.499+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Its been an interesting week, I have managed to get out to some new places and also meet some new people, I am a member of the Carolina Nature Photographers Association, Its one of the biggest groups for Nature Photographers in the States, I have been a member for a couple of years or more but have only ever been to one meeting, Its something i need to change so last week i went to a meeting which was very good and around 50+ people turned up, I went to a shoot with some of them at a local Eco Station called <a href="http://naturalsciences.org/prairie-ridge-ecostation">Prairie Ridge</a> which is not that far from me, Its a nice area with a pond that could be good in the winter,There were a lot of dragonflies around the pond and i spent 20 minutes trying to get a shot of one in flight, I used the D3s and 200-400 but a 300 or 400 prime would have been preferable especially weight wise,<br />
Not great and a sizeable crop <br />
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Lots of wild flowers and an area with bird feeders, I didnt do much shooting but instead had a good look around for the future, There were around 10-12 people present which was good for a mid week meet and after a couple of hours shooting we went off for something to eat and a chat, A nice relaxed morning, A couple of the guys told me of a park with some nesting owls so i will check that out this week and hope that they are still there and that i can find them,<br />
I ordered and received a L bracket for the D800/Grip combo, I bought it from Kirk Enterprises and its a thing of beauty-art in aluminum and will make it so that i can now use the D800 with wides for landscapes etc,<br />
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The females fox has been coming into the garden earlier and earlier, One night she caught me by surprise, I had just put some food out when i turned around and there she was, 5.15pm, Her circle or fear or acceptance has decreased somewhat and last night i was laid flat out using the beanbag on the ground when she came within 8 feet of me, I had put some food there and wanted to know if she would approach that close or not, She was skittish and quickly backed off a couple of time but she will learn to relax over time, I used the 200-400 and nearly filled the frame with her face, Its a great honor to be accepted by a wild animal and not something to be taken lightly, The male fox has only shown twice in the last week for some reason and i have watched opossum in the garden a few nights during the last week but still without young, One of the problems with shooting in your garden is trying to come up with different images in a confines space, I have been putting the bait where there is a natural looking background but have started to also include some human elements as well, I have 2 garden frogs and thought it would be a fun image to get the fox with them-well its not happened and the foxes steer well clear of the frogs which is strange<br />
On Saturday i went out with my wife and dog to the <a href="http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/">Sarah Duke gardens</a> or Duke gardens as its commonly known in Durham, I have always wanted to go and never for one reason or another made it but thus weekend i went and its one impressive place and a bonus is that its free apart from parking, The gardens are laid out beautifully and extremely photogenic, There is a large pond with wildfowl on it, Mainly mallards but also pin tail and i believe wood ducks are present, I only had a 24-70 with me but the birds are easy to get near so i will pop back and take the 200-400, A word if you go there is to take food and drink as the small cafe is very expensive, Well worth a full day or more,<br />
Not a great image of a Northern Pintail but it was taken with a 24-70 and its only a small crop<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-78751808413742762492012-06-04T15:11:00.001+01:002012-06-04T15:20:46.027+01:00A good week for the foxes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have managed to shoot the foxes every night except 2 for the last 7 nights, It was only bad weather that stopped me shooting the other 2 as we had the aftermath of tropical storm Beryl, I think it was Wednesday night that we had Tornado warnings and extreme rain, I watched the very dark clouds overhead looking very threatening but i don't think any tornado's touched down until near the coast, its that time of year here in NC, I have my gear set up around 5.30 and watch from my house until the fox or foxes arrive then go out, The fox stop and watch as i sneek into position and then carry on as if i am not there, I have never had semi tame foxes to myself, Some neighbors semi habituated them long before i arrived here, Its something i have never really agreed with and have always shot totally wild foxes that would run even if they could just smell you so this is something totally different, Saying that if i move or make a noise they are ready to run but if i stay still they will just keep an eye on me and carry on, The food is obviously more important to them and the cubs than i am, The male is far more skittish than the female who has walked as close as 15 feet from me, A couple of nights i have laid out flat or as flat as my stomach will allow for a better point of view and used the beanbag for camera support, Its by far the best way of getting super sharp images and better than any tripod, The foxes come out anywhere between 6.15pm and 8pm or as i say ISO 400 and ISO 1600, I sometimes use the D3s as its the better camera in low light but i do really try to use the D800 purely for the file sizes although i dont like to shoot over ISO 800 due to grain or noise starting to show, Its a good stop below the D3s for noise but the file sizes keep me reaching for it first, Shutter speeds average 1/100 shooting wide open at F4 and using the 600 lens means that good technique and waiting for the fox to be totally still is the way to go and be prepared to bin a lot of images due to slight movement in the head, Saying that i have been taking around 100 images a night so at the end of the week still have a lot of keepers.<br />
I had mentioned to my wife that the deer and fox look tick free but the
female clearly had a huge tick under her chin and on close inspection of
one of the shots of her she has a lot of smaller ticks around her eyes,
We take ticks off of our dog every night so any animals that live in
the woodland must be covered, <br />
<br />
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You may also notice that i have over cooked the exposure a small amount and there is a small blown out area near the mouth, Its something to keep in mind when shooting foxes and shooting to the right, Around the nose area is very easy to blow out,<br />
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One night i set my D3s up on a tripod so that it shot over my head to give you a view of me shooting the fox, The wide angle makes the distance between myself and the fox look bigger than it is and is actually around 20-25 feet <br />
The wildlife high light of the week for me was sitting in my screened porch late last night (Sunday) i could hear a commotion in the nearby tree and saw a bird fly out of it, The noise was nothing i could identify and then another bird flew out and landed just above my head on the guttering, A third bird flew and then the bird above me followed it, They were very small owls, About 10 minutes later i took my dog out into the front garden and could again hear the owls nearby, I looked up into the tree and could seem them clearly but as silhouettes, I checked my bird guide and would say that they were Northern Saw-Whet Owls by there call, I am guessing it was an adult and 2 young or both adults and 1 young, Either way great to have around the house, Strangest birds in the garden this week were 2 belted kingfishers which flew around the garden before landing on my neighbors roof and then flying off, Last night we also listened to a distant Barred Owl and for the last couple of weeks have had a Whip Poor Will calling in the woodland behind my house which looks like a night-jar and extremely difficult to see<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-86524668345348232212012-05-30T00:30:00.000+01:002012-05-30T19:08:22.514+01:00Happy Big Birthday to DaveWell it doesn't seem five minutes ago, that I started writing this blog site with a young 46 year old Dave so my how time has flown<br />
<br />
Anyway, here is a big Happy Birthday to Dave from me and Jac - hope your day is a great one mate, although we know you had your big bash and the weekend,<br />
<br />
But many happy returns and may you have many more<br />
<br />
Martin<br />
<br />
PS - I will back with a bit more a a longer blog from me on Thursday with some things to share.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Update</span>: Ugggh - lots of typos now correctedWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-64415218324531761392012-05-28T20:23:00.000+01:002012-05-28T20:23:26.063+01:00Software and FoxesIts been a busy week and not just photographically, I have spent most of the week stuck behind the PC going through the Florida images and trying to get the hang of the new Nik software package that i recently purchased, I have to say that its most impressive but does take a while to go through it all, Just the color effects pro 4 takes a couple of days to look through all the filters, Nik has plenty of on line instruction One to watch is their <a href="http://education.niksoftware.com/category/55-filters-in-52-weeks/page/2/">55 filters in 52 weeks</a>, This gives a good idea of what each filter is capable of, I have also watched a couple of their webinars which are also excellent, I have to say that photoshop has very little use once you have used the Nik software,I have found that a lot of the filters work very well on landscapes but you have to lower the presets which is easy with the use of sliders, The detail enhancer in CEP4 is amazing, As a prest it gives a look of HDR which my wife liked but by dragging the sliders down you get great detail but a more realistic look,<br />
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Here is a shot i took and after a couple of clicks in the Nik software<br />
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$400 for the complete package is a lot of money but i think that here its well spent, You can each individually and if you do then CEP4 and Viveza are very good and i like the Dfine noise reduction, Even if you are not in the market yet i would take some time out and look at the videos and webinars, Sometimes you look at peoples work and think wow how did they get that look or cleaness/detail-well now you know,<br />
We are having a hard time here with ticks, The other night i took 6 off of my dog and within 5 minutes of him going into the woodland he had more, I know of at least one photographer at the moment who is suffering from lymes disease and its very nasty, Take care when you go out, Here is a huge tick that i removed from my dog last week<br />
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The foxes are now coming out in light, Not great light but light where you dont need flashguns, One night the female came out a lone and i sat out on my patio and she was less than 25 feet from me and stayed until i had over shots of her, I used the D3s as the light was low and i had to use ISO 1600, Get the exposure right or shoot to the right and there is basically no grain<br />
Heres one from the D800 ISO 400<br />
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And from the D3s at ISO 1600<br />
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Both the above are of the female but they now sometimes come and feed together, Heres the male, Much smaller and thinner than the female<br />
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Its my 50th Birthday this coming Wednesday so we had a party yesterday at our house so i am a little delicate today, Just as well as its a holiday here so time for a snooze<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-77797692583127380822012-05-22T16:56:00.001+01:002012-05-22T16:56:22.972+01:00Mirrorless camerasAs Martin has just purchased a mirrorless body and many people with long lens gear are also adding them i would take some time out and have a read of Thom Hogans (of Nikon Fame) other site that just covers Mirrorless cameras and lenses-see <a href="http://www.sansmirror.com/">here</a><br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-47189553653311612522012-05-20T21:52:00.000+01:002012-05-20T21:52:52.447+01:00FloridaI have to say that getting up between 4am and 6.30am is not every bodies idea of a break and i am now at home feeling like i could do with a holiday to get over the last one, Our week basically went like this, Drive to Florida on the Saturday and stay at St Augustine until Wednesday, I would shoot at the Gator Farm early morning and evening, After the Gator Farm closed i would shoot at the beach until dark, During the day we would shoot at the old town for scenics and have day trips around the area as far as Daytona Beach, Move down the coast on Wednesday to Satellite Beach and shoot at Merritt Island and surrounding areas, That was the plan at least and as i had never been to Merriit Island i was exciting to go,<br />
So lets start at the beginning, St Augustine Gator farm that i ended my last blog with, Its a great place to shoot all kinds of herons and egrets with the bonus of Spoonbills and Storks, Its a busy place bird wise and there are thousands of birds coming and going, It can get too much and you have to stand back and make a plan if you want to come away with great images, I found it best to keep and eye on a couple of nests in the right light and get the birds coming and going to those particular places, The birds stalling as they try to stop giving the best looking images, Whilst waiting i would keep an eye open for any birds flying in my piece of sky and by that i mean i had the sun on my back and had chosen an area of sky that would give good results right in front of me, Either side would not get such good light, I used a flash with a better beamer set at +1 to light the under side of the wings without blowing out the whites, I came to the +1 after some experimental shots and for that place it worked well, You can get incredibly close to the birds at the nests, Look back at the last blog of mine and you will see a head shot of a tri-colored heron, That was shot with a Sigma 150 macro lens!! It has been 2 years since my last visit and at that time Roseate Spoonbills had just started to use the park, Now there are plenty there nesting so and a couple of nests were close to the boardwalk and visible, The chicks were quite active so some nice shots were on the cards, One day i heard a loud pop/splash near me and looked as a young Woodstork landed in the water, It looked around dazed as gators came from every angle, A few seconds later it was taken, To my surprise the gator popped up and headed my way and as it got closer the chick lifted its head took a breath and then the gator dived and that was a very sad end for the chick but thats nature, People ask why the birds would nest in such a dangerous place and the answer is that there is a higher success rate there than in the wild where raccoons and snakes etc take the eggs,<br />
One day we went down to the famous biker hang out-Daytona beach, Like Martin i am a bike lover, After Photography its my biggest passion and i rarely miss a Moto GP or World Superbike race on the TV, I was hoping to get to Laguna Seca this year and cheer on Valentino Rossi but will miss that by a couple of weeks so hopefully next year, Daytona beach is a great place although busy with people, the beaches are flat and very clean, the sand is fine and there are few shells, You can drive on most of it without the need for a 4x4 so thats what we did and found a spot with some birds on it and set up, People come and go and you either get strange looks or questions but over all i came away with some of the nicest cleanest images i have made so far and without the need of much processing, I used a skimmer pod with the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/736364-REG/Acratech_1160_Long_Lens_Head.html">Acra Tech long lens head</a> and <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/736364-REG/Acratech_1160_Long_Lens_Head.html">Acra Tech leveling base</a>, It worked well with the D800 and 600 as long as you found the balance point and kept a small tension on the head to stop it flopping over, I see a lot of people using Gimbal heads and have them very loose, I prefer a small amount of tension in both axis and find i get a sharper image that way,<br />
The weather at the start and middle of the week was not the best and on the Monday and Tuesday the afternoon sessions at the gator farm were rained off, I have to say that after a couple of days there i had had enough, Its very enjoyable but i preferred my beach sessions where it was just me and the birds, I am not one for crowded places but either way its a good place to learn and experiment,<br />
I used the D800 most of the time for 2 reasons, Firstly the AF is better than the D3s and by a fair margin, Shooting them side by side you could easily tell that the D800 is both faster at acquiring focus and keeps focus even when the bird is flying in and out of busy backgrounds, The D3s is no slouch in that department but the new AF in the D800 simply out classes it, The D4 with its speed and same AF must be some machine, The 2nd reason is that i am shoot for stock agencies and the files sizes are all important, I can crop an image in half and still have a bigger file than the D3s uncropped, add to that the extra resolution and detail captured by the D800 and the D3s becomes the back up camera-who would have ever thought that, The D800 really is a big step forward in digital imaging rather than the normal incremental step associated with new bodies, <br />
We went to Satellite beach which is close to Cocoa beach for the last few days so that i could travel to Merritt Island NWR, MIWLR is a big place but unfortunately there seemed to be little in the way of wildlife, I only went twice as it was an hour or so from where we were staying but apart from some Green herons with chicks there wasnt anything better than i had shot before, I have seen some great images from there so it can be a great place but just not when i was there, One day when we left there we stopped at a State Park to see what was there, It was on the edge of a large river and there was a small bay off of the river, Whilst we were there a Manatee entered the bay and we went into the water and it came over to say hello which was a real bonus, There was some turtles nesting on the beach each night that we were there but we never managed to see them, Just their tracks left in the sand, We even went to the beach at 4am on the last morning in the hope of seeing some turtles and also a rocket going up at Canaveral which was set for 4.55am but was aborted, We also missed the turtles and not by much as the tracks we clearly visible all the way down to the sea, There were 3 turtles nesting that night and about 15 nests in the few days that we were there, Great to see that they are still about. Whilst i was there i did manage to get some sun rises so all was not lost.<br />
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The <a href="http://www.naturescapes.net/store/the-skimmer-ground_pod-ii.html">Skimmer pod</a> available on the Naturescapes web site is awesome for ground photography, If you make sure that the sea is distant you loose any horizon giving a magical feel to the image, Nothing has been removed from these images, The beaches were fine sand and very very clear of stones or shells,<br />
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I placed myself where the receding sea left the sand wet for this shot and waited for the birds to arrive, This Sanderling was very relaxed with my presence and slept<br />
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Semi-Palmated Plover on Daytona Beach, These pretty little birds were at every beach we visited in good numbers<br />
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The birds were attracted to the sea weed bought in on the tide and gave a nice addition of color to the image as well as give a size dimension to the bird<br />
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The D800 and 200-400 made a great team for hand holding, This is full frame and i could zoom in or our as the bird got closer<br />
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The joys of the D800, A large crop but still over 40mp file, Roseate Spoonbill chicks, Not something you see everyday<br />
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The D3s did pretty well in the hand holding game again with the 200-400, Lots of detail in this full frame image<br />
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Gator with Chick, I doubt i will forget the look on its face or the sound of it fall in for some time<br />
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Storms over Cocoa beach, My favorite image of the week, We watched the huge storm building as we were sitting on the beach, I went and got the 14-24 and put it on the D800, When the lightening started i watched through the view finder, The bolts tended to come in 2's or 3's so i would miss the first bolt but could sometimes manage to get the 2nd or 3rd, The first image was as the storm started to gather strength and the 2nd image was at its darkest and time to run for cover, I held the camera up to my eye for nearly an hour and my arm felt like it wanted to fall off, I did have a tripod with me but not a bracket to attach the D800 to it, That was on the D3s and i didnt have a key to get it off, A 'L' bracket is at the top of the list to buy,<br />
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Sunrise at the same beach as above, We missed the turtles and NASA aborted the rocket take off so this was all i got<br />
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Turtle tracks<br />
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All in all a very nice week, Now comes the downloading and processing, All the images above were processed on the laptop so may be a tad off as it needs recalibrating.<br />
When i got home i checked the bluebirds nest box only to find that all but one of the eggs had gone and the egg that was left was broken, I guess another case of being predated by something like a raccoon , The hummingbirds are now very active with 2 males fighting over the territory, Hopefully i will find time to get some images of them this week when i am not stuck behind the PC<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-24271225858202013812012-05-20T21:14:00.000+01:002012-05-20T21:14:07.383+01:00First New Camera system since 1995 and Preparations<div style="text-align: justify;">
So this week I have bought into a new camera system. This is the first time I have bought into any system that isn't Canon since 1995, when I bought my first EOS 35mm film body.</div>
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So what is it and why?</div>
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Well it isn't Nikon.....yet, although that is more likely now than at any time previously - more of which later</div>
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Well, some aspects of my photography have changed and I have needed to think differently. You will have seen that I recently have returned to two wheels after a lay off, coincidentally since 1995. With that comes the need for a new compromise. Big heavy SLR bodies plus lenses and all the gear do not mix with the challenges of motorcycle touring. With limited space and load carrying capability on the bike, a new set of challenges posed for me to consider..</div>
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What do I hope to achieve and what should I consider. Well I suppose this dilemma has been tougher to think about than the do I/don't I get the next DSLR body on my chosen system when they came along.</div>
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With every new Canon body that came along for me, it was very simple - do I want/need it. Yes/No?</div>
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<br />As usual with Canon it was wait quite a while til they sort the bugs and the price gets closer to something more sensible. Sadly, the same cannot be said for their thinking on new lenses, but enough of that.</div>
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So I started looking at Point & Shoot options from a couple of hundred pounds upwards. I liked the Canon S100, G12, Fuji X10, and a couple of Panasonic Lumixs - but the problem was always going to be (and still is) that tiny little sensors, light gathering, noise, plus ridiculously short lenses meant that getting half decent out of focus backgrounds was really never going to happen.</div>
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I then started to look at the emerging mirrorless, interchangeable lens system cameras which have much larger sensors. I toyed with the Nikon 1 system, and liked the look, I came back to the Fuji X10 for a bit, as the build quality looks cracking, and as it had good write ups but again, small sensor excluded it.. I looked briefly at the Sony Mirrorless concept but the lenses are stupidly big and didn't think that was going to help my space/size/weight issues too much.</div>
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I briefly got excited about the Canon G1X - but the reports were quite indifferent, it was a lot a of money and fixed lens, although the out of focus sample images looked good. But as with all Canon stuff these days, they just seem to make non cutting edge minor changes and the competition leave them standing.</div>
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So I then started looking at the Panasonic G series - mirroless, interchangeable lenses on the micro four thirds system, with the ability to use Pana and Olympus lenses, plus with adaptors other lenses. So imagine for a minute. Canon 300f4 lens - a cracking lens, on the four thirds system, which has a two times crop factor. You have a good quality 600 f4 for less than a grand!!</div>
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So I took delivery on Friday of the Panasonic GX1, with the 14-42 Powerzoom lens. Not the fastest zoom in the world but with IS and also a tiny profile when stowed, it fits into a tiny space to go in my bikes tank bag. With the 100-300 lens due soon as well, I will have an up to 600f5.6 again with a tiny size, and tiny weight.</div>
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Picking up Dave's point about carrying large and heavy gear around on his last blog, the concept is appealing.</div>
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Now before you think I am getting carried away with this super new marvo product, I am fully aware that it will never be the same as a Canon or Nikon 600f4. But I am not so sure that I actually want that any more.</div>
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So I have taken a couple of quick test shots with it today. Nothing special, but it does show the ability to get relatively out of focus backgrounds.</div>
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In each case I used the touch screen AF area selection and picked the upper middle teasel on the top image and top left on the second images. These are OK with the rest being just off. Lens at 42mm (84mm equiv at 35mm), and at ISO 400. Slowish shutter speeds and the IS doing a bit of work.</div>
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Early days, but encouraging signs and not too unhappy with backgrounds at these focal lengths.</div>
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I will do some more testing over the coming days and share my experiences.</div>
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There is a decent test report <a href="http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Panasonic_Lumix_DMC_GX1/">here</a> that goes into it in depth if you are interested.</div>
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Dave is getting great results from his Nikon D800 and given that I now have little invested in Canon, I will almost certainly look to make the final switch over for my wides and macro stuff later in the year, when finances and camera stock availability and its prices are more attractive.</div>
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So on to the 'Preparations' part of the headline of the blog with another couple of GX1 test shots to share.</div>
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With motorcycle touring about to start in some order for Jacqui and me, I did a test load and run out today. Our plans are to go self supported camping, so with all camping gear, stuff for the bike and all the clothing needed, we loaded her up and had a run out to make sure all is well and stable. 4 stroke big bore twin power made very light work of the massively increased load and it will be a pleasure touring in the UK and Europe this year and next.</div>
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The Panasonic GX1 takes up a tiny space in the tank bag along with its charger and spare lens (to get yet)<br />
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MartinWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-76548807175734265052012-05-14T02:59:00.000+01:002012-05-14T02:59:06.132+01:00Software and FloridaIts been a strange week, The cameras have stayed packed for most of it, Monday saw the release of Photoshop CS6 and as i had pre-ordered it i had a mail saying that i could down load it, I didnt manage to download it until the afternoon as i was busy planting in the garden all morning as the weather was much cooler and as we have had some rain it made the heavy soil easier to dig so i took full advantage and got everything in, It needed to be done as we are now in Florida, Arriving on Saturday afternoon for the week, Adobes new policy is that you must now upgrade every time there is an upgrade, If you miss 1 upgrade you will be forced to buy the complete package again, I think its a bad deal on the customer, Before you could miss 1 or 2 and face no penalty, I think adobe are getting all to powerful and some competition is much needed, Their cloud package looks good at $49 a month and gives you ALL adobes packages and upgrades free and i think at some point this may be the way to go, CS6 is a big download at 1.2gb but did not take too long as i have 30mb wide band at home, After installing CS6 i tried to install all the Nik software packages only to find that the box said up to CS5 and wouldn't install, I dropped them a line and by the end of the day had a reply saying to download from the website and that worked fine-a pain but fine, Tuesday i did the to my laptop and then spent the rest of the day as well as Wednesday playing with the new software and watching You Tube videos on all the Nik products and how to use them, Thursday after a trip to the vet with my dog i got every bit of camera gear out for a clean and a basic packing ready for Saturday, I kept the D800 and 600 out in case the fox showed and the macro lens as there were some new blooms in the garden,<br />
The hummingbirds are getting more and more regular and the bluebirds are mating like made so i hope that by the time i am back from Florida there will be some chirping from the nest box.<br />
Thed normally tedious trip down the i-95 to Florida went well and we arrived in St Augustine mid afternoon, A quick check in and then off to the Gator Farm for a look around, It wasnt worth doing any shooting as they would close within the hour but i paid for my photographers pass so i can be in early and out late for around $80, We then went to the beach where i shot turnstone and Sanderling in nice light and then few beers and bed, Up early and back to the gator farm, Lots and lots of birds on nests with large chicks, I set up the D3s and 600 on the tripod for the dark areas and then the D800 with the 200-400 with flash for birds in flight handheld,I have to say that i wish Nikon had the 400 F5.6 that Canon has as after a few hours my back and arms really were painful, I shot until 10.30am and then downloaded and refilled the belly, Back in the afternoon and shot until 6pm then cross the road and shot on the beach until nearly 8pm, A couple of things came to the front on the first day, The D800 is awesome and the AF is the best that i have ever used on any camera,I am getting too old to lug heavy lenses around and handhold all day, I shot a couple of hundred images on the D3s and about 900 on the D800, The AF locked on fast and stayed with the bird even when the background was very busy, Not prefect but pretty damn good, I found a Snowy Egret fishing along the beach in the surf so ended the day with that and the incredibly fast sanderlings and dunlin, I am here for another 2 days then off further down the coast near Cape Canaveral, Weathers not bad but clouding up in the afternoons<br />
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On a non photography note my buddy Dave Newton of Canon fame will be doing a charity bike ride from London to Brussels, Please read the link and give as much as you can to this worthy cause-see <a href="http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=davenewton">here</a><br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-47050977763623591642012-05-12T21:39:00.001+01:002012-05-12T21:39:11.104+01:00They are backOne of my most important wildlife highlights of the year happened at home today - the Swifts are back with us here in Stratford upon Avon. I have been looking out for them since the start of May, but with the first decent day of the month weather wise finally, they have made it today.<br />
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It has felt like they have been really late this, and so it is when I checked back to <a href="http://wildlifeacrossthewater.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/they-are-back.html">previous years</a>. <br />
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On another first of the year, we also had our first of the Large Red Damselflies show today - once again the warm weather bringing out new life. Time to start watching the pond more closely now.<br />
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Think I have cracked my challenge for a new camera and it should be with me sometime next week. I have been looking for a new small form compact camera that is light, small and has a larger than the usual tiny P & S sensor. So I have been trawling the specs of the Mirrorless compacts with interchangeable lens. With motorcycle touring planned, the option of taking big, heavy bulky DSLR's is not an option.<br />
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Watch this space.<br />
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MartinWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-88288915623587699482012-05-07T01:00:00.000+01:002012-05-07T01:00:01.674+01:00A better weekI started the week back in the woodland behind my house to see if the Red Bellied Woodpeckers young were big enough to be looking out of the nest hole, I could clearly hear them and the parents came and went with food constantly but still not quite there yet so i left them, The weather last week can only be described as bloody hot, High 80'2 and low 90's and humid, We now have new residence in the blue birds nest box and i watched them for 2 days as they would go and get grass and pine straw and take it back to the box as nest building materials, Its good to have them around and hope that they are more successful than the last lot, The chickadee nest box is still empty, Squirrels continue to be a problem and even chase the birds off of the feeders, One of my old neighbors told me that if you put pepper or paprika around the feeders the squirrels will not go near so i will try that this week, I only managed 1 session in the hide this week but although the birds were coming in small amounts i did get a few shots, Nothing special but as the temperatures increase so should the wildlife looking for water,<br />
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I hoped that the fox would continue to come out in daylight but she went back to the usual 8pm+ and it was only on Friday that she came out at 7pm and i managed to get some nice shots, I used the D800 and 600 and as the light was low i set it to ISO 800 and shot wide open at F4,<br />
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I had spent the day calibrating my lenses with the LensAlign system and shooting wide open will soon tell you if you have done it correctly, Luckily for me i had and every image was pin sharp on her face, A great looking fox indeed, I had planted a couple of ferns but as she hadn't been out in daylight for a week i hadn't placed the bait carefully and the images with the ferns in were not as i had planned so i need to be careful in the future to get the shots that i want, After i had calibrated the lenses i took the macro lens out for a spin and found so wild flowers and then a paper wasp that was building a nest under my screened porch, The paper wasp was in near dark conditions but the AF had no problems in locking on to the wasps head, I light the scene with a single flashgun placed off camera to my left, You have to be careful; as it will be the queen that's building the nest and she will give a very nasty sting and not just once, However she remained calm so i git some shots and left her to it, The Sigma 150mm macro is a superb lens and one of the best macros on the market,<br />
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I had some retail therapy as well, Sales last month were up so i pre-oredered <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.html">Photoshop CS6 </a>which is available today (Monday 7th) and to add to it i also bought the complete <a href="http://www.naturescapes.net/store/nik-software-complete-collection-ultimate-edition.html">Nik software collection</a>, I have looked at Nik software for a few years and every time i go to pull the plug something comes up and i have had to spend the $400 elsewhere, well i now have it and will load it Monday when i have downloaded CS6, Whilst i was spending i decided to add to my Think Tank roller case with a Think Tank laptop bag called an <a href="http://www.naturescapes.net/store/think-tank_photo-urban-disguise-60-v2.0.html">Urban Disguise 60 V2.0</a>, Now this is not just a laptop case, it has dividers that can be arranged to take camera bodies and lenses etc, its superbly made as are all Think Tank products and has lots of pockets and comes with a memory card wallet, At $200 its not cheap but its a real quality product, Looks very very smart as well so you can use it on business and it doesn't scream camera gear.<br />
One thing to note when shooting birds is that the head angle is all important, Also if you subject has a crest then make sure that you shoot it when the crest is up, It gives that little extra to the image, Take this female Cardinal for example, When a bird lands it tends to have the crest up but it soon goes down, My first shot i missed the crest but the 2nd image i manage to get it<br />
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And here i took a shot as she looked slightly away and see the difference in the image when the head is at a better angle to the camera<br />
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I ordered the above gear on Thursday from Amazon as Naturescapes did not have the software in stock and it arrived Friday morning-great service, The replacement battery from Nikon also arrived at the same time-Again a good service and a problem well dealt with<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-26937526778229876422012-05-06T20:12:00.005+01:002012-05-06T20:13:25.839+01:00Depression follows Depression = Even more depression<br />
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OK so I am talking about the weather now. With one North Atlantic anti cyclone following another in quick succession, I don't need to tell you how depressing it has been.</div>
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My 5dmk2 has stayed firmly in the cupboard and as the wildlife garden grows even skywards, little flowers and very little bug, moth, or butterfly activity has been evident.</div>
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The tadpoles are doing really well now and growing fast, but then they were late in appearing this year.</div>
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Nesting activity is taking place and for the first time we have nesting Blackbirds in the climbing rose at the front of the house. </div>
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We have had plenty of Swallow and House Martin activity overhead, but as yet no Swifts. They are being seen well in parts of the country so it is just a matter of time before I can marvel as they scream and reel overhead and I will know that summer is finally here.</div>
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Slightly further afield, Jac and I took a trip around the Cotswolds today and saw some nice sights and a particularly sad one. The sad one was seeing a beautiful, very tiny Fox cub dead in the road. It looked beautiful and in perfect condition but sadly was not wise enough for dealing with the busy Fosse Way.</div>
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Great sights and sounds included Sedge and Reed Warblers, Great Crested Grebes, Red Crested Pochards, Reed Bunting and some particularly close encounters with some Buzzards and Kestrels as we rode around on a very sunny, but blimmin' cold day.</div>
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Oh! Did I say ride?</div>
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Well we took delivery of a new baby a couple of weeks ago.</div>
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She is a Triumph Bonneville T100, a modern day creation of the great 60's British motorcycling icon. With new technology, that uncannily includes keeping the oil on the inside of the engine, this delightful machine is my first venture back on to a motorcycle properly since May 1995, when my last one bit me very badly.</div>
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A couple more bits are due to be delivered from Triumph, including a screen and a different seat and she will be complete</div>
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So now with limited space availability for carrying stuff I need a new camera which I will l ask you about in my next blog, but get your thinking caps on. I need a decent quality P & S with a decent-ish lens, and good (for a compact) image quality, naturally.</div>
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It wont be so long before my next blog, but I have been grateful for the break (and maybe you have too)</div>
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MartinWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-22055125061587537082012-04-30T02:14:00.000+01:002012-04-30T02:14:04.457+01:00A Bad week for the Birds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Monday and Tuesday were cold and miserable, Winter it seemed did not want to let go, I was surprised to see the first hummingbird of the year at the hummer feeder i had put up a few days before, It came and went all day and i managed a couple of shots, I havent seen it since that day so guess it was just passing through,<br />
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The bluebird chicks were very vocal and you could hear then way away from the nest box, the parents were busy feeding them and i managed a few shots with a remote camera, D3s with 600 and a Hahnel remote, I checked around the garden at dusk and all seemed well, the fox and deer were coming out earlier and was just dusk when i watched them, I hoped that soon they would be out in good light i.e no need for flashguns, Tuesday morning and first thing that i notice is the nesting material hanging out of the chickadees nest box and also on the ground, I checked in the box and all the chicks were dead and no sign of mum and dad, I guess a raccoon or squirrel had stuck its hand in and pulled the nesting out and with the hole blocked the parents could not get in and the chicks froze during the very cold night, I cleaned the nest box out and put it back, Wednesday night we had a huge storm with heavy winds and rain, Thursday i walked past the bluebirds nest box on my way to the bottom of the garden and it was very quiet, I watched from a distance and did not see the parents come to the nest once, that night i checked the box and there was some movement in side, Friday and still nothing until late and a male came and went, I checked the box and again some movement, Saturday and a male and female fluttered around the box as well as looking in and then going to the chickadees box, They didnt go inside but kept looking in, Today (Sunday) all the chicks are dead, I think they had been abandoned and the bluebirds on Saturday were looking for a place to nest, Very sad indeed, I had popped around to my neighbors during the week-thursday i think and she too had had her Wrens nest predated.<br />
I had moved all my feeders down to the bottom of the garden last week and as in my last blog has made a reflection pool, I decided to give it a whirl although in the few days it had been there i had only seen 1 cardinal and a squirrel drink there, I set up with the D800 and 600 on a very dark and wet day, 10 minutes in and a Baltimore Oriole arrives and lands on the top of the feeder pole along with a catbird, Both new visitors to the garden, I think they liked the quiet and woody location, The oriole was there for a short time but the catbirds came and went regularly,It was a good session and encouraging for a new set up, We had hairy and red bellied woodpeckers, Chickadees, Cardinals,Tufted Titmouse,Catbird,oriole,cowbird and i watched a beautiful warbler in the nearby trees, I shot at ISO 800 and the D800 is very clean at that which is amazing considering the pixel level,<br />
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Baltimore Oriole <br />
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Catbird<br />
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Pesky Squirrel at the reflection pool<br />
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Cowbird<br />
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Cardinal<br />
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It was a very nice session and the Oriole was the icing on the cake, The Squirrels are a real pest and even if you chase them off within a few minutes they are back.<br />
Friday evening and i had just put some food out for the deer and fox etc, I sat in the screened porch talking to my wife when i noticed a movement in the garden, It was the fox at 6.30pm so still a good amount of light, I grabbed the D800 and 600 which was already on the tripod and went out of the front door and sneeked along the side of the house, I put the gear down and when the fox wasnt looking i put it in position and took a shot, The fox which was a female looked straight at me then simply carried on, I ended up with over 60 images and had to increase the ISO to 1600 as the light was very low and i was shooting under 1/100, I only ended up with a couple of very sharp images that was very very pleased and hope that she come earlier next time, I could she her teets and her tummy was a bit flabby so she has some cubs somewhere close by, I hope she brings them soon,<br />
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On a non wildlife note i set the studio up and had a session with Maze, Our neighbors Cairns Terrier puppy which is as cute as a button, I used the D800 with 24-70 and the images are super sharp, A great combo
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And on Saturday my wife and her team did a walk for the March of the Dimes foundation so i went along to take some shots for the team<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-90092542914592077992012-04-24T18:21:00.002+01:002012-04-24T18:21:39.277+01:00Nikon Battery RecallIf you have a Nikon EN-EL15 battery which fits the D800, D7000 and V1 you need to check the back as some have a problem, I have 1, The collection and replacement procedure is very easy, Go <a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/Service-And-Support/Service-Advisories/h0ndzaip/EN-EL15-Battery-Recall-Service-Advisory.html">here</a> to check<br />
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DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-29779205683335910452012-04-23T03:25:00.000+01:002012-04-23T03:25:22.633+01:00A frustrating but productive weekIts been a strange week, Frustrating even, The weather has been all over the place, 85 degrees one day and 57 the next, We have had a fair amount of rain, More than half the week has been wet, I have stayed busy though and overall have made some progress for future projects, Lets start with some news<br />
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Cameras<br />
Nikon updated their budget Dslr which now sports a 24mp sensor, Now that's a lot of pixels and if you made it into a full frame sensor with the same size pixels it would certainly put the D800 in the shade, I am sure that its the same Sony sensor that they have in their A77 etc and whilst the detail looks good in the Sony it looked noisy, I wonder what magic Nikon have put on it, The samples on the Nikon website look good at low ISO, Either way that must now open the door for future D5200 and D7200 models and lets not forget the most awaited upgrade of the D300, It looks like its going to be a very busy year for Nikon, I just hope that they can keep up with demand, Most complaints on the forums are from people that cant get hold of the D800 or D4, The D800 seems to be showing any weaknesses in the lenses even the mighty 14-24 so i would think that new lenses may be coming in the future, There is a good review from a Canon photographer of the new 5D3 and D800, It shows both have good and bad points but what it really does show is just how good the Dynamic range is on the D800 sensor, Have a read <a href="http://www.fredmiranda.com/5DIII-D800/">here</a> and have a good look at page 2,<br />
DXO mark's 5D3 sensor review was published and the comparison between the 5D3 and D800 can be seen <a href="http://nikonrumors.com/2012/04/19/dxomark-verdict-nikon-d800-95-canon-5d-mark-iii-81.aspx/">here</a>, Obviously it only shows the sensor scores rather than the overall camera but the comments about Canon not making much progress in sensor development or words to that effect seem to hold true compared to Sony, DR actually being slightly lower than the 5D2 and IQ being similar to the 4 year old camera,<br />
So my week started with a trip into the woods to try for the red bellied woodpecker at the nest, I decided to try and get the bird in flight and after a couple of hours gave up, It wasn't a complete waste as i learned a lot about the birds behavior and will be back this week to give it another go, The best i got was this image, Thinking back i should have backed off and cropped the D800 image in
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I also tried to shoot the chickadees at the bird box which ended in a few hours playing with flashguns which was not a waste of time and i also set up at the bluebird box remotely and this would have been successful if i had focused better!! It was mainly a testing week in many ways, I set up one night for the fox and gave up when one of the flashguns didn't flash-again my fault and the only image that i got was very under exposed, I pulled the exposure back in photoshop and although 1.5 stops under it easily came back without noise or grain and proved yet again just how good that sensor is-very impressive</div>
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My neighbor called me to say that the wrens that we found to be nesting in a large plant pot outside her back door had chicks, I popped around and shot from the car, The chicks must have just hatched and give it a week and they will be poking their heads out when being fed, I took a few shots from the car using the D800 and 600mm and had an off camera flash to the left, The parent birds were coming and going on a regular basis and bought back a variety of bugs, One being a wolf spider that you can clearly see in the heavily cropped image here</div>
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The nest was under a small palm type plant so i had to lift the palm with some string to shoot and then lowered them afterwards to keep the nest safe, You need to be careful when shooting at the nest to make sure that predators are not notified of its presence,</div>
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Yesterday i decided to make an infinity pool to go at the end of my garden, I got the idea and inspiration from our blogging buddy Graham Goddard who wrote about making one on his <a href="http://www.gjgphotography.co.uk/?p=566">blog</a>, It only took a couple of hours and it was in place, i still have a few things to sort but as you can see in the image its pretty much ready to go, I managed to squeeze a hide into the trees and will give it a work out as soon as the birds start to use it,</div>
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So that was my week, Not overly productive photographically but lots done for the future</div>
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Dave</div>WPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-72811900492948538212012-04-22T16:14:00.000+01:002012-04-22T18:19:06.434+01:00Drought?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Weather or blogposts? Well since most of the UK has been declared to be in drought it appears to not have stopped raining. Our river levels in Stratford are now well up and as I type this there is an absolute deluge coming down.</div>
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On the blog, as I mentioned when I last blogged a week and a half ago we would be cutting back and so it has been a drought on that front too. It has been quite a lift of a mental weight in some respects. Blogging even every other day is a big time commitment and so when you dont 'have' to do it, then it is quite a lift.</div>
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I have had a successful spring sale on kit with everything that I have looked to sell going for pretty much the expected prices, except for the 7D where I have been dicked about by the winning bidder but will relist soon.</div>
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So Canon users, I have mentioned before and I can confirm my theory was true in respect of the Canon big lenses.</div>
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Both the 300f2.8 and 500f4 proved amazingly popular, judging by the number of those watching and bidding.</div>
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Having bought the lenses before Canon gave all these lenses a 20% price whack a few years ago and with the current lack of Mark2's available and no new Mark 1's left, the only option if folks need one is second hand. I got a decent amount more than I paid for each of those lenses as I expected I would so if you are thinking about selling/making the switch to Nikon etc, now really is the time.</div>
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I learned through the process that nearly all of those that Ask to 'Buy it now' within a few hours of the item being listed are just chancers. In each case I asked the questioner what they were prepared to offer, after they asked me what price they were prepared to offer rather than me answer their quetion. With a single exception, they generally came back with an offer of about 50% of what I knew it would sell for, so I politely suggested that they put that on as a bid, and if it was worth that little then they would win.</div>
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The funny thing is, in every case, not a single one of these even put a bid in.</div>
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Favourite question on the camera body was what is the shutter count and was it a UK or overseas internet sale, so if you get to sell a camera body, put that information on your listing, it will save you having to answer it later on, even if they never bid.</div>
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If selling anything over £1000 then check out the insurance cover. Royal Mail Special delivery next day was generally my preferred delivery method, but that only insures the item for £1000. </div>
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My 500f4, weighing in at over 20Kg once boxed with all if its gear, fell into that criteria, so I marked it for collection or buyers arranges collection. The courier cost was almost £100 but the buyer arranged that, but depending on how far it has to go, you may want to think about putting some flexibility in your listing.</div>
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So I now find myself in a position that I have not been in for over seventeen years, and that is not having a lens longer that 200mm. I am not sure how long that will last, but keep watching this space as to what I may or may not do when it comes to kit. I will not be rushing into any deicisions about either the D800 or 5Dmk3. In each case, the mantra of letting the early full price payers do the beta testing continues to be proved.</div>
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On the wildlife front, I have not been at all active but I did see my first Swallow today, which doesnt make it summer, obviously. In the pond here, the tadpoles are progressing at a great pace. After being slow to get off the mark, they are showing rapid growth now and it will not be too long before we start to see 'legs'.</div>
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So finally, many thanks for the kind comments of those of you who replied recently about the announcement of less blogging. We are grateful and your kind words make the previous hard work valued to us.</div>
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Until next time<br />
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MartinWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7992081901990214638.post-78767234808365037172012-04-16T01:00:00.000+01:002012-04-16T01:00:01.018+01:00Monday BlogIts been strange not having to come up with a new blog every couple of days, I have decided that i will post a new blog every Monday, That way there should be more and better content and having a schedule to work to will keep me on my toes,<br />Camera wise it seems that Canon has announced that there is a genuine problem with the 5D3 and is working on a fox, Not sure if that will be a recall which i think that it may be, Either way i would think that 5D3 sales have come to a halt, People in the Nikon camp are saying that the left hand AF points are not accurate when used with a F1.4 lens wide open, I don't have any lenses that fast so cant test it, I have seen various people prove it so i am guessing that may be a real problem for Nikon if it proves to be a badly aligned sensor-The joys of a new model, I did test out to see if there were hot pixels in a long exposure which i had heard was a problem, I went to Falls lake on a hot,windy day and put on a 10 stop and 3 stop filter to get a 30 second shutter speed-No problems what so ever<br />No Filter<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Ux2Psuk7RkKCDBsRLguDH_pVFajk-o6Pkcj8xuH3kgLavTbHiTT8xuhkhVPlDMPvbiNx_MCWS93zzqALV8jv9JSvC1YlSmRoOEYfYzsen45G0qbVouLetWE-iJpoKg_3ZkwlaM5fGbA/s1600/Blog-78.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Ux2Psuk7RkKCDBsRLguDH_pVFajk-o6Pkcj8xuH3kgLavTbHiTT8xuhkhVPlDMPvbiNx_MCWS93zzqALV8jv9JSvC1YlSmRoOEYfYzsen45G0qbVouLetWE-iJpoKg_3ZkwlaM5fGbA/s400/Blog-78.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731721217618209106" border="0" /></a><br /><br />With Filters<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0FTiCOpsUlK-kZCT-uKhFuAkG0PjS11cMrYDyJKBZ7oB9mjFluju-C8ohJuJmpsCh3Fv8ZQkzQjU7o994f_cEMkpZGZZXdxrU7zDJj7l-Ng0kcwKNN1qYLG5jzivhVv3Vi4edMTBphS0/s1600/Blog-76.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0FTiCOpsUlK-kZCT-uKhFuAkG0PjS11cMrYDyJKBZ7oB9mjFluju-C8ohJuJmpsCh3Fv8ZQkzQjU7o994f_cEMkpZGZZXdxrU7zDJj7l-Ng0kcwKNN1qYLG5jzivhVv3Vi4edMTBphS0/s400/Blog-76.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731721393488855010" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It was very windy as you can see by the trees in this crop<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3802gUauxaal_vNMc-aXdEbV862FpbPp2G1y6O-5DB23vwJWW0glXG5UraL_pnYw6TJeR-aUM6hKzuqc2pnu2XLQE2WIK2FbPkRnHZYiqMk88m2ilikHTVhGTG_IQcwpZPwGKeHQw_Gw/s1600/Blog-77.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3802gUauxaal_vNMc-aXdEbV862FpbPp2G1y6O-5DB23vwJWW0glXG5UraL_pnYw6TJeR-aUM6hKzuqc2pnu2XLQE2WIK2FbPkRnHZYiqMk88m2ilikHTVhGTG_IQcwpZPwGKeHQw_Gw/s400/Blog-77.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731721617933327330" border="0" /></a><br />Once again i have been plagued by tics, I walked about 20 feet into the woodland at the bottom of my garden and within 10 minutes i had picked 6 tics off of me, A couple of days later i went into the woods to see if i could find the fox den and when i came out i went for a bath as in the woods it was hot and steamy and there was a large tic buried into my hip, I got the tic out but a few days later there is a red bump where the tic was so time to keep an eye on it just incase, What i did find in the woods was a nice red bellied woodpeckers nest so i set up and got a few images, I think that the woodies are on eggs as they stayed in the nest for 20 minutes at a time, Give it a couple of weeks and there should be little heads poking out of the hole and i will again be back for those images<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuy4TmEXJ0_LlFQgswtc4W86pXfBzSZXxI8IkKq_V90ImRD8GaywrCohQgra7dZJzB4vB6uhjLkra2f7A2eCtYumAZ3q7TZxXVZIKKapUONZGIp6_Rn7mWmAQXS-halylm46g9wwroLU/s1600/Blog-82.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyuy4TmEXJ0_LlFQgswtc4W86pXfBzSZXxI8IkKq_V90ImRD8GaywrCohQgra7dZJzB4vB6uhjLkra2f7A2eCtYumAZ3q7TZxXVZIKKapUONZGIp6_Rn7mWmAQXS-halylm46g9wwroLU/s400/Blog-82.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731734560970085410" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iAHJuibnfTJUzfQOQMCSVTtpUyHp98AmDyaD66zgbzJtYgNcdhc0gHpDTKZe2-CpU3mz03W7VCT5e1CwcnRni0yOUA47jtwnU-NVSzozwKqaFAE8RL9oV8jLF1_KeAFC36b4_5cDu5s/s1600/Blog-83.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iAHJuibnfTJUzfQOQMCSVTtpUyHp98AmDyaD66zgbzJtYgNcdhc0gHpDTKZe2-CpU3mz03W7VCT5e1CwcnRni0yOUA47jtwnU-NVSzozwKqaFAE8RL9oV8jLF1_KeAFC36b4_5cDu5s/s400/Blog-83.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731734718935719554" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXpn_g5KaZpOMTA8B_CcjfPIUip1GvJ8K5vQFcxJMvtH262574nSDRT3gSjNbJjly-1b845sdezbUHFJ_LBumu2tH1G6wL54M031SUfB1KLj3ljDNVxlox3oxsjgd0V0oK5ij_BEiRk_g/s1600/Blog-84.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXpn_g5KaZpOMTA8B_CcjfPIUip1GvJ8K5vQFcxJMvtH262574nSDRT3gSjNbJjly-1b845sdezbUHFJ_LBumu2tH1G6wL54M031SUfB1KLj3ljDNVxlox3oxsjgd0V0oK5ij_BEiRk_g/s400/Blog-84.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731734850552832562" border="0" /></a><br />I have managed a few sessions in the night for the garden critters, The fox,deer and opossum are regulars but i haven't seen the Raccoons for a while, I sat and watched the fox feed but still not got into the position that i want so i haven't pressed the shutter, The opossum on the other hand has been quite photogenic and i have plenty of new images<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu3xUjUEfQsROPPBy_cbqWEQ9dCA5uI2TTAuwlQCxA7rIyz0Dkc6t9w9Xw-XuY11FNdrdXT0JCv2XLTpZmrscASQilLucGRmNtS4-y3lPjtJQuRX6E5da1rQNcSotaRpMiuFnD93T87Mo/s1600/Blog-80.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu3xUjUEfQsROPPBy_cbqWEQ9dCA5uI2TTAuwlQCxA7rIyz0Dkc6t9w9Xw-XuY11FNdrdXT0JCv2XLTpZmrscASQilLucGRmNtS4-y3lPjtJQuRX6E5da1rQNcSotaRpMiuFnD93T87Mo/s400/Blog-80.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731735445301455474" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvB5hqHyTsAeNiidUC7QA7nyxwcAAiaurxGwCakV7lJQTT56q3ZHB0LCnr4F5lgVOD_LpH61T4uoUJ5s50i-SzxiWYs8P70szHx3lszqatOM9z9nY63mVx3_bPEQ1NjRzG9_DUlEXIcA/s1600/Blog-81.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvB5hqHyTsAeNiidUC7QA7nyxwcAAiaurxGwCakV7lJQTT56q3ZHB0LCnr4F5lgVOD_LpH61T4uoUJ5s50i-SzxiWYs8P70szHx3lszqatOM9z9nY63mVx3_bPEQ1NjRzG9_DUlEXIcA/s400/Blog-81.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5731735591086205650" border="0" /></a>All images taken with the D800, I did try the video out one evening when waiting for the fox, The deer were coming and going, The video quality is excellent and i just need to work out a way to post it<br />So thats me for this week<br /><br />DaveWPATWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05132708096592147700noreply@blogger.com2