First New Camera system since 1995 and Preparations

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.

So what is it and why?

Well it isn't Nikon.....yet, although that is more likely now than at any time previously - more of which later

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..

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.

With every new Canon body that came along for me, it was very simple - do I want/need it.  Yes/No?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

Picking up Dave's point about carrying large and heavy gear around on his last blog, the concept is appealing.

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.

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.

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.

Early days, but encouraging signs and not too unhappy with backgrounds at these focal lengths.

I will do some more testing over the coming days and share my experiences.

There is a decent test report here that goes into it in depth if you are interested.

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.

So on to the 'Preparations' part of the headline of the blog with another couple of GX1 test shots to share.

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.

The Panasonic GX1 takes up a tiny space in the tank bag along with its charger and spare lens (to get yet)

Martin

Software and Florida

Its 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,
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.
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

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 here

Dave

They are back

One 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.

It has felt like they have been really late this, and so it is when I checked back to previous years.

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.

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.

Watch this space.

Martin

A better week

I 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,

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,

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,

I had some retail therapy as well, Sales last month were up so i pre-oredered Photoshop CS6 which is available today (Monday 7th) and to add to it i also bought the complete Nik software collection, 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 Urban Disguise 60 V2.0, 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.
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

 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

 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

Dave

Depression follows Depression = Even more depression

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.

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.

The tadpoles are doing really well now and growing fast, but then they were late in appearing this year.

Nesting activity is taking place and for the first time we have nesting Blackbirds in the climbing rose at the front of the house.

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.

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.

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.

Oh! Did I say ride?

Well we took delivery of a new baby a couple of weeks ago.

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.

A couple more bits are due to be delivered from Triumph, including a screen and a different seat and she will be complete

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.

It wont be so long before my next blog, but I have been grateful for the break (and maybe you have too)

Martin

A Bad week for the Birds

  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,

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.
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,

Baltimore Oriole

 Catbird

 Pesky Squirrel at the reflection pool

Cowbird

Cardinal

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.
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,

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

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

Dave

Nikon Battery Recall

If 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 here to check

Dave

A frustrating but productive week

Its 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

Cameras
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 here and have a good look at page 2,
DXO mark's 5D3 sensor review was published and the comparison between the 5D3 and D800 can be seen here, 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,
 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

 

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

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

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,

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 blog, 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,

So that was my week, Not overly productive photographically but lots done for the future

Dave