Tenn.Jer wrote:
Thanks for the kind words, folks, but my conscience demands a confession of sorts...
I live in a land of summer thunderstorms, and I've tried for years to get lightning photographs in the tried and true hit or miss way; leave the shutter open for 30 second intervals if it's night, and as long as you can when you feel lucky if it's daytime...ten years ago I'd burn through three rolls of 36 exposure Tri-X and quit, hoping for the best and waiting a few days to find out. With the advent of digital it got cheaper, but it always seemed like the best flashes came while the buffer was emptying, or whatever it's called...Over the years, I've gotten maybe a dozen decent photos (none worth hanging) out of maybe ten thousand tries...
That morning last week I had six keepers out of a hundred or so thanks to a little object mounted on the hot shoe called a "Lightning Trigger"...it senses a flash, triggers the shutter before the flash is over, and there you have it...I won't post a link or anything since its easily Googled, and there are several manufacturers on the market now. I've known about it for several years, but only recently acquired one, and this was my first use...
So, this time it really is about the gear; all the photographer had to do was make sure the camera stayed out of the rain...
Confession is good for the soul, but not necessarily the ego...
Keepin' it Gearish (Really Gearish)
Jerry ...Show more →
I will google it . And look for a place to live to catch some of those.
Here's a coupe of hummers shot with the 5DIII. These were taken with the 400 f/5.6 close to it's approximate
MFD. I was curious to see how much feather detail I could evoke from the 5DIII. Not too bad. Interestingly, the EF Lens Work III book lists the maximum magnification of the 400 5/5.6, 500mm, 600mm, and 800mm (the latter 3 all f/4) respectively as 0.12, 0.15, 0.15, and 0.14 - all comparable. Teleconverters on the f/4's would naturally lend them its advantage since the MFD wouldn't be altered. The 7D would certainly show more detail. Tomorrow's project perhaps.
On our way to Maine, and so far so good. The train is quite full yet comfy, much different from my +400,000 miles in the air... . One can see the face of change of population and commerce/industry at eye-level. In some ways it is very sobering, but there is always tomorrow, a new day with new opportunities.
My wife is using my ToughBook (doing her med-school research paper) while I have a POS Asus netbook with with keys the size of a .22 cal round, and Picasa for image editing
DoctorBird: Nice stuff; looks like your having great fun with the new gears!
I'll be back on when we are on the lake and among masthead pines... All photos on this trip will be from the G10...traveling very light...
p.20 #14 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
Jim and Jerry, I am glad to hear you like those pictures.
Jerry, that is a Wood duck. You have started contributing to this thread very nicely already, so please just carry on.
p.20 #15 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
Not great pictures, but a little summer Olympic spirit for you FM'ers. Taken in Guildford UK today which was last town before the Olympic flame was delivered to London. The same torch bearer also ran in the 1948 torch relay, he is 82 now.
Both with 1ds2 and 100-400 @400mm
Weather even came out after literally weeks of rain!!
p.20 #17 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
Every so often I yield to a temptation and go shoot somewhat difficult BIF with 800L. And it never fails, always a frustrating endeavour, with a major drop in keeper rate compared to much more suitable (and some significantly cheaper) lenses such as 400 f/5.6 or 400 DO or 300 f/2.8 IS etc.
Here and there though I do get an interesting BIF shot or two even with 800L.
p.20 #20 · Summer photography with Canon equipment
Thank you, Db, it's more a premature dementia factor than anything else.
Here's a Red winged blackbird from today as well, done with 1DMkIIN + 800L.
Incidentally, when shooting any species of black birds, I try to do it in as dark an environment as possible. That way the overal frame exposure is more even and pleasing.
(Cattails are not only ugly, but they are of very light colour in spring which creates a difficult contrast relative to Red wings....that's something I try to avoid.)
