Might be pushing the envelope a bit, Canon is sending me an RF1200/8 to try out................."Weebeesee!" The reviews are pretty incredible, the Beta Testers are claiming that it can be shot handheld. I believe that, never had my EF800 on a mount and it weighed about as much as my Landcruiser so I guess I can handle the 7 lb. RF1200/8. I fully expect it to be a special purpose lens given the potential for atmospheric distortion, but they are saying that when conditions are right, it's a one of a kind. First place I am going with it is El Centro with The Blues!
Hi Gero, that little guy sure touches my heart. He is all in with his photography, hope he feels that way the rest of his life, as we all know, it's a wonderful thing. They are at an Auduban Wildlife Center on The Gulf and there are thousands of migratory birds. He called me this morning and was so excited, but he said he needed longer glass........isn't that always the way?
JWilsonphoto wrote:
I get the feeling he might be runway centerline guy, like his Papa.................
.
Ya, no kidding Jim and with an alligator in front of him !!!
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Hi Gero, that little guy sure touches my heart. He is all in with his photography, hope he feels that way the rest of his life, as we all know, it's a wonderful thing. They are at an Auduban Wildlife Center on The Gulf and there are thousands of migratory birds. He called me this morning and was so excited, but he said he needed longer glass........isn't that always the way? , he'll be throwing the 1200 around in another 5 years...
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Hi Gero, that little guy sure touches my heart. He is all in with his photography, hope he feels that way the rest of his life, as we all know, it's a wonderful thing. They are at an Auduban Wildlife Center on The Gulf and there are thousands of migratory birds. He called me this morning and was so excited, but he said he needed longer glass........isn't that always the way?
Jim,
I hope your son has a deep pocket My daughter discovered my 100-400 II when I took her to New Zealand last summer after picking her up from her semester abroad in Australia. I was lucky to keep that one in my bag. I have a feeling it will find its way to her bag before I know it...
Greetings All,
Some good stuff lately! JIII is going to be a handful! I'm sure mom didn't know he was kneeling up to a Gator for a portrait. And some nice A2A as well.
Been really busy here in Iowa, and yesterday we celebrated the start of spring with a Blizzard! Not too bad here in Waterloo, but Dan's old home in the area of Fort Dodge sure got hammered with 12" of the wet and heavy. Work has also been real demanding but we did have a very nice tech meeting with some great Japan colleagues, we certainly don't travel nearly as much since Covid.....
Part of all that running was also participating in the SAE Clean Snow Challenge again this year. Yes I'm going to toss a bunch of Snowmobile pictures at you here on the first day spring. Might be the last year too, looks as though SAE is going to stop sponsoring the collegiate challenge. Will be sad to see it go, this was my 20th year of participation dating back to 2005.
We started off the even with Acceleration event. The event was run at the Snowmobile Derby track in Eagle River, WI. We set up a 500ft timed track and the sleds hit speeds exceeding 70mph. This year we ran the event in snow showers, gave it new a new perspective under the lights.
Moving on, after the Acceleration event we lined the sleds up outside for a cold start event. It was a real cold start this year, 7F at 7am in morning.
Line UP:
Giver A Pull:
Crank Er Up:
Drive Off for the Endurance Run:
And not all were able to Play:
Once we had the sleds started and running we moved on to 100 mile endurance test. This year the week before the event was very warm and Wisconsin's trail's didn't survive. We had to trailer the sled up to a large lake north of town where we ran 13 laps on the lake for 104 mile event. All sleds made it, though one did loose some "unnecessary" parts! It was cold, windy and at times nearing white out conditions. Again some new photo challenges.
One of the major aspects of this event is to make Snowmobiles Cleaner and Quieter. Students are challenged to engineer their entry to meet emissions stricter than is required by EPA regulations for both engine exhaust and drive by noise.
For emissions a full emissions sled has been engineered and is trailed behind the snowmobile. Emissions are measured and report in same manner as required by automobiles, reported in grams/mile. This year's winner was a Direct Injected 2-Stroke! It can be done, and it was one of the most fun sleds to ride.
Then a full sound course is set up to conduct drive by noise measurements to the same standards / methods used to approve production sleds. The event coordinator has a PHD in NVH and teaches at MTU. The driver of snowmobile is trained to drive all sleds through the drive by course at same speed for all sleds. This years winner was like 5-6 dB more quiet than the quietest sled available on the market.
One evening we hold a Dinner at the local high school and have several of the teams do sales or technical presentations on the sled they designed. To present to an audience of 250 or 300 people is quite a skill..........
And of course you always catch a bunch of silly stuff in the process!
Thanks for letting me blow up the thread with a bunch of winter themed photos. Going to miss this event and the students after 20 yrs of participation but it perhaps it's time for SAE to find a new challenge for the Students to engineer through.
I will close the evening with some photo's of the students most popular event, Objective Handling. Where a handling course is set up by the Polaris / Artic Cat volunteers and the students pilot their sleds through the course for a timed score and bragging rights. It is one of the most fun events and the teams really get into it.
Phenomenal work Dan! Love your compositions!! The atmospherics really helped create some spectacular imagery, well done! What camera did you use to capture all of those?
gerov wrote:
Jim,
I hope your son has a deep pocket My daughter discovered my 100-400 II when I took her to New Zealand last summer after picking her up from her semester abroad in Australia. I was lucky to keep that one in my bag. I have a feeling it will find its way to her bag before I know it...
with absolutely no regret on my side!!
Gero
I hear you Gero. JIII has cut his teeth on an R5 MkII with an RF100-500. He's using the Canon R that his Dad bought a few years ago while he is on this trip, and he seems pretty happy with that. Cracked me up when he told me that he thought he needed some longer lenses. I can hardly wait to go through his images with him when he gets back, what a treat!
Jim, what will you will shooting the 1200mm for? It sure is a beast! I saw one at Conowingo, I don't even know how the guy could find the eagles in the view finder, I already have trouble at 840mm.
I have an annual report project that is very involved and I'm thinking about creating a signature look for the client. The 1200 might be the perfect tool to do that. I'm just going to have to experiment with it in order to see. The other option would be to put an RF2X on my 600/4, but I've never been happy with the results from any 2X converter. If it does, in fact allow me to get the perspective that I'm imagining, it will be pretty simple building a good portion of the investment into the assignment.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
My little apprentice is on an adventure with his Dad this week, camera in hand...................
This is great Jim! Man has he grown!!! Now you have gators in Texas
Does he have his own equipment?
Tell him I will see his images posted here ASAP!!
Dan
DanNehmer wrote:
Greetings All,
Some good stuff lately! JIII is going to be a handful! I'm sure mom didn't know he was kneeling up to a Gator for a portrait. And some nice A2A as well.
Been really busy here in Iowa, and yesterday we celebrated the start of spring with a Blizzard! Not too bad here in Waterloo, but Dan's old home in the area of Fort Dodge sure got hammered with 12" of the wet and heavy. Work has also been real demanding but we did have a very nice tech meeting with some great Japan colleagues, we certainly don't travel nearly as much since Covid..... ...Show more →
Great compositions Dan! Yeah I saw the storm on TWC...I miss Iowa!
Glad things seem to doing well! Good way to start of the 2025 year.
Spring just blew up here!
Stay safe and thanks for the mention!
Dan2
Danpbphoto wrote:
This is great Jim! Man has he grown!!! Now you have gators in Texas
Does he have his own equipment?
Tell him I will see his images posted here ASAP!!
Dan
Hi Dan,
He has been using an R5II that I set up for him, but he likes his Dad's R because it's lighter. I'm doing my best to keep his Dad from going off the deep end and getting him a bunch of stuff that might overwhelm him at this point. I think the next logical purchase might be the RF100-400. He immediately recognizes crisp in an images so, if the 100-400 isn't sharp, it'll be a no-go.
, he'll be throwing the 1200 around in another 5 years...
