Is this a cormorant? Damn thing went underwater for a LOOOONG time while I was watching it. No wonder I always see them sitting on the side of the lagoons trying to dry out!
Conrad, try the smaller RAW files with the 50D. I shot some flowers in the mountains and I always have smallest Jpeg with the RAW files to view them and get an idea of what the RAW will look like. The Jpeg backgrounds are alot of times blown out and noisy while the RAW is not. The smaller RAW file would give you control without the big file size . I have a dedicated 750 hard drive just for pics and it holds all the big files. 8GB cards are $40-80 on sale and in deals everywhere.
Rich Swanner wrote:
Conrad, try the smaller RAW files with the 50D. I shot some flowers in the mountains and I always have smallest Jpeg with the RAW files to view them and get an idea of what the RAW will look like. The Jpeg backgrounds are alot of times blown out and noisy while the RAW is not. The smaller RAW file would give you control without the big file size . I have a dedicated 750 hard drive just for pics and it holds all the big files. 8GB cards are $40-80 on sale and in deals everywhere.
Thats true... I'll try RAW out and see how much of a pain it is to edit each file...
abqnmusa wrote:
People can argue full frame vs. crops until the cows come home
It all just becomes chatter & personal perference
choose the format you prefer, or both and be happy
I'm pretty happy with capturing the shots, but am sometimes regretful when the images are blown. I'll have to do some experimenting. Might just be joining the RAW camp soon, or just shoot when the light is right. Hehe...
Got my 393 head today, might stick it on a monopod and practice. It's HUGE, and I mean HUGE. Makes my 1DsII+1.4x+400 look small when mounted. Definitely works as advertised, when balanced and tension set I can move the whole mess around with my pinky and it'll stay put in any position.
Of course, still need to practice good long lens technique, no matter how decent a mount you have...
pingflood wrote:
Conrad's back, and with some nice shots!
Got my 393 head today, might stick it on a monopod and practice. It's HUGE, and I mean HUGE. Makes my 1DsII+1.4x+400 look small when mounted. Definitely works as advertised, when balanced and tension set I can move the whole mess around with my pinky and it'll stay put in any position.
Of course, still need to practice good long lens technique, no matter how decent a mount you have...
Sweet Ping! Can you please put up a photo of you standing with it fully geared up? I'm pretty interested and want to see the scale of what we're talking about. And thanks for the kind words!
I did go out and grab this shot earlier this evening, hand held though... just noticed him hanging out in the tree and ran out there. He got mad at me I think; took off, circled around, squawked at me, and then flew away.
Glad to see you back. On the RAW vs. jpeg question, why not just shoot RAW + jpeg and toss the RAW files unless you need them to recover highlights. I know the pain with RAW files as I only shoot RAW and it can take quite a lot of work to make them look like anything at all. Also, I had to buy a 2 TB disk to accommodate my growing pile of files. What really kills me is that when I convert the 5d II files from RAW into PS they mushroom to 200MB, and that's before any adjustment layers.
Also, I really enjoyed those snowy egret shots. You really caught the action and most of them didn't look too badly blown out on my monitor. Didn't check the histograms of course.
Lastly, I just want to say for the record that I've been waiting for quite a while for Noelle to weigh in with some bird shots, and I miss her contributions.
Glad to see you back. On the RAW vs. jpeg question, why not just shoot RAW + jpeg and toss the RAW files unless you need them to recover highlights. I know the pain with RAW files as I only shoot RAW and it can take quite a lot of work to make them look like anything at all. Also, I had to buy a 2 TB disk to accommodate my growing pile of files. What really kills me is that when I convert the 5d II files from RAW into PS they mushroom to 200MB, and that's before any adjustment layers.
Also, I really enjoyed those snowy egret shots. You really caught the action and most of them didn't look too badly blown out on my monitor. Didn't check the histograms of course.
Lastly, I just want to say for the record that I've been waiting for quite a while for Noelle to weigh in with some bird shots, and I miss her contributions.
Hey thanks Phil. I'll be doing that when the conditions are poor from now on (jpg+raw) as I really could have used the extra options raw affords with the white burds. I completely agree with you though about getting the extra memory, extra time to PP, and extra effort it takes to make a picture right.. kind of a pain. Haha!
As far as Noelle, I think she's made quite a nice ring of new friends in the N&W forum and we won't be seeing her much here anymore. But I'm still here! We can still put up our efforts and learn from each other.
