James Markus wrote:
Squirrel head shots. D7200 with the 600mm f5.6 ais + TC-16a for 1440mm EFL. I think Squirrels are right up there with Crows, Ravens, and Dolphins as naturally smart animals. We play this game; I move the bird feeders, and they find novel ways to get to them. I modify their approach route, and they still find a way. Over and over, but I know they are getting more drastic. Some of them are now throwing their bodies at the feeder from many feet away and hold on for dear life. I catch them watching me from the roof through my slider, and even when I am shooting. Clever acrobats! I think I should make it a bit easier for a while.
James Markus wrote:
Squirrel head shots. D7200 with the 600mm f5.6 ais + TC-16a for 1440mm EFL. I think Squirrels are right up there with Crows, Ravens, and Dolphins as naturally smart animals. We play this game; I move the bird feeders, and they find novel ways to get to them. I modify their approach route, and they still find a way. Over and over, but I know they are getting more drastic. Some of them are now throwing their bodies at the feeder from many feet away and hold on for dear life. I catch them watching me from the roof through my slider, and even when I am shooting. Clever acrobats! I think I should make it a bit easier for a while.
When I worked for the power company YEARS ago we had one substation where squirrels were constantly getting where they weren't supposed to and knocking power out, unfortunately for them. The engineers designed special "squirrel guards",(essentially big round plastic cones that attached to the wires entering the substation) but the squirrels kept coming. Those of us who had to install all of this just laughed at the higher-ups thinking they were going to stop the squirrels.
The second one reminds me of a documentary I saw about this UK man that created an obstacle course in his back yard - constantly adding to the path for the food. The Squirrels seemed to entirely enjoy the whole thing. I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole, because my wife might call the guys with the stiff jackets with long sleeves. I'm just very strategic, and I am pretty sure the Squirrels appreciate it. Here is a guy that did go down the rabbit hole.
&ab_channel=MarkRober
NightOwl Cat wrote:
Jim, determined squirrel (put down your drinks)
We went to the zoo, and I figured that would be another nice oportunity to bring the 300mm f2,8 IF-ED Ai-S Nikkor lens.
We decided being there at 12:30 would be a good idea, because Mondays at 12:30 their two (remaining old and toothless) wolves are fed in front of the public.
Another zoo denizen, that really does not belong behind bars, is the elephant. As impressive as it is to see these giants in person, just thinking about their nomadic lifestyle should make clear that these animals do not belong in small enclosures
We did bring our youngster, Blume along for the trip, as she can not stay at home alone for such long periods of time (2 hour drive to the zoo, 6 hour stay and another 2 hour drive back home). She did however not enjoy the trip much. The big cats, a few of the monkeys, the wolves and the Dhole all contemplated how they could get close enough to snack on her.
HAHA.. yep, I've seen this funny one, and one of my cats was batting at the squirrels while watching this time.
James Markus wrote:
The second one reminds me of a documentary I saw about this UK man that created an obstacle course in his back yard - constantly adding to the path for the food. The Squirrels seemed to entirely enjoy the whole thing. I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole, because my wife might call the guys with the stiff jackets with long sleeves. I'm just very strategic, and I am pretty sure the Squirrels appreciate it. Here is a guy that did go down the rabbit hole.
Last light on the mountains on Friday after work, at Frankton Beach and another jetty. It's a HDR blend in LrC, the usual PC 28/3.5 @ f5.6 or f8, a CPL, ND4 and ND8 stacked on the end to get a 15 second exposure for some smoother water.
(I was out yesterday at sunset on the main part of the lake and the water was actually beginning to freeze so wouldn't have been needed ! Far too cold !)
the solitaire wrote:
We went to the zoo, and I figured that would be another nice oportunity to bring the 300mm f2,8 IF-ED Ai-S Nikkor lens.
We decided being there at 12:30 would be a good idea, because Mondays at 12:30 their two (remaining old and toothless) wolves are fed in front of the public.
Another zoo denizen, that really does not belong behind bars, is the elephant. As impressive as it is to see these giants in person, just thinking about their nomadic lifestyle should make clear that these animals do not belong in small enclosures
We did bring our youngster, Blume along for the trip, as she can not stay at home alone for such long periods of time (2 hour drive to the zoo, 6 hour stay and another 2 hour drive back home). She did however not enjoy the trip much. The big cats, a few of the monkeys, the wolves and the Dhole all contemplated how they could get close enough to snack on her.
cadman342001 wrote:
Last light on the mountains on Friday after work, at Frankton Beach and another jetty. It's a HDR blend in LrC, the usual PC 28/3.5 @ f5.6 or f8, a CPL, ND4 and ND8 stacked on the end to get a 15 second exposure for some smoother water.
(I was out yesterday at sunset on the main part of the lake and the water was actually beginning to freeze so wouldn't have been needed ! Far too cold !)
cadman342001 wrote:
Last light on the mountains on Friday after work, at Frankton Beach and another jetty. It's a HDR blend in LrC, the usual PC 28/3.5 @ f5.6 or f8, a CPL, ND4 and ND8 stacked on the end to get a 15 second exposure for some smoother water.
(I was out yesterday at sunset on the main part of the lake and the water was actually beginning to freeze so wouldn't have been needed ! Far too cold !)
cadman342001 wrote:
Last light on the mountains on Friday after work, at Frankton Beach and another jetty. It's a HDR blend in LrC, the usual PC 28/3.5 @ f5.6 or f8, a CPL, ND4 and ND8 stacked on the end to get a 15 second exposure for some smoother water.
(I was out yesterday at sunset on the main part of the lake and the water was actually beginning to freeze so wouldn't have been needed ! Far too cold !)
In the spirt of moving the thread, posting an image of a failed attempt at getting a Plaubel Makina W67. Went hiking in DuPont Forest on Monday extending a long weekend. This and one other shot is all that really made it on the roll. Issue with overlapping frames and a light leak. So back to KEH it goes. Warning if you see an EX+ camera listed there next week. It is anything but.
GeorgeBo wrote:
In the spirt of moving the thread, posting an image of a failed attempt at getting a Plaubel Makina W67. Went hiking in DuPort Forest on Monday extending a long weekend. This and one other shot is all that really made it on the roll. Issue with overlapping frames and a light leak. So back to KEH it goes. Warning if you see an EX+ camera listed there next week. It is anything but.
Sorry to hear about the "not EX+" Plaubel Makina W67. I always thought about getting a W67 as I'm primarily a wide-angle shooter, but I ended up with a 670, and do find that shooting a "normal" lens with the 80mm (and the fast f/2.8 aperture) has it's advantages.
The 67 and W67 both had a single-stroke advance mechanism with very delicate brass gears, and were prone to getting "stripped" if the user put too much force on the advance. The 670 moved to a two-stroke advance to put less stress on the gears. Your copy of the W67 was probably ruined by an overly enthusiastic wrench on the advance lever, resulting in overlapping frames (don't ask me how I know this). The light leak would likely have been easy to address by replacing the foam seals on the back (unless the back-latch has failed).
The Plaubel Makina is a great camera, and I love my 670, but Plaubels need to be babied a bit when advancing and collapsing the lens (focus to infinity first). Keep looking, you'll find one! The prices of medium-format cameras are at historical lows now, but increasing interest in film is drawing attention to the more desirable cameras, of which Plaubels are certainly a member, so if you want one, I'd suggest not waiting too long: They didn't make that many (very short production run), and spare parts are non-existent, so you need to be picky.
IF I continue this route, I will probably look to Japan. I didn’t mind the premium cost to buy “locally” but am beginning to see the KEH ratings have changed over the years and really only apply to cosmetics not function. I had the same happen with a Hasselblad Flexbody that was EX+ but you could have strained pasta with the bellows
I could probably address the light seals myself but it is the principle of the thing now
I think for the time being, I am going to get my 6x7 fix and just use the Graflex roll back on a 4x5 field camera I have. Much heavier in the backpack, but I think I have a few more years in my back and legs
grantgoodes wrote:
Sorry to hear about the "not EX+" Plaubel Makina W67. I always thought about getting a W67 as I'm primarily a wide-angle shooter, but I ended up with a 670, and do find that shooting a "normal" lens with the 80mm (and the fast f/2.8 aperture) has it's advantages.
The 67 and W67 both had a single-stroke advance mechanism with very delicate brass gears, and were prone to getting "stripped" if the user put too much force on the advance. The 670 moved to a two-stroke advance to put less stress on the gears. Your copy of the W67 was probably ruined by an overly enthusiastic wrench on the advance lever, resulting in overlapping frames (don't ask me how I know this). The light leak would likely have been easy to address by replacing the foam seals on the back (unless the back-latch has failed).
The Plaubel Makina is a great camera, and I love my 670, but Plaubels need to be babied a bit when advancing and collapsing the lens (focus to infinity first). Keep looking, you'll find one! The prices of medium-format cameras are at historical lows now, but increasing interest in film is drawing attention to the more desirable cameras, of which Plaubels are certainly a member, so if you want one, I'd suggest not waiting too long: They didn't make that many (very short production run), and spare parts are non-existent, so you need to be picky. ...Show more →
Had a lightning storm take out a primary (circa 2013) workstation a few days ago. Hex core 3.2 ghz Xeon - 64 Gb ram - RAID etc. I got this one out of an animation studio in 2015 for almost nuttn, but they had setup a single virtual drive on the raid controller. (zero experience). I checked the drive on another machine, and it was all there - whew. Lots of licenses and software. The APC backup worked, but the lightning fried the RAID configuration. So I pulled everything out of the case, and just added items as I would - if I had built the box myself - instead of Dell (lots of left over bits). Cloned a new SSD drive, and she fired up faster than I remember it ever running before. Meanwhile a new, improved, router defeated me by being impossible to configure. Only way is through a phone app (no web page method), and on the second day I discovered the phone app only supported v1 of the router, and mine was version 2.6. Sakem Razem Frasem - Returned! Huh, I feel better now...
Not sure if I have ever shared any Dove photos. They are constant visitors over the years, and usually come as a group of 6-10 birds to feed at the same time. Same D7200 with the 600mm f5.6 ais + TC-16a for 1440mm EFL.
So I finished the best processing I could do with the 4th of July photos in San Diego Bay, there were four barges with coordinated fireworks, and one was really close to me at Naval Base point Loma, but it had not background so I focused on the three that had downtown behind. Exposures were long ~ 25 seconds, so boats and airplanes become streaks of light.
The most interesting three according to me, the city does not change but the fireworks do.
This is where the camera was 11 years ago and last week as well, have a better gimbal now and a better camera, but the lens is the same.
IF I continue this route, I will probably look to Japan. I didn’t mind the premium cost to buy “locally” but am beginning to see the KEH ratings have changed over the years and really only apply to cosmetics not function. I had the same happen with a Hasselblad Flexbody that was EX+ but you could have strained pasta with the bellows
I could probably address the light seals myself but it is the principle of the thing now
I think for the time being, I am going to get my 6x7 fix and just use the Graflex roll back on a 4x5 field camera I have. Much heavier in the backpack, but I think I have a few more years in my back and legs
James Markus wrote:
Had a lightning storm take out a primary (circa 2013) workstation a few days ago. Hex core 3.2 ghz Xeon - 64 Gb ram - RAID etc. I got this one out of an animation studio in 2015 for almost nuttn, but they had setup a single virtual drive on the raid controller. (zero experience). I checked the drive on another machine, and it was all there - whew. Lots of licenses and software. The APC backup worked, but the lightning fried the RAID configuration. So I pulled everything out of the case, and just added items as I would - if I had built the box myself - instead of Dell (lots of left over bits). Cloned a new SSD drive, and she fired up faster than I remember it ever running before. Meanwhile a new, improved, router defeated me by being impossible to configure. Only way is through a phone app (no web page method), and on the second day I discovered the phone app only supported v1 of the router, and mine was version 2.6. Sakem Razem Frasem - Returned! Huh, I feel better now...
Not sure if I have ever shared any Dove photos. They are constant visitors over the years, and usually come as a group of 6-10 birds to feed at the same time. Same D7200 with the 600mm f5.6 ais + TC-16a for 1440mm EFL.
I'm just very strategic, and I am pretty sure the Squirrels appreciate it. Here is a guy that did go down the rabbit hole. 
Meanwhile a new, improved, router defeated me by being impossible to configure. Only way is through a phone app (no web page method), and on the second day I discovered the phone app only supported v1 of the router, and mine was version 2.6. Sakem Razem Frasem - Returned! Huh, I feel better now...
