they look slow and cumbersome, but they can run really fast. No contest a bear will beat a human in a foot race every time! lol! you're better off convincing him you won't give up easy.... wild berries don't fight back! Me, I try to make sure the animal know that if it succeeds in ripping off one of my arms... I'll pick that arm up with my other arm and beat him with it. They all got survival instincts. The trick is to make them understand who will be eating whom if they want to fight.

I'd worry more about the dog attacking... with the dog you stand still don't make eye contact and yell "Sit!" and "No!" if it does bite... there are two types of bite... the nip (which is a warning) and the bite and hold... if he latches on, you need to get him off his feet before he starts shaking his head side to side which is where his teeth rip your flesh to the bone.. you pick up, push his lower jaw to his chest and smash his body against any hard object till he lets go...

but stats don't lie... black bears do sometimes attack... and that is the bear you are most likely to encounter...

they fight other bears for mates and territory, nothing in their natural diet that they have to fight with, to kill before eating..(maybe a wounded or sick animal but nothing that fights back).. but they will chase if you run! they really don't want a fight and generally back off.

I know of one guy who made friends with the bears..didn't pan out so well for him
here's the way I look at it... if you are out in the wild, in thier territory...

Black bear, stand your ground make noise, make yourself look big.... they seldom attack, and will only approach humans if they've been fed, and usually don't want a fight... bear spray and bear poppers (firecracker like flares) are good deterrents for an aggressive "panhandler" black bear. If a black attacks, a grown man (even woman or child with a stick) can fight it off. if a black bear ever grabs you while you are sleeping in a tent... do not "Play dead" fight for your life, he did not grab you by accident.

Brown bear (including Grizzly and Kodiak)... don't make eye contact, back away. It will attack you to protect it's cubs and or territory, or if it is sick or really hungry... bear spray, bear popper works. if it attacks use any weapon handy, these attack are often fatal or extremely damaging... they will avoid you if they hear/smell you coming.. if they know you are there, you in all likelyhood won't know they are there...

Polar bear... if you see one... in the wild.. he is hunting you! make no doubt about it. Shoot him or die. Every polar bear attack results in death. Yours and or his. (I'm assuming that if you are in his territory, you are armed with at least a 30.06 rifle).

those organized photo tours are a different matter....lol! just obey the rules!

clean to contacs on the trigger and camera hotshoe?
possible a damaged pin isn't contacting where it should be?
try the transmitter on another camera? try another transmitter on your camera?
try another flash unit on your camera?

In North America, black bears account for the majority of bear attacks by a huge margin.

three factors make it so.

1) Black Bear territory overlaps areas of higher density of human habitation.
2) numbers. There are simply a lot of them.
3) Human interactions, people approach and feed these animals, as well as leaving trash for them.

Even when you do cross paths, browns and grizzlies are much less likely to attack you than a black.
and the only bear actually known to stalk and hunt humans are in fact polar bears, but do to population density... it is rare.

looked good to me....

not a bad idea... integrated lights on a macro lens would be sweet as well!

I think if one looks at the recent Leica and Fuji offerings and the interest they've generated with thier retro looks... and digital guts... it isn't hard to imagine that Pentax has somewhere in thier r&d dept, got an lx styled ff evil cam...with an evf, and oled viewer... whether it will ever see the light of day as a new model is the question...
or just for laughs. .remember the first slr?... . imagine this:


as a fully digital camera with kmount, optional evf or pentaprism viewfinder.... pop the viewfinder off and use it as a waist level finder...

yes I too had forgotten about the wimberly heads..... I have actually seen a canon shooter using that very set up (i think he used a mono pod clamped to a tripod leg) for photographing wolves in the arctic.

not my cup of tea. I used the sigma 400, with faster film, and made a point of getting closer to the animals...(used a lightweight manfrotto tripod legs spread wide, close to the ground.center post on the ground..)

there is always a way!

Prieni, have you tried using these wonderful shots in Photoshop as textures for portraits?

I think I may have a go shooting some ice crystals myself, and pop a blue gel on a strobe for a nude study....
sort of an Ice Queen concept...