Hi all,

this chap was sitting on a post in the middle of a canal in Brugge last Saturday. I'd never seen a Cormorant as close as this before.




ist* DL | FA 100-300 (220mm) | 1/125 @ f5.6 | iso 200 | Hand held

I was debating whether to rotate it AC slightly to straighten the post, but it compliments the angle of the bird's body this way.. I think..

Cheers

Liam

Cheers Daniel,

I'll try that soon. Using the both eyes open trick is a usual one for me when using a long lens to catch birds in flight.

I'll practice on the cats when they're running around one evening.

The weather's starting to get a little wetter now, so if I'm going to get damp, then I'd better give myself half a chance of getting something.

Cheers

Liam

Happy hunting Tim..

Hi Tim,

shame they're so expensive..

My idea was to just set the camera up on a tripod and let it carry on, catching them in flight. There were loads of them up in the lake district, and there are a few near me, but I'd want to catch them just doing their thing, so no disturbing required..

BTW, I'm reading Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker at the moment. If anyone wants a read about how bats communicate, it's a great read, albeit quite intensive.. I've just found a PDF link..

http://www.evolutionary.tripod.com/dawkins_blindwatchmaker_1996_full.pdf#search=%22%22and%20turns%20each%20pulse%22%20dawkins%22

Chapter 2.

I think it's fascinating, although about as far off-topic as it goes.. Apologies John and Matt..

Cheers

Liam

Hi,

does anyone use one of these..

http://www.zigview.co.uk/zigview-R.htm

and the new swivel version which is about to be launched..

http://www.zigview.co.uk/S2.htm

I'd love the swivel one, as that has got to be the gadget, but at that price (£249) I couldn't justify it (could even George??) . Perhaps I'll find one for a tenner on Ebay soon..

I guess they'd be very useful for the pros here, especially the studio based ones. It even gives real time playback like P&Ss do, and the motion sensor means that if I did get one, I may even get my piccy of a bat. (If you want a challenge, try photographing one)

Ah, while I think about it, isn't there some way of getting the DL to fire the shutter automatiacally if a.. for instance, bat.. flies in front of the camera and bleeps the focus confirmation device (sounds better than thing.. ) If you know how that's done, I'd appreciate a bit of advice on how to go about it, please.

Cheers

Liam

Note to self.. read the question properly.

I assume that as the lens has AF anyway, it's a relatively simple process to power it from the body or the lens, by way of a switch over of some description?? The body will already be able to recognise the full range of Pentax lenses with no new technology, and so could automatically choose the correct option depending on the lens fitted???

Any ideas on what sort of noise suppresion it will use. I've been reading a little, and I assume that the ISO range has been downshifted by a stop to reflect the inherant problems with getting a 40% increase in pixels on to the same sized board. With the pixels being smaller and closer together, the charge from each pixel needs more amplification, and therefore in theory will generate more noise. That's how I understood it anyway.

Cheers

Liam

Hi Matt,

from the pictures the body still has the AF/MF switch in the same loation as the rest of the D range.. albeit, with a third choice of single or continuous AF on the switch, so I'd hazzard a guess that it'll work fine with the body driven lenses.

Cheers

Liam

Sticky back plastic lad, ai.. could tell you was from t' posh end o' town.

We as 'ad to make do wi' paper mache, but wi'out paper, or mache as I recalls it..

Taxi for Liam..

Hi Clive, and welcome as well..

the 18-55 is a good little lens that will do all the landscape and wide angle stuff, so all you really need is a telephoto zoom, say the 80-320 FAJ(?) or the 100-300 FA. The 80-320 is regarded as the superior lens here, although I have't used it, and the price will probably reflect that. The 100-300, which I do have, will be cheaper, I think I paid about £50 for mine, and it's a perfectly good lens for the money.

I have plenty of other lenses, but if I had to use only two, these would be them.. (I'd want to have to choose three though)

Cheers

Liam

Hi George,

thanks for the tip. Does this work better? I started from scratch and adjusted the contrast to a level where the spider isn't quiet as obvious, by losing some of the detail on the body, so I'm hoping at first glance, a first time viewer will need to double take.. sort of?? I'll have to look for him again, and see if I can improve the pose! The legs at 3 and 9 o'clock would have made a better image if ther had been a bit more separation between leg and shadow, making all seven resemble the petal shape, I think.




Cheers

Liam