drc

Yes also, but timing is more important. Another option is to pick up a Kenyon gyro, then you could use it with all/any of your lenses.

For Paul, i use the Foba superball with a 600f4, it holds heaps more than the B1.

The Camera store www.thecamerastore.com carries them. I would say that they are a better than the Bogens, and similar to the Kaisers, they seem to have the edge in holding ability. Certainly are well priced for the quality. I'm going to pick one up for one of my smaller tripods.

I've just gone through the same process with my Nikon 300s about a year ago. Nature and backpacking are also what i aspire to, so when i heard of the great qaulity of the 300 Nikkor coupled with the 1.4x, i did some testing and quickly ended up selling off my 300 2.8. I am really happy with the combination of high qaulity and low weight. For the times i need more speed, i push velvia, or throw in kodachrome 200. I know of Canon shooting pros who tell me the optical quality differences between the EF F2.8 and F4 are similarily negligible.

Bruce, i lean towards Bobs line of reasoning. The fact that my new lenses developed dust internally over time drove me absolutley bananas! So much so that the one of the fine technicians @ our local Canon service centre set up some tests for me with a new 300 2.8 and an older extremely filthy battle scarred pool lens(exact same lens). Guess what? I could'nt see a difference, and i can be persnickety to the gnat! I've done similar tests with my current Nikon system and i don't see the difference with their optics either. Only you can decide what can work for you.

Hi ilkka, your right, avoid the silver tripod at all costs, what you should look at is the muted or less reflective blacks or greens for your intended shooting. It sounds like the green tripod is "the flavour of the month" , therefore you will pay more to aquire it and it won't help you out any better in terms of it's camoflage ability than the similar toned black tripod.

Because that's what the consumer demands, usually. A substantial part of my income is derived from sales of high end Limited and Open Ended Edition prints.My "Limited Editions" are signed titled and numbered on the matting the majority of the time because that is my aesthetical preference. The only times i sign on the print itself is when the matted pieces have sold out, the client demands it, and the only stock i have with me ( at a show) are the raw prints and posters that i also publish and sell. Print sales are an impulse buying thing, and my experience has been to give the client what he/she wants(sign the print) and make the sale on the spot, rather than lose it over what i consider to be a minor aesthetical consideration, compared to say providing for my family.

Thankyou Alan, you're comments are timely, i'm just looking at replacing my 500p with the AFs. For me the 600AFs is just to big and heavy(did i mention expensive?). Our local NPS will be sending me one to test soon, and i'm sure i'll pick one up shortly after. Alan, you did'nt say what focus mode you were using for you're 8 rolls comment( i'm sure auto)? Thanks again.

I'm with Dan on this one, the near far perspective on this lens works tremendously well, but you really have to put a lot of thought into designing shots to make it work for you. Luckily i get to borrow a friends, but if that option were unavailable to me, i would certainly invest in one.

Congratulations, i have'nt had any experience with Audobon, but i would not worry too much about it, i believe they are great to deal with. A fair number of publications that i deal with don't usually send used slides back right away, they are probably busy and/or their policy is to send them back at a future date .

David, you could look at the gitzo G1565 monopod that arrives out of the box with a chest/shoulder brace on it, and that should streamline you somewhat. You did'nt say what film you were trying to use, but if it's slow, then try one of the newer 200s, or push say a Velvia . The lens that you have is probably perfect for monopod stalking, so rather than invest in a phsyically bigger, more heavier, more prone to tangle, and certainly much more expensive 300 F2.8, i would stick with what you've already got, it's a great lens. Instead, i would recommend investing in minimizing your three biggest problems: #1, try not to look and act like a rigid uptight two legged predator(lot's of guys do) :#2, reduce and eliminate your visual and audible noise! Lastly, if you research your subjects thoroughly and respect them(patience), then you'll start to get results. Good Luck.

Dan, i purchased the 026 for the very same reasons. This tripod is very stable for it's size and weight. I use up to a 3004 nikkor regularily on it without having to alter my tripod protocols to much.

Does anyone else agree that "nature photography", as a whole, often does a poor job of communicating the real feeling of life in an environment? Your probably half right, but only because we let Photo Editors censor what they believe we should and should not see( a.k.a the sex and the savagery). And don't forget, these guys have magazines to sell. Does the refusal to shoot between 9am and 4pm comprise a sort of "lie" about the natural world? Not necessarily, from the technical side of it, films generally don,t handle the extreme contrast all that well. Live subjects are either predator or prey, are primarily nocturnal, and are photographed traveling to and from their feeding and hunting areas during the "sweetlight" at dawn or around dusk. Are we guilty of searching only for the Beauty, at the sometimes exclusion of the Truth? Guilty as charged, sometimes. Often times it takes "the Beauty" to motivate me and get me shooting, yet when i feel that i have exhausted that aspect, and it's in the bag, then i move away from the purely aesthetic and explore more of a documentary type material.

If the insect part of the equasion is important to you then no contest, go with what Ed recommended, the 200 will provide you with precious working distance with skittish subjects. You can produce all kinds of qaulity flower pics with the 200 and other common lenses and relatively cheap accessories that you might already own.

Unfortunatley this problem always occurs when the best photo opportunity you've had in six months is right before you, the subject is going to disappear in 1.6 seconds and your meter calls for 1/15th wide open .....! All my tripods (410,340,026) are snugged tight to their respective ballheads (Foba superball, B1s) with tiny 1/8x3/8th "set or allen screws" which are drilled and tapped from underneath the flat plate or centre column (gitzos) with the ballhead attatched. I always score the bottom of the ballhead with the drill ever so slightly so the set screw grabs more efficiently when i tighten them up. Now i don't wake up in the middle of the night in cold sweat's as nearly as often!

Rich, the majority of hunting magazines for years have been stocked with photos of huge monster rentabucks, and believe me, the editors are sick of em, they want quality photos of wild (freeranging) deer, period. Some editors will only buy deer pictures from my files as a last resort because they feel the location i photograph them in is'nt "wild enough", yet the deer are free to leave their sanctuary(and move through hunting areas) any time they want. The point is, if these buyers are picky about the degree of wildness of their photo subjects, then they're never going to look at digital composites to grace the covers etc of their publications. And once the general public become educated or streetwise(and it might take a while), they,ll demand the good stuff, WILD SILVERHALIDE!

Beyond the nuances of "cleanup" and "subtle enhancement" are were my problems begin with the digital revolution . Thankfully, (according to my clientel) there will always be an appreciation and demand for the best photographic renditions of real things in a real world!

from Dave Crossley.

The F4 will work well for the parameters you have mentioned, however the F5 does AF the best(used/owned EOS). A nice feature of the F4 is the extra metering chip that will enable you to matrix meter with AIS and AF lenses.