gungajim

I am going to the Pantanal the last 2 weeks of July to photograph jaguars, capybaras, birds, etc. Any suggestions, tips? I am taking my Nikon 200-400mm as my telephoto but debating whether to also take my 600MM old Nikon lens which is a good 15 lb. "beast". I will also have my 1.4TC

 

For jaguars I did just fine with a 70-350 Sony E-mount on an A6300 mirrorless. In fact, my 18-200 on my A6000 worked for most shots. Jag viewing river boats typically get you within 10 to 20 yards. Biggest problem was getting a clear shot through the dense riverbank foliage. Birds weren't my main objective but I got a fair number of really nice shots with the 350.

 

I discourage taking the 600mm especially if you need a tripod to get sharp images. Did most of my shooting from the riverboat (a dozen or so passengers and tripod isn't practical). Another big problem is that as soon as a boat finds a jag location, the guide seems to text all his guide buddies and within minutes you end up with 2 or 3 dozen riverboats jockeying for position in a narrow river tributary channel. Have fun.

We agree with you that this is a big problem. Your pic should be displayed twice, your name just once. Your pic is much easier on the eye!

The collapse and demise of PN has been in the cards for years. The circus has left town and no one knows where it is going.

Your premium account is set to expire at the date listed above: January 2, 2020. There will be no more charges to your account.

You may press the orange button above at anytime to renew & extend longer your subscription (set to auto-renew, unless you cancel again). This is some of the most poorly written, confusing copy I have ever read on a website. The extent of the damage inflicted on this site by management and technical staff is difficult to imagine. The new site never has worked and unfortunately none of problems with it ever get corrected. Even worse, new problems are regularly introduced. It is astounding to me that the owners haven't figured this out yet. In the old days, we got a regular report on fixes that had been made during the previous month and things that were being worked on currently. Unfortunately, I have 3,000 photos on the site that are difficult for viewers to access and even more difficult to re-arrange. The level of incompetence here is startling.

You may look long and hard into every nook and cranny of the site and never find a user-friendly feature. You are lucky. I have 3,000 photos that I would like to rearrange.

If you think that is tedious, try locating a folder when you have over 200 of them. With the old system there was a page that listed a one-line entry for each folder and it was easy to scroll down the list and find a folder. Now there are 8 or 10 folders per page and it takes a year or so to scroll through them. I still get angry when I think how user-friendly the old system was and why nothing is being done to clean up the multitude of flaws in this one.

We need to pay attention to what just happened in Puerto Rico:eek:

Retired countries I've visited prior to their being incorporated into their currently designated country: Bophuthatswana (to RSA in 1994); Ciskei (to RSA in 1994); Johnston Island; Nederland Antilles (to Bonaire & Curacao in 2007); Transkei (to RSA in 1994); Venda (to RSA in 1994); Berlin and GDR (to Germany in 1990). South Yemen (to Yemen in 2004)

I am here for my quarterly check-in to see if the multitude of big and little problems have been fixed. Not. See you in September.

Pretty girls always seem to get more timely replies than men and monkeys. Just saying...

I can look into it for you Jim. I'll DM you with what I find on your account.

Thank you Glen.

Based on info I've read on other posts in this forum, I go my Account Page to see what my setting is for automatic membership renewal. (I was auto renewed in early December but thought I had turned it off after I got bit in 12/17. I have read through the Account Page about 20 times now and I cannot find any reference to renewal of membership. Thank you.

Ben, you've said as succinctly as it can be said. I don't see anyone on staff who understands the functionality that has been lost and what can be done to restore it. Instead, of fixing things that members enjoyed and used, the powers that be focus on adding piddling new little features that no one cares about. I've been around software and website development since 1971 and like to think I can evaluate a development effort. I find it totally unfathomable that the site has retrogressed despite the expenditure of several hundred thousand dollars during the past 5 years. Back in Josh's day and 3 administrators prior to him, I would regularly suggest potential enhancements to the site. It didn't always happen fast but eventually many of them were implemented and worked like a charm. I have tried to do the same for the new system at several points but the ideas are neither acknowledged or implement . So, now I check in once per month to see if the site is still there. It always is albeit, still floundering.

 

 

 

 

Alright, here's what I said to Sandy(and I didn't name the moderator)...you all can draw your own conclusions. I didn't say anything privately that I haven't said publicly

 

1.

I'm not the only one who paid up on promises of things getting better, and who is now renewing.

 

One person doesn't make a difference-many people do(and I'm not the only one who feels this way)...

 

 

2.

 

 

 

Sandy,

 

I don't know what to say. I've had promises made to me that things would be attended to and broken repeatedly, as well as flat out denial that problems I claim to exist don't exist. You've told me before to contact the administration with my concerns, but I don't know who that even is now!

 

You've been here 3 years-I've been here 12 and have seen what was ONCE a great site decline to nothing and have more and more great contributors drop off. In a sense, I HAVE "paid my dues"-in the past I've been a paying member on and off, served as a moderator, have written reviews(long gone) and I use to loan a LOT of equipment to Josh Root to write reviews.

 

Frankly, too, I don't know what to make of you these days. I watched you bite the head off another respected member in a thread the other day because you didn't agree with the respectful points he was making. To be honest, I was quite disappointed to see you do that.

 

If you choose to lose respect for me for not financially supporting a website that I've given a lot to(both in time and money) over the past 12 years because it has become a disaster, so be it.

Thanks everyone. I wasn't asking for folks to ask/beg me to stay, but both the public and private comments I've received are reassuring.

 

I will, then, pursue option two of the above.

 

I will reconsider subscribing IF I actually see some of the promised progress-and some indication that there's actually someone in charge would be welcome also. As it is now, the site just is too buggy and at times too inconvenient to use.

 

Also-if any administrators bother to read this-I have been forewarned that subscriptions have been known to auto-renew despite declining that option from the account page. It would be in your best interest to be sure that does NOT occur, as I will take any appropriate actions through my card over what would be an unauthorized charged.

I was auto-renewed earlier in December, although I thought I had turned it off. Now that I know where to look, I'll check it out. BTW, if you don't renew how much time passes before they consign you photos to the bit bucket.

I would like to wish the PN staff Happy Holidays but every time I think about doing it, I get soooo angry. The site was so functional before launch of new version. So much time has passed with so little done to fix the problems.

Thanks.

JDMvW I did not sense a lot of enthusiasm in your Thank You!

I've seen some photos of you that show you with a big hatchet strapped to your belt. May not be an axe but looks like it would get the attention of the Photo of the Day selector!

might google Michelle Burgess. She does a kenya/tanzania tour every year that is just for photographers. I think her company is In Focus.

Might look at Think Tank bags. I think they even have a special polar bag that also keeps your balls toasty.

Might have something to do with not attending church regularly;)

It would seem that after 2 or 3 years, the My Account page is the one thing that should work. Why add new features that screw things up until the functionality that was available with old system is functional (so to speak)

I share your pain OCU. I've got maybe 200 galleries and 3000 photos. Ever since new site came on-line, I have been trying to get a grip on things. Finally gave up and now check in 1x/month for a few minutes whereas I previously spent at least one hour per day posting images, commenting on photos and rating photos.

Magazines, websites, and other subscription based services generally have what is referred to a 'grace period' whereby the subscription remains in force for some period (typically 30 days or more) before your membership privileges are rescinded. Believe me, PN is not about to give you the boot anytime in the foreseeable future given the deterioration in their membership base. This all has to do with the 'rate base' that they guarantee to advertisers, rate base being the number of paid subscribers that they have on their rolls at any given point in time. It is not quite this simple, but you get the idea.

Sanford, I get your point, but I'm not sure that comparing PN with Apple is entirely appropriate. Before the beta of PN(2) was rolled out, Admin asked members for suggestions and many of provided them. After the rollout, there may have been more comments. Then came PN(2).1, which was axed quite soon thereafter. And finally, PN(2).2. What thoroughly disappointed me was that, if I remember correctly, Admin did not provide a Use Guide or Manual of any kind. Fortunately Leslie Reid voluntarily initiated 2 threads on Site Help which were quite comprehensive. These are the only manuals as such I've ever seen.

 

In my opinion, the real problem, which already has been noted ad nauseam, is that PN is so understaffed that the thought of preparing a manual must have curdled Glenn's blood. He and whatever tech staff there is appear to try their best to respond to member concerns; I get that. But since many, if not most, of us are members, we also are customers.

At some point during the development process, I remember asking Glenn if there would be a User Guide. I specifically remember his answer because it so amused me. He said had discussed the question with the firm they retained to develop the site and they told him, "There is no need for a User's Guide if the site is well designed."

Must be having a bad day, Fred - chill pill?

Sandy, Just about any post I read of yours makes me have a bad day. Jim

The title of the post needs to be right above the post text. The ads and tag info make it difficult for the reader to connect the title and the text. Every page on the site is like this one---- a BFM.