mike_smith2

Knee jerk reactions to date are dangerous if not slanderous.

I tend to side with Craig. Media reporting is flakey at the best of times, the Guy must have had a vision in mind when setting up the shoot, there are some clues in the reports that the fires were contained in pans. Now I don't know the guy from Adam, but it seems that some thought was put into the photo shoot to minimise environmental damage, but something obviously went horribly wrong.

He must have built up some form of reputation before hand to be allowed to lead the photoshoot in the first place, so give the guy some benefit of the doubt that he did not set out to vandelise the site by lighting uncontained fires. Smoke damage may not have been considered, which may be niaivety on his part.

Before you hang draw and quarter the guy, at least wait and see what actually happened.

A view from the wrong side of the pond.... probably worth zip.

Jeff

Doesn't adjusting ISO or exposure by one third stop (etc) and set to straight TTL just produce a uniformly slightly under exposed picture?

The aim is to have perfect ambient light exposure with a reduced fill in of one third (etc) to soften any shadows/put catchlight in the suject eye without making the flash effect obvious.

The method you use doesn't seem to be any different to using straight TTL without adjustment, The TTL Flash is being cut off from an adjusted exposure reading not an adjustment of the exposure reading - or am I missing something?

I have researched this and note that quite a few answers to queries

about TTL fill flash and bird photography make reference to adjusting

the TTL flash with a compensation of 1/3 or 2/3 stops underexposure.

I assume that the facility for programming the flash unit in this way

is restricted to the top level Canon or Nikon flash units - eg

550/SB28 etc and is programmed into the flash gun.

I own a Pentax AF400FTZ and whilst it has TTL facility, there isn't

way of compensating the fill "rate" that I can see. At present the

Fill flash technique appears to be restricted to manual mode

compensation methods to balance ambient light with my Pentax flash

unit output. OK from hides/blinds etc where the subject disatnce is

a relative constant.

Query is, does the programming function of these top of the range

flash guns continue to work on other makes of camera which has TTL

flash capability, eg will a Nikon SB28 work with a Pentax Z1, or does

the advanced TTL programming require to "talk" to specific camera

body metering system/software?

If so I assume the TTL flash compensation features is restriced to

Equipment make eg Nikon requires a Nikon flash, Canon requires a

Canon flash etc

As Homer Simpson would say...Doh.....

This presumanbly falls under the same category as adverts for binoculars that allow you to see 30 miles (horizon distance)-better marketing would be that you can take photos of objects two million light years away pin sharp, no problem, no telescope required- (stars to the unitiated).

So what is the secret? el cheapo auto flash set to F8auto, F8 on camera, wide angle/50mm lens = no need to focus, shutter speed set to flash mode - put camera 3 feet from perch - a cinch

send your $30 to Mike Smith @.........

Can you time the shutter release to fire without a timing beam, doubtfull, but this no doubt will not be explained.

Yes it is a con

I have not visited the islands, but they are a well known Mecca for bird photographers due to the tameness of the birds there. Most people do not reccommend taking "big gun" lenses, mid range telephotos are adequate for the Shags and Auks etc, birds nest adjacent to footpaths - they really are that close. However that is a personal choice.

As far as I am aware there is no accomodation on the Farne Islands, others will probably correct me!, the usual method of travel is by boat trip from Seahouses in Northumberland have a look at the following web site:

http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/VG/coastalb.html

I believe that there are several islands to visit, therefore several different trips are recommended. June is the height of the breeding season, certainly you do not want to visit after mid July.

Hope this helps

It is an excellent convereter for matched Pentax Lenses, unsure about the Tamron, I use with a SMC 500mmF4.5. The protruding lens element is 35mm wide by 22mm long.

In theory the lens is designed for 300mmm plus, but fits few lenses, doesn't fit my Tokina 400mm F5.6 for example. You would have to try on your lens. They are manual only and come in two colours, pale battleship grey or a funny metallic brown, yet to see a black one. Also they are quite rare therefore very expensive even second hand.

Check out Mark Cassino's website http://www.net-link.net/~cassino/ for examples of bird photos with a Pentax 400F2.8 and the converter, or my own http://members.aol.com/msmith8741gbirds/GBIRDS/ - garden birds section - for examples of pictures taken with the converter.

Best of luck

Mike Smith

Erik try Kevin Keatley, Wildlife Watching Supplies in the UK - http://home.clara.net/wildlife/

He sells several hide/blind designs he also sells the "cape" hide/blind or a variant of the "bag" blinds in several camouflage patterns and weights of material. The cape hide will take very long lenses ie 600 F4 & faster, if however you shoot with smaller 400/500 F5.6 equipment they bag hide be easily modified by sewing two draw strings to create a fold in the lens covering/extension -

Kevin sells loads of other usefull camouflage items, however his clothing can be sourced from Cabelas in the USA cheaper (I think he imports from there) Note that Cabelas have a great range of "hunting" wear & materials very suitable for photography camouflage also Rue sells a hide stool at $10 more than Cabela for the same item - it pays to surf the net even from the UK!

Sorry forgot to mention the 500 F4.5 has minimum focus distance of 10m which puts a lot of people off, works fine with standard manual extension tubes, and you will need a set ultimately for isolating birds from the background - Read up on Moose Petersons web site for the technique. It is a big lens so you will need a decent tripod & Ballhead set up

Also have a look at some of the bird photos Mark Cassino has achieved with the Pentax equipment, both Tokina, and Pentax 500 F4.5 and 400 F2.8 - http://www.net-link.net/~cassino/ plus his insects on Pentax macro lenses.

Depends on whether you are using autofocus or not. If you are using manual focus there is a great Pentax bargain second hand lens the 500mm F4.5 SMC Takumar, several such lens has been featuring on EBay auctions recently, also KEH (www.keh.com)has one for sale. Expect to pay approx $800 for the SMC version. The lens is equivelent to the Nikon gear selling at 2 - 3 x price and will knock spots of any Sigma or 3rd party lens. The matched multipliers are the Pentax 1.4 or 2.0 x "L" converters which like Nikon has protruding lens elements, however they seem to be as common as hens teeth (I have yet to track one down at a reasonable price - again KEH sell some but not at a price I am prepared to pay...yet)

Unfortunately new Pentax autofocus lenses are costlier than Nikon or Canon and extremely rare second hand, so in long run if you want autofocus you may be better switching over to Nikon/Canon now before you build up too much gear. If however you are content with manual focus equipment Pentax will give the standard two a good run for their money.

The exhibition is the the BG (British Gas sponsored) Wildlife exhibition which does a tour of the UK - web site details given previously. The winning pictures are also published annualy in hardback, they make superb "coffee table" reading - try Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0863433472/ref=sim_books/103-1081500-7575022 - for last year

At a recent UK birdwatching fair, Manfrotto (Bogen to US readers)

launched several new carbon fibre tripods, have they reached the US

yet?

Two seem to be of interest:

Manfrot. 440 (Bog.3444) - 4 leg section rated at 5Kg load

Manfrot. 441 (Bog. 3443) - 3 leg section rated at 6Kg load

Both tripods come with strap (makes a change!) and appear to have

quick set legs that allow "low level" photography. The leg profile

is stated to be oval/channeled to prevent twisting and therefore it

would appear that a lot of thought has gone into the design.

Has anyone evaluated one of these tripods compared to the usual

recommended Gitzo (v. expensive in UK)- The cost appears to be

significantly lower. As I am trying to build a system, it seems

following the various threads that the cost saving in legs would be

better used to upgrade to a decent ballhead (eg Arca-swiss)

UK readers - Is there an Arca-swiss retailer in Britain, or do we

import direct?

Snettisham is well known as a wader roosting site, the majority of birds come off the Wash area so check the tide tables. Principal roosting species is the Knot which disappear quite quickly after high tide so timing of your visit is critical. Late Autumn through Winter etc is best

As with all UK reserves the hides are not that close to the action, so unless you have very long telephoto lenses you will be disappointed. It is also a relatively long walk from the Hunstanton access point it is not a "park and hop over a fence type reserve", the shorter footpath per the OS maps is private access only, although I think the RSPB are trying to improve the access problem.

Hope this helps

Mike