gerhard_hofmann1

I am thinking of spending the next couple of shooting-days at Cape

May. Is it a good place to get some migrating warblers? I know that

it should be a wonderful place for birding but that does not have to

be true for bird photography.

Any experts around who knows the area. I appreciate every

information about the location.

 

Thanks a lot Gerhard

I usually use my 100-400mm lens when I am visiting a zoo. It is relatively small but the focal length is long enough to eliminate most of the unwanted background. When I am seriously working with zoo animals I go for the 4.0/500mm or the 2.8/300mm for the same reason others already mentioned. It is often hard to find an attractive background an it is for sure even more difficult with the 4.0/70-200mm. So if your choice is only between the zoom and the 4.0/300mm I would go for the 300mm but would add a1,4 converter.

I usually use the Visible Dust brushes If I don?t have access to canned air for charging the brush I switch to device you can see in the picture (Don?t laugh :-) Sorry I have no clue how it is called in English. I got the advice to use it instead of a similar blower brush from a German CPS technician and he proved to be right that it is superior to the devices you can buy at the locale photo shop. The airflow is stronger and this thing lasts nearly for ever.)

Sadly some of the dirt can?t be removed with the brush in this case I switch to sensor cleaning solution from visible dust. It is far from perfect but it contains no flammable liquid and I had never problems to take it on board a plane.

 

My worst dust problems I have usually in spring when lots of pollen is flying around. The wax in the Pollen sticks perfect to the warm/hot sensor and is hard to remove.

 

It seems the higher the pixel density the more pixels will be covered by the dust particles I often wonder whether this is the reason why I had not so much (visible) dust problems with the D30 in terms of dust and whether the small sensor of the Olympus cameras therefore would be under severe attack of dust without their smart Ultrasonic solution.

 

Good luck

Gerhard

Thanks Mark, I skipped the Broad-tailed because the bird didn?t have rufous outer tail feathers, and I also excluded the Costas because of the voice (one of the very few hummingbird voices I know). These fascinating creatures (at least the females and juveniles) are really hard to distinguish from each other. I guess things are easier during spring migration, without all the birds in juvenile plumage.

 

Gerhard

Half way through my pictures from Southern Ca. l I found the next

guy where I am not sure whether I identified it correct. I would go

for a Black-chinned but the overall plumage was very much golden

like not really green. The picture was taken near Morongo at a

feeder.

 

Thanks Gerhard

Thanks,

 

I will file the pictures under "Speckled Lawyer". ;-)

 

Gerhard

More Information.

 

The picture was taken on the way to Barkers dam (which has an incredible amount of water this year). The lizard rarely was on the ground but preferred to hang on the trees or rocks.

 

Thanks Gerhard

The next species I have trouble identifying is this lizard (Location

Joshua Tree Np.).

 

 

Thanks Gerhard

I am not sure about which species this rattlesnake is (Location was

Joshua Tree Np.). I would guess it is a Speckled Rattlesnake.

 

Thanks Gerhard

Oh yeah I know it, I still carry the scar on my neck from the sun in the Australian Desert. After this incident I avoided the habit to carry around the Lens/flash-combination over my shoulder for a couple of months. But this method is just to slow so I went back to my old habit and take the risk. I don?t complain about the little scares on my flash the picture where worth it.

 

Gerhard

I love my Better Beamer it is so versatile and effective that I

rarely leave without it for a photo-trip. Working in the desert the

last week I had to learn the limitations. The backlight condition

was perfect for the cactus and the now and then perching Cactus

Wren. The smell of melting plastic got my attention a bit to late ?

The sun and the Better Beamer had already done their job. The front

of the 580 EX is therefore a bit out of shape but it still works

 

Gerhard<div></div>

Go for the IS as Mark already mentioned even with the crop you often will end up using a converter. The 20D works perfect with the 1,4 Conv. and the IS lens.

In the last couple of months I had to shoot out of the car quite often and again the IS proved to be the most important part of the story, the same when I had to shoot in a tidal marsh with a very shaky ground.

If I would have the choice between a 500mm lens with AF but no IS and a 500mm lens with AF but no IS I would go for the lens with IS. Luckily we can get both in one lens.

 

Gerhard

Thanks to all of you folks who helped me to find Lesser- and

Lawrence Goldfinches. Morongo was great so was Joshua Tree Np.

Especially the Cactus Wrens were just stunning. I finally got the

Lawrence at Lake Cachuma. I agree that the end of summer was

certainly not the best time of the year to visit these places but

nevertheless it was great fun.

We got even nearly black backed Lesser Goldfinches at Morongo

although there were much fewer of them around.

 

Thanks

 

Gerhard

>>>In case of failure, I wonder which would be the easiest to recover the data from (microdrive or sealed electronic chip).>>>

 

We found no company which was able to recover the lost files on the SanDisk but several which could recover the files from the MD.

 

 

In terms of power consumption the difference can be significant particularly in places with very low temperature. This is really a disadvantage if you are out in the wilderness and have no possibility to charge the batteries.

 

Gerhard

We have several 1 GB IBM and 2GB Hitachi Drives and a couple of SanDisk Ultra II 1GB/ 2GB cards. So far we didn?t have any problems with the microdrives (which are slower and eat more energy!!) but one SanDisk failed. The warranty covered the card but the pictures were gone :-( so the warranty does not really help a lot.

A colleague was on assignment in Papua New Guinea and had a different experience. He dropped a micro drive into a little creek. The drive didn?t work any longer but surprisingly the pictures could be recovered by a company specialized on restoring harddrives. The recovering was far from being cheap but at least the pictures were recovered.

So for me it is hard to decide whether the flash drive is really the safer solution. I still use both type of cards and avoid to put to many eggs in one basket.

 

 

Regards Gerhard

It is a White-winged Snowfinch/Montifringilla nivalis

 

Regards Gerhard

I also made the switch a couple of years ago for the same reason Mark Chappell mentioned (20 year Nikon user). There was no lens for bird-photography with IS among the otherwise wonderful Nikon lenses. But the grass is not that much greener on the other side and sometimes (as with the shoe cord2 mentioned in another thread) it is even no green grass at all.

 

I would not switch nowadays with the 200-400mm and the D2X in the Nikon line. I still miss the M/A mode for the quick switch between autofocus and manual focus operation. The way Canon deals with this problem is less convenient then the Nikon solution.

Am I happy with my Canons? Yes they do their job and to change the system again would only drain my wallet.

 

Regards Gerhard

Hi Brad,

 

We have both lenses but the 4,0/70-200 has never failed whether we were in desert or in rainforest. The Sigma lens had trouble in places with lots of heat and humidity. The AF switches off, not a big problem but maybe annoying for people who use AF a lot (we have the same problem with the otherwise stunning 180Macro from Sigma).

In terms of picture quality I see no difference in the real life.

If you do not really need 2,8 go for the Canon it is gem.

 

Gerhard

Maybe dirt on sensor? At least it looks like.

 

Gerhard

Hi all,

 

I do a lot work which requires at least fill flash and as I work

mainly with long lenses I use the Shoe Cord 2 and a flash bracket

(Wimberley). My problem with the Shoe cord 2 (meanwhile with several

cables) is that the hotshoe seams not to withstand a 550EX/580EX

with a Better Beamer and gets very loose. Is there another solution

then to fix it with superglue (I did it but it is not very

convenient to do because there is always the danger to destroy the

whole thing)? Or is there a alternative cable available which is

better build am may even have the cable coming out on the opposite

side of the hotshoe so that it doesn?t have to be bend all the time.

 

Thanks Gerhard

Thank you all for the good hints!!

 

So I will look for the Lesser Goldfinches around St. Barbara and will give Santa Barbara Orchid Estate a try (thanks Doulas). As we (mainly my wife) will join the AOU meeting I hope to get some information about some local ornithological hotspots. And I will certainly check the Audobon Society for the Lawrence Goldfinch.

The week after the meeting we will head for the BM Preserve and maybe Joshua Tree Np.

Mark your shots are great I hope to get at least one or the other species in similar light :-).

 

We have been to Point Reyes in late Fall for a study on blackbirds (yes we are interested in nearl every bird species).

 

We had lots of Pine Siskins but nearly no Lesser Goldfinches during our stay, and because of the study nearly no time for photography. But even the very limited time was so wonderful and productive that I am allready exited about visiting Ca again.

 

Thanks a lot

Gerhard

Hi all,

 

Many thanks. I will defenitely try Big Morongo and no worries 3h driving is not too much for Lesser Goldfinches. I guess there are other species around Big Morongo so time spent driving per species gets even lower :-).

 

Thanks

 

Gerhard

My wife and I will be around St. Barbara at the end of August. I am

urgently looking for opportunities to get my "dream-birds" the

Lawrence- and Lesser- Goldfinch in front of my 500mm.

Is there a spot where I might have a chance?

 

Thanks!

Gerhard