howard_grill

Actually, I have found the Lowepro backpacks I have to be fantastic. No problems with the main zippers, though I do have to say that the zippers on the 3 vinyl pockets on the inide of the cover consistently fail and fail quickly. I plan to put velcro on these pockets. Even were they US bags I would not have sent them in for repair for this on the guarantee.

 

I was not aware of the warranty issue but these bags are made so tough that I doubt I would be using it...OK, OK maybe someone would want to get those inside zippers repaired, but why...they will fail again in a month! Overall, I think that issue is a very small downside to the pack.

B&H is the best place, IMO, to buy everything EXCEPT Lowepro backpacks. Go to E-Bay and look up Carman's Foto Source. They auction and also have Buy It Now options. As a matter of fact, you can call them and purcahse any Lowepro item directly for their Buy It Now prices. I have their address but not their phone number. They are at 257 Monteith Ave in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. You can get their phone number from their E-Bay ads or, I presume, from phone info. I live in the US and have bought 3 Lowepro backpacks from them at prices significantly cheaper than B&H. They have all arived rapidly and are brand new, in manufacturers packing, unopened and untouched...for SIGNIFICANTLY less than I have found from any US source. Check it out and thank me later. I have no association with them whatsoever, except being a very satisfied customer x3.

I am glad someone brought up photographing in the shade. It seems like most of the time, when I photograph flowers and other nature subjects in the shade, the colors come out very dull and disappointing. It almost has an underexposed appearance but increasing exposure time doesn't really seem to bring out the colors and make them 'pop'. I usually use Provia 100F, often with a warming filter. Sometimes I use Kodak 100 GX. I realize that Provia is not as contrasty as Velvia but it seems to me that Provia should be contrasty enough, and it I as not so much contrast as a generalized flatness. Is this to be expected and what can be done to help? It seems that when shooting in brighter conditions the colors get more vibrant but then I get into problems with shadows and high contrast.

I had never heard or seen the magazine that Philip recommended...Nature Photographer Magazine. But having looked up the URL he gave, I have to say that the magazine looks quite interesting to me and I am tempted to try a subscription since I have never seen at at newsstands. Anyone else out there read this and have opinions as to the quality of the publication?

Terence...Newark is a tough town, I was born there and lived there until I was about 11. I don't think any photograph is worth a risk to your life (though I guess war photographers do it all the time). Living in Newark, or any inner city, can make you street smart very quickly. The guy swinging the ax into thin air was a clear sign that there might be some risk :>)

What happens when you restore the Auto-Exposure bracketing to "0" or no AEB???

 

Howard

Just a quick follow up to all who responded without all the details. This was, in fact, a scam. I was lucky enough, however, to be able to get my money back.

Is there an eyecup like this that will fit the 1V...I can't seem to find one.

Just thought you might be interested in knowing that in George Lepp's second book, Beyond the Basics II (available, I think from his web site) there is a chapter on aquarium photography.

 

Howard

Also, I guess I just may be a bit sensitized to this because just last week a different photo.netter responded to an ad that I placed for a ballhead I was selling. He wanted to buy it and needed it ASAP...right away. He may have seen in my feedback that, on occasion, for a small item that is cheap, I have sent the item out before receiving payment. This was only for small items and for people that have clearly had very positive feedback in the neighbor to neighbor section. This person had only one comment in the neighbor section and it was negative. So I told him I would ship it as soon as I get a check that cleared or a MO. Well, he e-mailed me that he sent a money order to me that day. It never came and when I e-mailed him to say so he said he couldn't understand why and to give it one more day, though he had sent it priority mail. Two days later I e-mailed and told him it never came. He responded by saying that he would see if he could 'get other funds coming my way'..then I never heard from him again. Obviously, he was hoping I would send it without payment. I have bought and sold from photo.net classifieds several times before without a problem. I guess 1 and possibly 2 frauds in a very short time period is disturbing.

 

Howard

Appreciate all the responses....I agree it is too early to start reporting fraud. Just to be specific about what was done:

 

I noticed that the seller was a member here for a few years. I also noticed that it seemed to be the first time he was selling things, at least recently, from checking his member page. There was no feedback on him in the neighbor to neighbor section of photo.net, positive or negative. I was also a bit concerned that on this particular day he put several items up for sale, like 5 or 6 at once. I e-mailed him to tell him I was interested in one of the items but wondered why he was suddenly selling several items in a day and he rapidly e-mailed me back a very reasonable explanation. In addition, the item I purchased was not a typical item...not a camera or lens.....and it seemed to me unlikely that if someone was devising a scam that they would make up this item as one to sell. Also it was stated that the item was like new but without the factory box...seems like it would have been easy enought to say like new in original box had he wanted to...so I thought this was legit...at least it seemed that it was.

 

I sent the money order as requested. That was on 4/8. Previously I got a response by e-mail within hours. On 4/15 and then on 4/18 I e-mailed again and have received no responses. I am a bit concerned that there seems to be no phone listing and no response by e-mail...but it is on the opposite coast, it is around a holiday, and it has 'only' been 12 days...so we shall see.

 

I can see letting a small item slipping ones mind but somehow I don't think a $500 item would or should.

 

I will leave some feedback as to what pans out but plan to wait another week before initiating a response to this.

 

Howard

Ellis,

 

Thanks for the link...never knew it existed. I never even really thought about photo.net having an owner!

 

Anyway, sent the post to them. Hopefully this will just be a misunderstanding but I doubt it.

 

Howard

I recently sent a $500 money order to a photo.net member (I believe

since 2001 if I remember correctly) for an item that had been

advertised on photo.net. Since sending the money order this person

has not responded to two e-mails regarding the status of the purchase

and it is about a week past when I would have expected him to receive

the money order. I called phone info and they have no listing for

the name or address that I sent the money order to. I will not use

the persons name at this point because I am hoping that perhaps he

went on vacation for the holiday etc...though I am not particularly

hopeful about this and suspect that I have been ripped off.

 

Just wondering, do the photo.net powers that be ever get involved in

this sort of thing.....at least revoke membership etc?

 

Assuming I get no answers to my e-mails and paid by money order,

other than posting negative feedback on photo.net is there any other

method of trying to collect the funds back legally? I have the

persons e-mail address that I know works, as after I expressed

interest in the purchase he responded very quickly. They are,

however, located on the opposite coast from me.

 

Again, I am hoping that I will be proven wrong about this and so will

not use a name at this point, but just curious how others might have

dealt with this and what can be done if it turns out that this is a

rip off...I am getting very close to being certain that this is the

case.

 

Howard

I was actually referring to the possibility of using it as a 52mm screw in filter with the Canon adaptor as a drop in rear filter on their long telephotos. Anyone try it?

Thanks...I guess I wasn't sure if the 'slave' emited a preflash as well or if it's output was calculated based on the 'master' output. Seems like if they both emit preflashes everything should fall into place.

I had a question regarding using ratios with Canon flash. If you use

a two flash system with one flash as the master and one as the slave

and set, say a 1:2 ratio....what happens if you put a softbox over

one of the lights while using E-TTL metering. Say you put tissue or

a softbox onto the slave, does the system 'look at' the exposure

from the master and then give half the output to the slave (which

would lead to less than a 1:2 ratio since the system, in this

scenario, would not know there was a softbox that would lower the

light output after it 'leaves' the flash....or does it TTL actually

somehow measure the slave true output via preflash and adjust it 1:2

based on what it is seeing at the film plane. Likewise, one could

ask the same question in reverse, with the master having a softbox,

and what the effect this would have on the ratio set.

 

Does the same response occur with the 2 lights of the MT-24EX double

ringlight when one of the two has lights has been softened in some

way (just got a good deal on a used MT-24 EX and can't wait to 'play'

with it).

I have the Singh Ray Blue & Gold and really like the effects you can get with it. In fact, the effect can be too intense and I find that it is worth 'dialing down' the effect a bit. I believe another company makes one for cheaper...I would check the B&H website, it might be Tiffen if I recall correctly. But I have no experience with that one.

I was thinking that using a Blue 'N Gold Singh Ray Polarizer could

possibly give some very nice effects for bird photography with long

teles. The obvious downside is the light loss necessitating a slower

shutter speed (as an aside, Singh Ray is soon to come out with an

updated version which will sport less light loss). But I think its

use still might be possible as you would be using it to make the

light look warmer and 'earlier in the day'. Thus it might be used at

a time when a faster shutter speed could be used anyway. Also, maybe

using it with resting or slower moving waterfowl. The biggest pain

might well be using it as a drop in filter as I would think you would

need to screw it into the filter holder, hold it up to your eye, turn

until you get the effect you want and then drop it in...all before

shooting.

 

Just wondering if anyone has tried using these in long teles for

nature/wildlife/bird photos.

I just ordered this book but have not yet received it. It received rave reviews on Amazon and looks quite good.

 

The Art and Science of Butterfly Photography by William Folsom

I nned a bit of help in starting to use fill flash on wildlife and

birds in particular. Equipment: Canon 1V, 550EX flash, 600 f4 IS.

 

As I read I am a bit confused. My understanding is that one should

set the ambient exposure manually without any exposure compensation

above what you normally would dial in without the flash and then set

the flash for FEC of anywhere from around -1 to -2 1/2 stops

depending on color of bird etc.

 

My confusion revolves around how to make the ambient settings once

you have the flash mounted. Normally, without the flash I would set

in Aperture Priority. But what if setting in aperture priority leads

to a shutter speed above the synch speed of the camera? How about

using Program Mode which will ensure that you are within the synch

speed of the camera, but then you are leaving the specific aperture

and shutter speed to some preprogrammed mode with no input into it.

I suppose one coud set the exposure manually and set the shutter at

the highest synch speed of the camera and adjust the aperture

accordingly..it just semms like this would take a bit of time to do

and by the time you finish the bird has flown away etc......

 

So, I guess my question is what is the preferred exposure mode to

work in to rapidly achieve a correct ambient exposure, make sure the

camera is not above synch speed and then be able to apply FEC? Along

the same vein, I would like to adjust the degree of fill flash

myself. Is disabling CF 14 on the 1V the way to do this?

 

I did search the forums but really couldn't find a clear answer to

these questions despite reading several threads on fill flash.

Thanks.

I live in Western Pa...so not too far from you.

 

Here is what I use:

 

National Audobon Society Field Guide To The Mid-Atlantic States, National Audobon Society Familiar Butterflies Of North America,

Simon and Schusters Guide To Mushrooms,

Wildflowers Of Pa,

National Audobon Society Field Guides To Butterflies, Insects and Spiders, Wildflowers, Trees, and Eastern Birds (all separate field guides, of course),

The Sibley Guide To Birds

 

I find them all very helpful in identification, though (except for Sibley) they don't go into all that much depth about the subjects.

I am wondering how effective the relatively low cost 'pocket blinds'

are for photographing birds and small mammals. In doing a search on

blinds in general there seem to be mixed opinions on the

effectiveness of using this type of blind. I realize it is not the

most comfortable of blinds but I would only expect to use it for

relatively short periods of time at once..say 1-2 hours.

I just received a Wimberly head. Moose Peterson, on his website,

notes that although the instructions suggest that the Wimberly should

be mounted with the arm on the photographer's left side he recommends

mounting it on the photographers right side to allow for using the

technique whereby you lay your hand on top of the long lens when

shooting to damp vibrations. With the arm on the right it does

appear that it would be much easier to lay your arm on the lens. So,

two questions:

 

I was wondering what most folks do in terms of mounting and if there

were any other reasons to go with one side or the other?

 

Also, I was wondering if the technique of laying your hand on the

long lens to damp vibration is even needed with Canon IS lenses that

have the IS type that can be used while mounted on a tripod?

Thanks for your responses. I was trying to photograph them at a local nature preserve last year. They always seem to be out on a lawn near a cabin feeding in the early morning. They seemed to tolerate me up to a certain distance but as soon as I started to 'move in on them' they would run away under a cabin and not come out until I got a distance back and then it would repeat. The distance I had to get back was too far for a 300. They are not fed by people there, or at least they are not supposed to be, and I have never seen anyone feeding them there. Maybe my field technique needs to improve.

I was thinking of trying to spend some time photographing chipmunks,

probably using a 600mm lens, the other option being a 300+/- a 1.4 TC

(though having tried this a year or so ago the 300 plus TC was too

short to allow the chipmunks to not stop their activity when trying

to get close enough for frame filling shots). I assume there are

some folks who have had some experience with this and was wondering

about any pointers here. Specifically with, say, a 600 mm lens (+/-

1.4 TC)is it likely that one would need some sort of way of keeping

yourself invisible to the chipmunks (? via a blind or even throwing

some cover, blanket or camo over you) or would the distance be enough

to have them stay doing what they are doing while one photographs?