I went for a walk on Monday and took about 800 photos of the waterfowl that make their home here in Burlington. Some, of course, are just visiting or wintering. It was a beautiful warm day—very un-typical weather for this time of year in Burlington.
Photos were all taken with a Nikon D300 digital SLR and an AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED mounted on a Manfrotto 055XB tripod with a Black Widow Heavy Duty Mark 2 Gimbal Head.
The popular Web TV show, DTown TV, hosted by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski is set to return on January 7 after a hiatus of several weeks. The show originally covered only Nikon products, but the new version will be expanded to cover DSLRs in general, including lighting, studio, on location, post-processing and other digital photography topics.
Matt Kloskowski is the Education and Curriculum Developer for NAPP. He has written several books on the Photoshop and Illustrator Adobe® applications, and is a trainer of international reputation.
I watched all 24 of the show’s original episodes and found them entertaining and informative.
Congratulations are due to Dr. Willard Boyle, the Canadian scientist whose work virtually invented digital photography. Those of us who love to take pictures digitally owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Boyle, who along with Dr. George Smith invented the charge-coupled device (CCD) in 1969.
The CCD translates light into an electric charge and is the technology behind the sensors of many digital cameras. The CCD started its life as a “Bubble” memory device at the AT&T Bell Labs. By 1971, however, Bell researchers were able to capture images with it and the CCD imager was born, leading to the explosion in the growth of digital photography.
The Barn Owl (Tyto alba) is another of natures countless beauties. It’s birds like these that make nature photography such a delight. This is a captive bird, but no less enjoyable to photograph. My objective is to record for my collection as many birds as I can; it’s not the wilderness experience per se that I seek.
This bird’s name is Gwen. Gwen was hatched at the Raptor Centre at Mountsberg. She was hand raised by the Mountsberg staff and, subsequently, became human-imprinted. As a result she can never be released into the wild. She is a beautiful, healthy, well-adjusted bird and a real treat to photograph.
This image is from my archives—I took it at last summer—but just love seeing it again. It was taken at a relatively slow 1/500 second to not completely stop the motion of her wings. I like this a lot.
Nikon D300 DSLR with 300mm f/4 lens at 1/500 sec, f/5.6 and ISO 220
Tripods are among the most under-used piece of photographic equipment. Many amateurs don’t bother with them because of the inconvenience of carrying this extra piece of gear around for an uncertain benefit to the quality of their shots. For years I have owned a tripod, but seldom used it. This all changed recently when I bought a 300mm f/2.8 lens which weighs a bit more than six pounds—add my D300 DSLR and I’m handholding 8lbs+.
From a distance, a Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) 1/500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 220
So, for me, a tripod has become a necessity, and therefore I need to master its use. To start with, I bought a gimbal-style tripod head (mentioned earlier), and I am now trying to get used to the new setup.
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 1/1250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200
Airborne Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 1/1250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200
This means getting as much practice as possible with the tripod, and resisting the temptation to shoot handheld. This is a lot easier, of course, when the birds cooperate and sit still—something not at all guaranteed.
Mallard pair (Anas Platyrhynchos) cooperating nicely 1/1000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200
Mallard drake (Anas Platyrhynchos) looking like he’s about to take off. 1/1000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200
Mallard drake (Anas Platyrhynchos) taking off. 1/1000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila) 1/500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200
So, am I happy with the results so far? To a point only. I believe I now have the optimum combination of gear for the sort of bird photography I like. The 1.7x teleconverter gives me a 35mm film equivalent of 750mm in reach—not so bad really. And at 300mm f/2.8 (35mm film equivalent of 450mm), this lens is still very usable handheld.
At times when the light is not bright enough, that f/2.8 is great. And even with a 1.4x teleconverter attached, I am able to work at f/4 with a 35mm film equivalent of 630mm in reach—not too shabby at all.
What I really need to work on is being able to quickly locate bird in flight in the lens and focus before it is out of range. A lot easier said than done.
The males of most bird species seem to get all the attention. Not a surprise, of course, considering that they usually have the bright multi-coloured plumage. Female birds, though, can also be quite beautiful and worthy of notice.
This is all too true with Bufflehead ducks (Bucephala albeola). The males are so striking few photographers seem to bother with the females.
Here are a couple of females:
However, let’s not totally ignore the males. Here’s one about to take off:
Nikkor D300 DSLR with 300mm f/2.8 lens + 1.7x teleconverter on a tripod
Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser) are not rare in my area (extreme west end of Lake Ontario’s north shore), but neither are these ducks plentiful at this time of year. I always try to get a shot even when—as they often are—they’re out of range for my lens. Sometimes I get lucky and can get a decent image with some heavy cropping.
These were among the first pictures I have taken with my Black Widow Gimbal (BWG) tripod head manufactured by Jobu Design here in Ontario—see earlier post. I doubt I’d have gotten an acceptable shot at that distance if I’d tried to hand-hold the camera—8lbs+ for Nikon D300 DSLR and 300mm f/2.8 lens.
It takes about ten minutes, if that, to get up to speed with this gear—I couldn’t be more pleased with the BWG. Birds in flight (BIF) shots are still a real challenge though; I’ll need plenty of practice.
Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 lens + 1.7x teleconverter = 500mm
1/500 sec at f/4.8. ISO 220
Here’s another Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) taken at the extreme west end of the north shore of Lake Ontario. Hopefully his arrival is a sign of good things to come this winter. I’ve also seen a few Goldeneye, a close relative of the Bufflehead. So far, though, no scaup.
I’m still waiting for delivery of a Gimbal head and new tripod so am taking all my photos handheld—a challenge when the lens and camera combination weighs over eight pounds.
It wasn’t a great day for photos—the water was rough and sky was gray—but I got a few “savers” anyway. I have not yet received my new tripod and Gimbal head, so I had to get used to hand-holding the 8+ lbs camera/lens combination.
Lens is a “beast” considering its fairly modest focal length, but it is so well balanced I quickly got the hang of it. Up until now, I’ve been using an 80-400mm zoom and a 300mm f/4, which each weigh half as much as the 300mm f/2.8. A six-pound lens does take getting used to, but the VR really helps.
Unfortunately, I’m so used to f/4 being my fastest setting, I never did try shooting wide open at f/2.8 … have to watch that in the future. On my next outing, I’ll try it with a 1.7x teleconverter.
The Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G AF-S ED-IF VR lens is a real gem. Among the sharpest, fastest lenses Nikon makes, this lens has the potential to elevate my photography to a new level—here’s hoping my technique will live up to it.
Everything about photography is relative. That’s why I can safely say that at 6.3lbs and about $5,400 CAD this is a light-weight, inexpensive lens. I am, of course, comparing it to others in the Nikon professional long-lens lineup, which includes legends like the 200-400mm f/4 (7+lbs, $6,800+ CAD), the 400mm f/2.8 (10+lbs, $9,700+ CAD) and the 500mm (8+lbs, $9,300+ CAD) and 600mm (11+lbs, $11,200+ CAD) f/4s.
For me, the 300mm f/2.8 is the perfect compromise. My other choice of lens to improve my nature and sport photography was the AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED. All other Nikon professional long-lenses were out of my reach financially.
At 6.3lbs and with Nikon’s excellent vibration reduction (VR) system, I can hand-hold the 300mm f/2.8, and the superfast f/2.8 maximum aperture allows fast shutter speeds even on dull days—characteristics I rate highly. Don’t underestimate the difference between f/4 and f/2.8: one stop of light increases the aperture by 100 per cent. That’s huge in low-light situations when I’m shooting birds and need high shutter speeds.
The 300mm f/2.8 is well balanced and handles like a dream. When I have enough light, I can add my 1.4x or 1.7x teleconverter to get 420mm and 510mm respectively. With the 1.7x teleconverter, for example, I have a 500mm f/4.8 VR lens weighing about 6.5lbs (750mm with my D300 camera’s crop factor). How sweet is that?
I have ten “test” shots I took in the field yesterday. I’ll start posting these later today so you can see the lens in action.
This beautiful cougar (Puma concolor) shares a large enclosure at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre at Gravenhurst, Ontario with a large black bear. This odd couple apparently get along famously.
These timber wolves, Montana and Akayla, share a large enclosure at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre at Gravenhurst, Ontario. They are about nine years old.
Isn’t this a great shot? And what a beautiful animal. This big cat shares a large enclosure at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre at Gravenhurst, Ontario with a large black bear. This odd couple apparently get along famously.
Another of many photos I took at the Muskoka Wildlife Centre at Gravenhurst, Ontario. This Canadian Lynx was king enough to pose quietly while I snapped away. I also was able to take photos of a juvenile lynx which I’ll post on another day.
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