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Shane
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 3467 Location: Doha. Is hot.
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 19 4:26 am Post subject: |
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Add a tripod to the list - pretty essential if you want sharp images, especially with a macro lens. No need to push the boat out with the budget unless you want the latest carbon fibre must-have tripod that weighs the same as your little finger - you'll be able to get a sturdy enough tripod for around the 30 - 40 quid mark, I'd have thought.
Be careful with the range of a lens - there's a reason that Canon/Nikon limit the ratio to around 3- or 4-to-1 for their high-end lenses. 20 to 200mm is a 10:1 ratio, and you'll not get quality images at either end of the range, although there will probably be a sweet spot in the middle somewhere. My 80D came with the 18 - 135mm lens, which is okay for general snapping, but for the longer-range stuff I use an L-spec 70-300mm (much, much sharper images than the kit lens) and for wide angle stuff I have a Tokina 11-16mm (bought second-hand off a neighbour). Before the 18 - 135mm, I had their 18 - 200mm lens (on a 60D) and it was nowhere near as good.
Also worth looking at a 50mm lens when you're ready to expand your collection, as they are great in lower light conditions. Canon do a reasonably priced 50mm f/1.8 lens (I've got one) and a more expensive 50mm f/1.4 lens (I want one). |
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Shane
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 3467 Location: Doha. Is hot.
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 19 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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im fine for tripods, umbrella lights etc etc.
i have loads of fixed lenses that will go on with a ring ( no auto focus, etc is not always an issue ) but i do like a one lens can do most jobs fairly well rig as a snapping camera.
perhaps i just dont like dragging a bag about in many ways a fixed lens f8 and move till it fills the frame was rather nice
i have a well used canon 35 to 85 usm lens which is ok but only really as a spare cos i would not put my old bike tyres on a new ferrari.
the 20 200 i was looking at is a sigma
most of the time it would be in the mid range but having both ends ( even if a fixed or tighter range lens might be a slightly higher quality image ) snapping without changing lenses is better than still be unzipping the bag as the snap ambles off.
the macro might be a canon own brand or very top end if i can find a good SH one
i have looked at good tele lenses and i cannot justify the price for the quality i would want, a good un is the same sort of price as a pretty decent new car.
with the long stuff it is not the magnification that is expensive it is needing the huge hole at the front to make it useful for moving stuff and in less than nuclear lighting and it needs high build quality to avoid optical aberrations between the big hole and the sensor/film .
last time i worked out what i needed for a kingfisher flying through the triangle of rod,line and river the lens was about £15k. the 30 body was up to it but it might have taken quite a bit of film.
i didnt take the snap, never mind
the main reason for the big range is for id snaps, i need to cover from bug to bird over maybe 20 meters, from on the lens to the "horizon " is a pretty small jungle and i can move around the part of it i want to record in detail but even then a decent range of focal length will be handy for the counting and behaviour stuff where speed is more important that super high res.
i will have to try such a combo for balance etc but i recon i can probably still pap with a brick there are some pretty good handhold mounts as well, have a few.
duh note to self what about the handling duh,
i recon i will look at weather proof covers but improvise can be fairly effective to keep the world out of the works.
as one fixed tripod shot is my line of sight from here in a box on the window sill or just in front and lower than the sill on a tripod outside and controlled by smart phone or pooter from the comfort of a uncomfy chair inside seems ideal and far better than trail cam.
as the sparrows often stand there and look in at me it would need a decent set of body armour and a brolly, a hapeth of tar saves getting the wetwipes or something.
it would be ace to have an unlimited budget and camera the yard like springwatch meets bigbrother but i will need to be bold and sensible, keep it simple and adaptable and be creative to get the tasks done with what i can justify getting and make beg and borrow as needs be,
getting used to the camera/new pootering stuff might take a little while so if i have the basic kit soonish i can play about and be ready for a planned day by day thing from new year perhaps.
i need to work out where to set achievable parameters and method that produce at least some useful data rather than just pretty anecdote and snaps of cute wildlife.
cute/funny/awesome/interesting etc is where the money is, that would be nice but it is not built in yet.
technicals first |
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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Shane
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 3467 Location: Doha. Is hot.
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 19 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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having done some online research, talked to a couple of folk and done a fair bit of thinking about exactly what i need it to do i might have narrowed it down quite a lot..
the 5 mk1 won't do the job even if it was a prime example at a SH bargain price.
no wifi/bluetooth,
that left/leaves an 5 mk4 or something else.
i had a look at canon's latest mirrorless full frame as SD had mentioned mirrorless had improved a lot recently.
it has a few downsides compared to a 5.4 but the advantages are ace.
as i am starting from ( non ) scratch with glass the new configuration of lens management is no problem (and the converter ring is factory kit if i go for older lenses at some point)
it might use leccy faster but it can be usb charged rather than using an " odd " voltage from it's own charger and i assume reliable 240v to power that.
that one is a biggy for me.
it handles so nicely, very light,good balance , i found the buttons instinctively ( tis a canon ) and with a decent multipurpose and macro it would be a simple kit rather than " i should have brought a wheelbarrow to lug this pile of horror and i need a merlin to mount it on "
the r is better at video which is nice and is silent and jump free, even the best mirror swing has issues with those
i spose i have been mirrorless since i retired the 30 and have not had a mirrored digital so it does not seem like a step back in tech which probably makes sense
better in low light as well
price is similar for either route
gulp , in the past i have just got an interesting camera to play with or the best i can somehow afford to use for taking snaps, trying to spec for wildlife within 10 metres ( and get the best snapping camera i can ) has taken a bit of work .
thanks folks , it has been handy to bounce ideas about and i am going to be asking questions that baffle me but will be obvious to others.
if i have got that bit as a cunning plan which seems plausible i next need to work out a decent pootering system for editing and tweaking and find a decent monitor.
i know this stuff isnt very downsizery on the surface but i want to show the world how bio diverse one can make a small rather sterile set of micro climates and habitats as well as record what is there and try to sort out sparrow dynamics.
it might involve high tech and enough cash to put a lot of meals in tums but drawing the beasts on a cave wall and putting a calender next to it has been done and had a pretty small audience
this way i might get to persuade enough folk to use wherever they have to make the best of the space they have to create biodiverse habitats in urban areas.
as far as pollinators go an urban low pesticide landscape is far better than a toxic field that looked yummy.
i half suspect that until we change industrial food production practice the best bet for " arks " will be enough urban micro spaces, retaining diversity of pollinators seems sensible. the other wee beasts are nice as well and then there are the predators to protect one's " crops "
it can work big as well if folk learn how |
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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Posted: Fri Aug 09, 19 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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i have not got beyond fumbling basics yet, 50 or so pages on assorted auto focus methods made my head spin
however i have managed to grasp enough to pap an invertebrate in enough detail to make id pretty easy even just using the camera screen to zoom and sweep the photo.
a couple of mins from snap to knowing i am hosting at least one grey dagger caterpillar, acronita psi, i have seen a few hints of stealth moth in the darkness so it seems they might be among the regular fauna.
( i dont know how they avoid the bats, tis pippistrelle territory although there only seem to be 3 this year, they have a shape and surface that might be hard to find by sonar )
this is good as papping invs. and bird pattern with a manageable gp lens for id is part of the plan,
just now a couple of mins papping a cloud of sparrows from a couple of meters away does not seem to bother them and i got snaps good enough for detailed feather pattern, ie give a bird a name and know it again
they were not great snaps and i can improve on them a lot once i work out how to fly this thing but at least it works in principle.
re the steep learning curve
the first couple of time i was trying to adjust something and failing in multiple ways and then camera stops doing what i ask and provided a handy hint as to what i should be doing was a bit spooky but i now now the dustbin has multi functions , i should have guessed but i am only up to page 150 something
at first it was very spooky but when it asked me to give it a name so it could connect to wifi i started to warm to it's personality.
that stuff will come later, i recon pooter, phone,camera need to be synced at the same time. |
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46249 Location: yes
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