Choices

So now I have a 500mm lens. Great, I spent all my money and now require nothing else in the world? Er. Except maybe a new camo cover, white lenses look odd sticking out from green camo. New Kirk tripod foot would also be a good idea, save my current plate coming lose all the time. Better Beamer too, to illuminate those far off creatures. Lens cap, neoprene of course, as I hate Canons idea of a cap (more like a heavy leather bag). Oh, and of course my Vertex 100 is a girls bag and I need something big enough for the 500 :( It is adding up.

But as I was browsing the rucksacks in an expensive camera store a thought came to me. So next day I spent my lunch hour looking in the supermarket. V Markt here is rather large and sells everything. So I got one of these:  http://www.sparwelt.de/high-peak-trekking-rucksack-forest-40-camouflage-optik-nur-2090-euro-bei-ibood.html

30€. Big enough for the lens and then some. It weighs a kilo, not two-plus like the Vertex or even more as with the Vertex 200. It is not padded, waterproofed or badged with a cool name, but my lens fits and it is camo coloured :) my new forest back pack. If it rains I will carry a bin liner. I may even use it in Africa someday, saving weight on handluggage is no bad thing.

So I can afford the camo cover afterall :)

Rain

So it is. You are the proud new (ish) owner of your most longed for lens and all you wish to do it go out and make sure it works right. But of course it is raining. So you need to mount your flash on the camera, up the ISO to 1600 and hope that you can see sharpness through the noise. You go out with every intention of shooting jays and finches, but come home with only pictures of wild boar. Thankfully my family are still in the same territory and largely ignore my presence. Well, it is nice that they do but they were a little too close for testing a 500mm lens. Dang. Oh well. About the lens.
It is huge. I had fancied the 600 f4 but am glad I saw sense. At 3.8kg this thing sounds little heavier than the 3kg f4.5 version, but it aint. It is a bugger to transport when you are on a bike, but luckily fits in my new ruckack (20quid from the supermarket, yes I know but it is light and does the job and is camo coloured). But as the sparrow shot shows it is sharp wide open, even wth TC. Not as sharp as the legend, 300 2.8 IS, naked but works better with TCs as I only need a 1.4 now. Bokeh too is nicer. I think I am in love.

7D, 500 f4, 1600ISO, flash for fill

Bluddi sparrows

A little background. We have a balcony. It is a large balcony on the first floor, also acts as a roof for the ground floor appartment. I put out seed for the birds, mostly because my daughter found them fascinating but also just because I love watching them. As I sat here today waiting to test my new purchase I noticed in the surrounding gardens quite alot of activity. A greater spotted woodpecker frequents the neighbouring apple tree. A flycatcher frequents the willow. A bull finch frequents the fence of the next house. Greenfinches pop in and out of the apple tree. Jays squark as they leave the oak tree in the school yard and land on the roof over yonder. Nowhere is there any gratis, for free and for nothing, bird food available. 

So why is it that on my 'free food for all' balcony I only get sparrows. I get lots of sparrows mind you, but only sparrows. Maybe in January I will get a blue tit or two, but mostly sparrows.I have tried maize, corn, sunflower seed, meal worms...still only sparrows.

So here is one of the little b**gers. 

7D, 500 f4, 1.4TC, f5.6

More on the lens later ;)

Rendering

When one is rendering things in 3D software one generally is unable to do much else but watch the screen as the percentage slowly increases. So instead, I will add a few shots and thoughts from last year.

The pause (or in German "pause" meaning rest).

After visiting Kruger National Park before, and seeing very little of interest, it was amazing to spend a week with a fellow togger and spot six leopards. Not all up close, like this one, but still amazing.

Along with the leopards we saw over thrity lions, some big, some small and some in morning light, just chillin'.

One, just strutting his stuff.

Everyday was a new high for us, until we figured we had had our fill. Then on the very last morning we got the one thing we had been waiting all week for, and is quite a rare sight in Kruger.

A week off

It is raining in Munich, damn! Knowing that I would have to shoot everything at ISO1600 or higher I decided to give it a miss. Having two sick ladies at home meant I was kept busy, no doubt I will catch something in time for next weekend.

So, instead, here is a shot taken last week but processed in CS5 RAW rather than DPP and CS5. Noise control is rather nice in CS5 RAW and I hope I made a better job of this shot.

7D, 300 2.8 IS, 1.4TC, ISO1250

Rarity

Having had little time this week to process any of the dismal shots I took at the weekend I looked back. One shot I thought worthy of posting today was a real one off, for me at least. There I was, patiently waiting in my new hide for the green woodpecker to land on the ant hill and start digging. The green woodpecker did not appear, but a lone young fox just happened along. I took two shots before he made a run for it. One shot was pure motion blue, it was very early and quite dark. The first of the two however was keepable, not perfect as my Sigma 500 f4.5 had no stabilizer and was not that good wide open.

But it was usable and foxes are rarely seen during daylight hours here in Bavaria. This is a rare shot! So rare infact that colleagues who lived here all their life wondered how it was possible, seeing as they never got a glimpse of one, not alive that is! So I came home happy that day despite, to this day, never getting the green woodpecker!

5D, sigma 500mm f4.5

On edge

There really is no better time of the day than day break. No really. I like my sleep, my family likes to sleep but the enjoyment of being completely alone, in almost darkness is unparalleled. No dog walkers. No joggers (well sometimes the odd ball comes running past at 6am in his day-glo orange) . Just you and your quarry and the singing birds. So quiet it is, that even from a distance your quarry can here the clicking of your camera shutter. Puts them on edge, which in turn puts you on edge because the next click could be your last.

7D, 300 2.8, 1.4TC, ISO1250