Braving the rain

With it being another wet, dismal weekend weather-wise and the various forecasts contradictory, I flipped a coin to decide to go out.  To be honest, I haven’t been too motivated as much this year with the predictable weather of wet, windy, greyness, it just demoralises me.  Heads I go out in the cold and rain, tails I stay in the nice warmth and just relax.  When heads came up, I was thinking of calling it best out of three. When I left, it was raining a bit, by the time I reached the coast it was raining a lot.  Things perked up when I quickly came across a mixed flock of Sanderlings and Turnstones by a rock pool and decided to sit back and just watch them for a while before getting close.  They were right next to an area where people who had braved the weather were walking pass, so they would fly off to the tideline when someone approached then run across the sand back to where they were feeding.  I waited until the next time they were spooked by a passer-by then positioned myself so I might get some shots, which worked.  First, some of them approached, poking their head over the sand bank checking me out, then sprinted across in front of me to the rock pool.  Despite the poor light, I was able to get a few decent images, though, as standard recently, the ISO was cranked up to 1600 so I could get a decent shutter speed. Whatever they had found to eat amongst the seaweed, was worth their continuing flying off and then quickly returning.

I eventually moved off to another part of the beach and decided to have a closer look at mounds of seaweed to see what was in it as far as possible wader food and was surprised as to how much man-made junk was amongst it – netting, plastics, tin cans, bottle tops and bits of material.  Some of the seaweed was quite colourful – to be honest, not something I’ve really looked closely at and noticed.

Stormy view looking across to Blyth

St Marys Lighthouse on a grey, wet Spring

With the rain becoming heavier, I wasn’t too concerned about my Mk IIn camera as it’s water resistance (I hope!) but I didn’t want push my luck with my expensive tele lens which isn’t, so packed up and had a wonder around to see what else was about.  I thought the frogs might be around in the small pools of water further inland, as this time last year they were active but spring has been colder this year, so maybe next week.

Hmm…not quite in the spirit of the sign me thinks

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Waiting for Spring

I’m really looking forward to some much over due decent weather.  So far this year there has been a couple of weekends without  some amount of rain falling, not that it’s been a particularly wet year so far, it’s just that the weekends seemed to be guaranteed dull, damp and windy.  Leaving early on Saturday the forecast for the day was at least dry though it was drizzling initially and had that damp coldness this time of year brings.  Arriving on location it was very quiet as far as what could be seen and everywhere was muddy, very muddy and waterlogged from flooding.

Since I’ve barely been out with the camera at the weekends in recent months today was more about just getting out and relaxing and enjoying a bit of peace and quiet.  After about half and hour, walking along a hedgerow I spotted a female Roe Deer followed by a Male.  Luckily I was partially hidden by a hedge (like the one you can see in the background in the picture below) which was also on a higher level so I position myself where I could get my monopod and camera set up and with a clear view but still remain largely unseen hopefully by them.  Luckily there was also no wind for them to catch my sent.

With the dull conditions it was hard to avoid camera shake with shutter speeds as low as 1/200 though this was with a converter attached and adding exposure compensation.  Surprisingly quite a few turned out ok.  As the deer slowly approached closer it wasn’t long that a dog walker came by with their dog, of course not under control (even though there are signs clearly telling owners to do so as this is part of a reserve).  The dog came bounding over to me, the owner shouted at it, the dog ignored him, but the disturbance got the attention of the deer, who started to move off.  In just over an hour this was already the fifth time an uncontrolled dog had done this, each time the same thing happened – the owner shouted at the dog, the dog ignored them until the owner had to shout louder or physically move them.  After another four times of this kind of harassment over the next half hour, I finally had enough and left.

I wish dog walkers would try having consideration for others even if they do decide to ignore signs telling them for the sake of the wildlife, to keep them under control.  There are some people who just want to enjoy a peaceful walk in the country or along a beach and don’t want their dog rushing up to them, barking or snuffing around their crotch!  I wondered the reason for the lack of birds on the large pond, readying themselves for the start of the breeding season, was due the increased number of rampant dogs.

I decided to head up to Big Waters Reserve where at least some areas are no dog areas.  A bit more lively with the wildlife though no sight of any Otters which I haven’t seen for a while, though talking to someone there, he said they were still making a regular appearance.  Normally I would look for Gulls circling an area as a clue for an Otter around, but everything was quite sedate.  Still no sunshine but at least it was a bit brighter enabling me to get down to a lower ISO speed and still retain a decent enough shutter speed, not that there was much movement just the occasional flyby from Gulls and Curlews (below).  Ironically, as I left to head home for the day, a car drove by with the dog in the back, barking at me!!

Cormorants having a slight difference of opinion

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Sigma 500mm f4.5 - one year on Review

With only two weekends so far this year when it hasn’t rained (so not getting out again this weekend) and it being a year since getting the Sigma lens, I thought I'd spend some time going through my thoughts of how it’s been so far. Strangely, before buying this lens myself, I couldn’t find that much about it apart from the usual specs, there wasn’t many example images, especially any that convinced me it was what I wanted.  One place I did go to was Pbase Sigma 500mm f4.5 unfortunately, the images are as only good as the person taking them and the equipment review part of the site is a good example of this with good images on ‘lower’ equipment and poor images on newer ‘better’ equipment. I was lucky that I got this second hand and before the hike in photographic lens prices, but it is still considerably cheaper than the Canon or Nikon equivalents.  The one thing that would probably put people off is that it has no image stabiliser, however, although it would be nice to have this, it would have meant it wouldn’t have been as cheaper lens and bigger and heavier.  I only have currently one lens with image stabilisation so I haven’t come to rely upon this in my photography.  I always carry around a monopod with this lens and if I’m not using this I will find something else to rest it on – my bag or knees or some other object that is around such as a fence.  I always try and follow the guide of having the same or faster shutter speed as the focal length of the lens you are using and so, as you can see from the photographs below, I often shoot wide open and at an ISO of 1600 as I’d rather have a grainer picture which I can improve during the processing than one that is blurred and can’t be fixed.   Shooting at F4.5 I was pleasantly surprised to find that shooting this wide open still produced very good images and find myself doing so for more than 50% of the time without concern. (See Great Tit below)  Just as well with the kind of dull, grey weather we get in this country and when I do shoot at narrower apertures, it’s usually to get a greater depth of field.

F4.5 1/800 sec ISO 1600

F5.6 1/800 sec ISO 1600

F5 1/5000 sec ISO 1600

Focusing I use this lens with two cameras – a Canon 30D and a Mk IIn.  With the latter it is noticeably faster obviously.  Speed of focusing hasn’t been a problem unless shooting birds in flight in which case I will use the Mk IIn or the Canon 400mm f5.6.  One of the reasons I don’t upgrade to the latest new camera releases, apart from the cost, is I feel I am more held back by my own ability and opportunities.  The sequence of Turn shots below were taken using the Sigma lens and Canon Mk IIn, but I had to spend a lot of trial and error watching the Turns movements and practicing keeping them in frame.

F5.6 1/1600 sec ISO 800

Portability When I first got this lens I thought I would struggle carrying it around as I like to walk a lot and so be portable with any lens and equipment I have.  However, I straight away got a new bag for it – a Tamrac Expedition 7x – and this does a great job of taking away the weight of it and whatever else you are carrying on your back, so I can quite comfortably walk a couple of miles with it, I’m not sure I could do that with the Canon equivalent.  This bag is also great for using as a camera rest (see Starling below) I will also often attach it directly to my monopod and sling it over my shoulder.  One thing I have noticed, because it is a bigger lens and have missed opportunities that I might have otherwise go with the 400 or 300 lenses so the lens isn’t a walk around lens in that way and you really need to be in position, ready to take your photos with this. Durability Obviously I’ve only had this lens for a year so far although it was second hand, so I don’t know if it will have the lasting power of the Canon, but so far so good.  I have actually dropped it from a short height, luckily it fell onto its lens hood which dented it, but the lens was fine much to my relieve.  I have some covers on it so the complaints of the paint work chipping off hasn’t been an issue for me.  Hopefully I will be getting many years out of this yet as it has taken over my 400mm as the main lens I use.

F6.3 1/1600 sec ISO 1600 Taken lying down resting on my camera bag

F5 1/1000 sec ISO 1600

F4.5 1/6000 sec ISO 400

F5.6 1/1250 sec ISO 1600

 

Image Quality I’m most definitely not a ‘pixel peeper’, as it seems you either like the photo or you don’t, but I’ve included an image (Mallard Duck) typical of the ones above, where it was  taken at ISO 1600, 1/1000 and f4.5.  It’s not been processed, so there has been no sharpening or noise reduction. You can see that, despite being wide open and at ISO 1600 the sharpness isn’t bad and with a bit of sharpening, improves greatly. Click on photograph below to see the same full size cropped image processed. Clicking on the image of the Pheasant will give a larger image and shows the detail in the feathers, again at ISO 1600 but stopped down to f5.6 to get a bit more depth of field. Regarding any other image related issues with this lens, I have not come across any, certainly none that I have noticed but then, as I have said I am not a pixel peeper.  I did feel the colours were a bit warmer but if you don’t like this it is easily changed if you shoot RAW.

x1.4 Converter Being able to use a converter on this lens and still get good quality images was a big selling point for me.  Researching online gave me contradicting, mixed opinions.  I don’t know if this is down to the user or the quality of the individual converter or lens so I can only speak from my own experiences.    The Cormorant photograph right was taken using the Kenko pro x1.4 converter.  It’s also been cropped quite heavily,  as the original was in landscape.  This converter works great with the Sigma lens as it does with my Canon lenses.  It does slow it down, more noticeably when using my Canon 30D but it is perfectly useable, especially with the Mk IIn and even copes with larger birds in flight.  I don’t hesitate on using the converter if it helps and will shoot wide open with it on.   Photograph left – ISO 800, f5 and 1/3200     Conclusion I’m certainly glad I got this, particularly when I did as it’s now getting out of the price range of many enthusiasts even second hand.    It’s given me the chance to get that little bit closer to wildlife that I couldn’t with the 400mm lens even with the converter.  With the converter on this, it’s a bonus.  The extra amount of light it lets in at f4.5 makes a big difference compared to what I was used to at f5.6.     Update: Since posting this, I have continued to successfully use this lens and have done a more in depth review here where I have also made some comparisons to the Canon 400mm f5.6 lens.

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A Rainy Weekend…Again

As I type this, the song ‘”The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore” by the Walker Brothers is playing on the radio which is appropriative for the kind of weather we’ve been getting this year so far especially over the weekends.  Yesterday I was determined to get out, if only for a walk and despite it raining when I left home, I headed out to one of my favourite locations.  The weather forecasters predicted the rain to clear early on so I timed my arrival for then – of course it was still raining when I arrived.  Not deterred, I had a walk around and had borrowed a camcorder to have a bit of fun with.  As it happens, it turned out a good way of showing how often in the woods you can spot deer but of the difficulty of actually photographing them. Below is a short video I took of a typical sighting of Roe Deer  that I came across, showing the problems of not getting a clear view and how easily they can disappear. They are remarkably well hidden in the woods with their drab colour and it’s often only their movement or white rump that will give them away.  The image on the right was taken in my usual way which is sitting down with my back against a tree, overlooking an open area which I know they often will pass or cross over.  However this takes a lot of patience…and luck!

Continuing my walk there seemed to be more to see in the flooded fields at the wood edges with large numbers of Swans and Geese making the most of the opportunities supplied by the large bouts of rainfalls of recent weeks.  Large parts of the woods themselves were flooded and had become very marshy.  After over an hour after the forecasters said it would stop raining, it did however in the woods it still felt like it was raining as all the water collected in the top of the trees and branches dripped down. It was very quiet about with little stirring apart from my stomach as I had missed breakfast.  I couldn’t help but think back to the story books you would get as a child where animals lived in little comfy homes with  a log fire, pictures on the wall etc., and that’s where they were on this cold, damp morning, while muggins here was wandering around in the elements.

Some signs of a possible early arrival of spring as I came across some Snowdrops which came as a bit of a surprise as it seems such a long winter, though I think this may be a bit optimistic, barely being mid way through February and a forecast of another spell of cold weather for the next few weeks. Towards the end of the walk I came across some signs that there had been some activity by Foxes as shown by this fresh Fox scat.

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