Ahhhhh - Err 99

So my Canon Xsi with who knows how many shutter clicks now displays this error, and won't let me do anything. It makes a squeak noise when you turn it on, or attach a lens, and won't let you do anything. I've swapped batteries, swapped cards and cleaned contacts, but I expect the squeak noise means something is wrong with the lens attachment, or shutter area. Of course it did this at the New York Orchid Show and I hadn't brought my backup camera (which also is sick as the battery contacts are not always connecting.) Grrr.

250 mm Zoom and Focusing

Two more really far away birds from heavily cropped photos. I have to convince them to come closer or I'm just going to keep getting disappointing images.

Mourning Dove

Dark Eyed Junco

Cockatiel

This is a picture with the same settings, though I used the flash inside. Here the bird is roughly 5 feet away and takes up more than half of the frame. I even left it at iso 400. So the failures aren't necessarily the lens, though I can't really afford anything with more reach that is optically any better.

A Hawk Landed on My Head Today!!!

Well, it may have been a Merlin, I didn't manage to get a picture. Anyway. I went to Broadmoor this morning since I didn't have to be at work early today. It was freaking cold, 19 degrees or something and windy. I meandered a little, found some ice, and the mostly frozen river and noticed the spillway under a water fall I like got reworked. Only time will tell if they ruined it for photography or not. There also appears to be a new overlook at the wildlife pond, though I didn't explore it. Wandering around I spotted a hawk in a tree quite far off, and circled around to try to see it better. By the time I got there the blue jays had chased it and a friend off. I stayed to try to photograph some birds with some new tips I got about by 55-250 mm lens (f8, Servo Auto focus, shutter speed 1/320 or faster). I stood there for a good 10-15 minutes, very still with the camera up in front of me, snapping images of some sparrowy looking birds. I heard wings, and felt something land on my head, but almost immediately take off. I felt nothing but a light weight settling on my hat then it was gone. I turned around, expecting a blue jay, though I couldn't figure out why one would land on me. I figured if it had been an attack, I would have been pecked, or been whacked with the wings, there also would have been some shrieking as a warning before any dive-bombing. A few feet away at eye level was a tiny raptor, grey or brown and white streaked chest, tiny hooked beak, about the size of a jay. He took off before I could get the camera up. I think he had pointed wings, but the people at the Wildlife Center thought he was a sharp-shinned hawk, since merlins aren't as common this time of year. (Mind you just about anyone I know probably wouldn't have held still if they heard wings that close. My cockatiel has been using my head as a landing platform for years now, and I've become accustomed to freezing so she doesn't miss. Most of my relatives start freaking out when she takes off, which of course in turn freaks her out more.) So apparently in this getup and not moving I look like a very inviting tree stump. Especially since I was about 10 feet away from what I suspect would have been breakfast. I find it extremely funny that on my first day actively birdwatching a hawk landed on my head. I did manage some much, much better pics of small birds, though none were outstanding. A few of my very close to actually focused birds... not too heavily cropped.

American Robin White Throated Sparrow (maybe) Northern Cardinal (female) No idea, it had a little yellow on the top of its head and yellow and black wings. It also sat still almost long enough to focus then would take off again. About the size of the above birds in their original files. Basic tips for the lens included get closer, which I'm not so good at. I bought some thermal pants, so maybe I'll go out again tomorrow.

I'm Bored

Well, maybe not really bored. I've done nothing productive for the last 2 days. I discovered that blogger changed the Next blog button so it isn't random anymore. This has let me to clicking on it a lot top see what blogger thinks might interest me. Seems I get a lot of bird photography. I find this interesting since I don't actually end up with a lot of bird photos. It also remembers now where you've visited before, so if you click on a blog of the day about poker, suddenly you get nothing but gambling blogs for a while. I'm not really impressed. I'd rather it let you click something like "I like this one", "I don't like this one", so it would be actual recommendations, not so badly aimed. I have found lots of new blogs to check out, even with the wonky button. So I've wasted a ridiculous amount of time reading what other people are doing, but not actually doing anything. I did buy some camera stuff off eBay to play with but since it's eBay I don't expect to see it until at least next week. Really though it's just lens hoods, and some close-up filters to experiment with. If I can find somewhere that rents extension tubes or tele-extenders I have a bit of playing I want to do with both, but I'm not quite willing to spend $500 yet just to play with them. From what I understand I could hook a tele-extender to my 100 mm macro if I put an extension tube between them. From meandering on Flickr I came up with the idea of both items. I want to get a bit closer to the dragonflies, and It would be nice to have any hope at all of photographing a bird as more than a moving dot. I am going to be putting some bird feeders up in my front yard, where the light is better around dawn, and they're close to clean windows I can maybe photograph through. I have bird feeders out in the yard, but they're all so far away and at such back angles I can barely tell what landed on them. The other advantage of the front yard is they would be under a big pine tree which has already killed the grass behind it, so the sunflower seed wouldn't do as much damage. I hate not including a photo, so here you go. An early photo from my cheap cloud camera.

More Dragonfly Photo Tips

I went to Broadmoor today and wandered around for about 3 1/2 hours, taking 458 pics. This was caused by following my new rules. Until the critter gets bored and flies or crawls away I will keep clicking away.

^Heavy crops from photos shot at 100 mm.

I had been avoiding using my 55-250 mm IS lens after trying it in Disney with less than stellar results. I'm still unimpressed with it's auto focus, but when I switched to manual I managed some very nice dragonfly pics today. The only big downside I have with it is focusing distance, which starts at a whopping 3.6 feet. However, it helps a lot when you can't get anywhere near a critter. It also seems to work better, or at least easier in manual focus. On my cape vacation I discovered that in manual focus mode you can still get a focus spot when you hit focused. I was kind of impressed. I ended up with a good dozen in focus dragonfly pics with the lens, handheld even. I also discovered that Broadmoor has Ebony Jewelwings (Calopteryx maculata), though they're very hard to photograph. They can be seen on the Hemlock Trail along the river. You'll have better luck on the side without the waterfall, as they seem to like sunlight. I'm going to Garden in the Woods tomorrow, so there will likely be more dragonfly pics.

Great Island - Wellfleet

This is a trail I didn't try last year, so was all new this year. I quite enjoyed the chunk I went on. I arrived around low tide, which is really the best time to walk in tidal flats, or on a beach. The trail went much farther than I ended up walking, and the furthest parts are underwater at some high tides. Just like at Audubon's Wellfleet Bay there were plenty of fiddler crabs underfoot. The parts of the trail I went on had no shade whatsoever, so plan for a hot walk. I was a little disappointed by a huge house? being built quite close to the trail so construction noises echoed all around. The clouds were a little better than I'd been getting previously, so I took lots of sand dunes with sky or clouds pics there. I also got there near noon, so my circular polarizer could work without heavily altering colors. Keep in mind this is a very cheap polarizer, it came in a set with a UV filter for $20.

^Circular polarizer set at diff rotations, same time as belowThe polarizer limits light from diff angles from entering the lens, which has several uses, making skies bluer, killing reflections on wet surfaces, and at least partially removing reflections on shiny surfaces.

Sections of the beach were closed off for breeding birds, but the section that was open I found quite nice, and healthier seeming than the basic beach at the resort we all stay at. This beach had plenty of barnacles and snails on the rocks that were being exposed by low tide. I've found the resort beach to be a generic beach, ie it has sand, small amounts of shells, and rocks, but very little interesting life. The fact that they tractor it at least once a week to keep it neat likely doesn't help its sterility.

Several cement and stone poles, possibly left over from a dock, had awesome bright yellow lichen growing on them.

Other than the WellFleet Bay Sanctuary this is my next favorite place for photos on the Cape. It would have been even better if the dang darner dragonflies would have just landed.

Photographing Dragonflies or Damselflies

I have a few new philosophies about photographing dragonflies. Step one: take as any pictures as possible, from different distances. Even if you're obviously too far away you might be able to at least get a photo you could id the species with, making it easier to find again later.

^from 6 feet away^

^zoomed to source from above^

Step two: take pictures until the critter gets bored and flies away. This increases your odds of getting a good pic exponentially. It does get repetitive later though if you're not very good about weeding out the extras.

^I have 38 pics of this one damselfly, the first time I found a spread wing^

Step three: make sure to try out manual focus if you aren't getting what you want with automatic. I've been having issues with compound eyes. I know my camera and lens are capable of getting that hint of an eye pattern, but until I played with manual focus I just wasn't getting it.

^in focus eye^

^eye actual source file size^

Random dragonfly tips. Dragonflies have a tendency to return to a few familiar perches over and over. If you startle one you can often back off and it will return in the same approximate location, depending a bit on species. Damselflies seem to be on average more flighty than dragons. They don't go as far, but they take off more. If you approach slowly enough most dragonflies aren't too flighty, some of them are even willing to transfer to your fingers if you try.

Happy 4th of July - Daily Photo

Took over 500 pics at one show. I'm debating hitting another show today, since these are from last night.

Daily Photo - Boomer

I got a new flash. A Canon Speedlite 430EX II. So far I love it. This was bounced off the ceiling.

Moose Hill Meandering

When the sun crept out on Friday morning I went frog hunting. I found some other things, but one nice Green Frog, Friday's Daily photo, and this Pickerel Frog fulfilled my main goals. Oddly enough both frogs were on the boardwalk on the Billings Loop which is by far my favorite trail at moose hill. Since it's been alternately drizzling or pouring for more than a week the water was as high as I've seen it outside of winter. Before this I had rarely seen frogs even near the boardwalk. The closest I normally get is hearing a peep before they disappear. I guess the higher water level is making it easier for them to access the boardwalk. I spotted a water snake on it last week during another slight break in the weather. I haven't really been seeing dragonflies which I'm finding disappointing. I'm getting a little better with focusing on my 100 mm macro lens. The secret seems to be using a big flash even in bright sunlight, meaning it's great that it can open to 2.8, but I can never keep it steady enough to focus on that tiny slice, so really need the f stop around 5 or so to really get what I consider focused. The flash I'm using is quite old, ie was used with a canon AE-1. Oddly enough it still works quite well, and lasts for days with nimh batteries.

Christmas Present to Myself

After weeks of reading reviews and going back and forth over my requirements I got a new camera. I bought a Canon Rebel XSi, a 18-55 mm IS lens, a 55-250 IS lens, and a 100mm f/2.8 macro lens (this one was my Christmas gift from my parents.) I'm ridiculously excited, but the weather hasn't been cooperating. I've had it since Wednesday and so far only played around inside. I just got a bag last night, so hopefully tomorrow will go out and give it a workout. It takes huge pictures compared to my S3, or the A470. And the flash is high enough that I'm having less of a horrible red eye problem. Lots of reviews I read complained of a focusing issue, which there might be, but I'm not seeing one. It does however want to focus on whatever is closest to the camera, if you leave it on default, which some new users might see as an error. In truth the only sad thing is this camera is, after my car, the single most expensive thing I own. The computer might have cost more, but resale value is nil. None of the critters got this expensive. The fish tanks would have to be combined with all their accessories, and they might not even get that high. Time to actually get that renter's insurance I guess. sigh...

S3 New Look

After two years of shooting with this camera I finally caved and bought an adapter, though it was an aftermarket adapter, hence the tape. I've been wanting to play with filters for a while now, but couldn't bring myself to pay 30 bucks for a plastic adapter. I got a metal one on eBay for $14.50 with free shipping. Though it did take over a week to arrive. I then went and got some cheap filters to experiment with, most especially a circular polarizer. The only downside of all this is while waiting for the adapter to arrive, I finally made up my mind on my next camera. I'm going to try a Canon XSi. It's a 12.2 mega pixel DSLR, that also uses SD cards, which I now have a ton of (though they might be too slow.) All told I'll be spending over $1,000 on my new camera and 2 lenses. There goes a chunk of my bonus. Technically the camera and it's kit lens aren't that expensive, but I'm getting a dedicated macro lens too, at the same time, or I would never justify $400-$600 on one lens. I decided on it after reading many reviews, seeing test shots, holding the camera, and seeing a very funny forum post. It said someone who wanted the camera had taken 3,000 pictures with his point-and-shoot, so he thought it was time to move up. My S3 just rolled over again to 20,000 pictures, well technically it was in November. I've moved up to 21,326 as of yesterday. So if someone who took 3,ooo pictures thinks it's time to upgrade, I should probably upgrade as well. I was going to move to the SX10, but I've been unimpressed by the photos it's been taking, and it can't use filters, which just pisses me off. I've also found I really dislike the wheel they moved to from the S3's design. It does not respond as smoothly as just clicking. That's after 4 visits to Best Buy just to hold it and mess with the settings.

Canon AE-1 Update

Well. It works, and I remember why I hate film cameras. 24 shots two nice ones. Anyone want a Canon AE-1 with some nice lenses?

Canon AE-1 Repair

So a few weeks ago I finally got to play lightly with my mother's old manual cameras. We found the AE-1 and a Sears camera. Both were declared broken a number of years ago, and left to slowly cook in the attic. Along with some nice lens. I originally went up there looking for filters, which apparently we don't have any of. Either way I forgot about it until a few days ago when I was considering buying a broken digital camera off eBay to take it apart. After a few hours it occur ed to me I already had two broken cameras I could take apart. The AE-1 wouldn't advance, or let you press down the shutter, but otherwise looked okay. And it had been stored wearing a lens, so there wasn't much dust on it. The battery in it had worked, because the light meter functioned. But I had yanked the battery when we decided it was broken. We pulled all the batteries for recycling. So I took as many screws out of the AE-1 as I could, and found what could have been the problem. Subsequent web searches also pointed to what I had fiddled with likely being the problem. However I needed a new battery to make sure. Popped in the new battery, and like magic the dead camera seems to function fine. I am going to replace the light seals (which have decomposed to a black tarry mess, then try a roll of film to see how it goes. It has some nice lenses though I think the base 50 mm is broken, as the aperture inside it seems stuck halfway open and doesn't seem to open all the way up. Most of the lenses also need to be cleaned. It looks like the auto winder doesn't quite work anymore, but it might just be since there isn't any film in it. Both flashes we had seem to still work, and refresh amazingly fast on eneloop rechargeables. I'll see how it goes. It has taken some excellent pictures in the past.

Confetti

Just playing with some musical note confetti at a birthday party.