I have taken the plunge and updated the camera to a full frame, however with Richard absent due to his wife being poorly and he not feeling 100%, he had decided not to pass on the bug and so we had separate visits out. I thought even though I had only just received the camera, I would take it out without the D7100 and give it a try, hence the experimenting.
I had a visit to Rutland Water travelling straight from home with no stops this time, having left home at about 11.45 hrs. On arrival I booked in at the Egleton Centre and saw a friend of ours who is usually on duty at the Lyndon Centre with the Ospreys. He informed me that the Bittern were still at Lagoon 3 and someone had reported seeing three. I personally only saw one, and that was only a fleeting sighting as it showed above the reeds.
I arrived at Lagoon 3 to find a party of school children virtually filling the hide with one of the full time wardens with them. All had been provided with binoculars and were having a wonderful time spotting different birds, some were very good and some were a bit of a disaster but still wonderful to here some of the comments they came out with, the best bit being they were all having an enjoyable time. A great way to introduce youngsters to bird watching and nature in general.
However I started taking some images to see what the camera could do and for the first attempt I am delighted, but must check some of the settings. Took the instruction book with me, but you feel a bit of a twit sitting in the hide checking settings in the book, however I still did this but after the children had gone.
All the following images are taken with the lens set at 500 mm.
On leaving I phoned my wife to say I was going off owling and she told me it was raining at home, the sun was still lovely at the reservoir. However by the time I had got to Little Owl site No. 12 it had started raining and the only site I saw an owl at was Site No. 17 and that was only very brief and no image managed.
I had a visit to Rutland Water travelling straight from home with no stops this time, having left home at about 11.45 hrs. On arrival I booked in at the Egleton Centre and saw a friend of ours who is usually on duty at the Lyndon Centre with the Ospreys. He informed me that the Bittern were still at Lagoon 3 and someone had reported seeing three. I personally only saw one, and that was only a fleeting sighting as it showed above the reeds.
I arrived at Lagoon 3 to find a party of school children virtually filling the hide with one of the full time wardens with them. All had been provided with binoculars and were having a wonderful time spotting different birds, some were very good and some were a bit of a disaster but still wonderful to here some of the comments they came out with, the best bit being they were all having an enjoyable time. A great way to introduce youngsters to bird watching and nature in general.
However I started taking some images to see what the camera could do and for the first attempt I am delighted, but must check some of the settings. Took the instruction book with me, but you feel a bit of a twit sitting in the hide checking settings in the book, however I still did this but after the children had gone.
All the following images are taken with the lens set at 500 mm.
On leaving I phoned my wife to say I was going off owling and she told me it was raining at home, the sun was still lovely at the reservoir. However by the time I had got to Little Owl site No. 12 it had started raining and the only site I saw an owl at was Site No. 17 and that was only very brief and no image managed.
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Pintail Ducks, Lagoon 3. First image taken on camera at a distance of approx 130 metres at an ISO of 200. Image has been considerably cropped. Nearest two birds are crisp but third bird shows signs of not being so sharp. |
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Second image, not so greatly cropped to show the fourth bird. |
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Red Shank, Lagoon 3. Bird was striding out and you can see the small bow wave it is making. This bird was 70 metres away. |
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It then turned and moved to the right and got closer, so I managed to get a side shot. This still at ISO 200 and 1/640 s, f 6.3. |
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Little Egret, Lagoon 3. This bird came in and landed and staid for about a minutes and then went away. Distance 85 metres . camera set at ISO 200 f 6.3 at 1/640 s. |
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Green Sandpiper, Lagoon 3. Again a shot at ISO 200, 1/800 s f 6.3. Distance 45 metres. |
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Again same setting as above and same distance. |
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Teal, Lagoon 3. Teal at a distance of 90 metres ISO 200, 1/640 s, f 6.3. |
Teal again at 90 metres, same settings.
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Drake Wigeon, Lagoon 3. I am checking with a friend as to confirm the breed of duck {thank you Arthur}. This bird was 200 metres away and again at ISO 200, 1/400 s f 6.3. I could not crop this image anymore so at least I can get in my mind this was a step to far. |
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Lapwing and Gull, Lagoon 3. Same settings as previous and 90 metres away. |
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Cock Pheasant, Lagoon 2. This image at ISO 250, 1/400 s at f 6.3. Distance 80 metres. I took this image and did a quick check as to the outcome, and the bird flew across the narrow strip of water, that being the shot I was trying to get. |
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Gadwall, Lagoon 2. This shot again at ISO 250, 1/400 s f 6.3. This image would have been better by winding up the ISO to 640 or 800 and setting to f 8 or 9. This would have increased the focal length and got the head to the same sharpness as the body. This over a distance of only 38 metres. It appears that the closer you get the depth of field shortens. I hope you appreciate that I was somewhat struggling with the new camera without Richard in attendance but hopefully we will soon be out again together. In the mean time I will keep trying when ever possible to get trial shots in and amend settings as required. |
