Dartford Warbler
Hi all
Today's update is a milestone for me.........last week after a long time saving.....I took the plunge and jumped into the murky dark art world of DSLR's..........
Oh.........what came over me........don't worry my trusty pani FZ38 will always be with me.
For lanscapes, sunsets, sunrises and close up work.....my trusty pani will be gainfully employed.
There are things my bridge will do that I miss in most DSLR......even the pro models!
But I'll leave those comparisons until another day when I have more time.......
I bought a Nikon D7000 last weekend with a standard 18 to 105mm kit lens......
But sadly I had only about 2 hours play with it in the whole weekend......
One reason I never said to anyone I had the camera......I needed more time to try it and start to re-learn everything. And yesterday I picked up a telephoto lens ( Sigma 150-500mm )
So with the weather man saying today was going to be a gorgeous sunny day (ahhhh.....he was so wrong!!! ) it was sunny for half an hour.............I was really keen to get out today.
So my plan was to do from sun up to sun down.....taking in the sunrise and sunset ( did I say before the weather man got it wrong ) as well as going to a number of locations to try the new camera set-up.
Anyway I was up early making up my days kit.........rucksack containing flask of tea, corn beef sandwiches, roast chicken crisps, two fruit drinks......food sorted for the day!
One laptop......in case I run out of room on the memory cards and needed to transfer files while I was out and about. ( hey....it's a new camera so still learning how memory hungry it is! )
So there I was at the beach ready for a glorious sunrise ( glorious it wasn't! ) but did get a few shots with my old FZ38
Then I went on to the main event.......wanted to try the new camera on the wildlife along the cliffs.
With a lot of trial and error some shorts came out ok......and others like a whole set of Meadow pipit shots....which looked gorgeous through the view finder......until I checked them on the screen ....and found I had knocked the dial to full manual and they were all burnt out.... dohh!
Anyway to cut a long day short.......have some nice Stonechat pictures which I'll post another time.....did some Lizards with the old FZ ( and yep the little reptiles are still out and about )
Managed to take some nice Dartford warbler captures.....since being Dorset I have seen many but never managed to get a decent shot of these rare little birds.......so really happy to see one today and do justice to these lovely little birds.
Also went out to my fav spot for seeing Common darters this year........sadly :-( I didn't see any.
They've had a awesome year.......in this location I've seen them from June till the end of November.....almost a week shy of six months.
Anyway the sad loss of dragons until next spring was more than made up with a lovely and relaxed sighting of a male Roe Deer.
I've tweaked all the shots from RAW to JPEG and added some adjustments like sharpening and contrast. In the case of the Dartford warbler I've left the un-cropped version for you to see as well.
With the type of sensor you get in the D7000 you can crop a bit without too much loss clarity.
In the grand scheme of things the lens I bought is relatively cheep compared to buying a Nikon.....if I wanted a really good Nikon with this reach I wouldn't get much change out of £6000
So I'm happy with this Sigma.... the roe deer was taken at well over 60ft away in woodland on a cloudy day......so with a little tweaking and sharpening and a close crop....they came out really well.
Dartford Warbler
Hi all
Today's update is a milestone for me.........last week after a long time saving.....I took the plunge and jumped into the murky dark art world of DSLR's..........
Oh.........what came over me........don't worry my trusty pani FZ38 will always be with me.
For lanscapes, sunsets, sunrises and close up work.....my trusty pani will be gainfully employed.
There are things my bridge will do that I miss in most DSLR......even the pro models!
But I'll leave those comparisons until another day when I have more time.......
I bought a Nikon D7000 last weekend with a standard 18 to 105mm kit lens......
But sadly I had only about 2 hours play with it in the whole weekend......
One reason I never said to anyone I had the camera......I needed more time to try it and start to re-learn everything. And yesterday I picked up a telephoto lens ( Sigma 150-500mm )
So with the weather man saying today was going to be a gorgeous sunny day (ahhhh.....he was so wrong!!! ) it was sunny for half an hour.............I was really keen to get out today.
So my plan was to do from sun up to sun down.....taking in the sunrise and sunset ( did I say before the weather man got it wrong ) as well as going to a number of locations to try the new camera set-up.
Anyway I was up early making up my days kit.........rucksack containing flask of tea, corn beef sandwiches, roast chicken crisps, two fruit drinks......food sorted for the day!
One laptop......in case I run out of room on the memory cards and needed to transfer files while I was out and about. ( hey....it's a new camera so still learning how memory hungry it is! )
So there I was at the beach ready for a glorious sunrise ( glorious it wasn't! ) but did get a few shots with my old FZ38
Then I went on to the main event.......wanted to try the new camera on the wildlife along the cliffs.
With a lot of trial and error some shorts came out ok......and others like a whole set of Meadow pipit shots....which looked gorgeous through the view finder......until I checked them on the screen ....and found I had knocked the dial to full manual and they were all burnt out.... dohh!
Anyway to cut a long day short.......have some nice Stonechat pictures which I'll post another time.....did some Lizards with the old FZ ( and yep the little reptiles are still out and about )
Managed to take some nice Dartford warbler captures.....since being Dorset I have seen many but never managed to get a decent shot of these rare little birds.......so really happy to see one today and do justice to these lovely little birds.
Also went out to my fav spot for seeing Common darters this year........sadly :-( I didn't see any.
They've had a awesome year.......in this location I've seen them from June till the end of November.....almost a week shy of six months.
Anyway the sad loss of dragons until next spring was more than made up with a lovely and relaxed sighting of a male Roe Deer.
I've tweaked all the shots from RAW to JPEG and added some adjustments like sharpening and contrast. In the case of the Dartford warbler I've left the un-cropped version for you to see as well.
With the type of sensor you get in the D7000 you can crop a bit without too much loss clarity.
In the grand scheme of things the lens I bought is relatively cheep compared to buying a Nikon.....if I wanted a really good Nikon with this reach I wouldn't get much change out of £6000
So I'm happy with this Sigma.... the roe deer was taken at well over 60ft away in woodland on a cloudy day......so with a little tweaking and sharpening and a close crop....they came out really well.