RE: Wednesday walk and the last chance birdies
Haha, it does make me feel better, a bit! I never cared much to begin with tho, I just think it's funny. I go where the action is, dog park or not. I think that's one of the hardest things to accept is the loss of so much sunlight for so long. The more north you get the worse it gets. When I worked in Northern Alberta in the middle of the Borealis forest in winter, we used to get like 5 hours of daylight/day. The sun would start to set in mid-afternoon.
As @guchtere mentioned above, I've always been scared to lose quality in the image. I have tried a 500mm lens once and it was like walking around with a bazooka on my shoulder and extremely cumbersome, maybe it was just the model. I do have tripods I should set up but I'm not really a staying in one place kind of photographer. I plan on going mirror-less with my next camera but my brand only has one lens available for it last time I checked, no rush but my baby is getting old and obsolete. Changing gear is pretty expensive too, I pay for my toys cash or I don't get em at all. I'll see if I can afford one by next summer if not maybe the year after next (Given my camera doesn't fall apart too much till then) but I also have to save up for some college towards my second degree to progress in my career that is a priority over new gear... Ahhhh adult life & responsibilities eh! WHYYYY lol
I have been meaning to join your walk all summer, some reason haven't until now.
I to am not a staying in one place kind of person, thats why you seldom see bird or wildlife shots from me you need to be patient and stay still for ages to get those shots and I am too hyper to do that myself LOL, and thats also why even though I have bene considering getting a 150-600 MM lens I have t way down my list as I like walk around lens and thatis heavy, hence why my next lens will be a wider lens
I switch to mirrorless a coupe or more years ago and I love them to be honest
The good thing with Sony and maybe with other mirrorless cameras there are adapters so you you can use just about any lens on them, today I am walking with a 50+ year old lens :)
I hope your camera hangs in there till you are ready for a new one 👍
I know it goes against all rules of wildlife photography, but somehow I tend to get lucky with wildlife but I also track them in the middle of nowhere like a hunter, especially in winter when bears are hibernating (it somehow makes me feel a bit safer) but that also has it's dangers especially with large game.
I keep hearing from those who made the plunge that they much prefer mirror-less and it's also lighter, great for the mountain climbing I do, always looking for ways to lighten the load and only carry a few lighter items. I will also be looking to get extension tubes for mountain macros of wildflowers where I can't bring my "full pack" of lenses to make room for essential supplies for backpacking. Once 600mm is available for nikon mirror-less I would look into one of them for sure over a tele-converter but that wont be for a while. All z-6 and z-7 come with a free adapter for now, obviously changing all my gear at once will be too expensive so I will slowly replace to have all new matching tech in time. 150-600 has a lot of versatility, must have a nice price tag attached to that! Wide lens are fun too. I never tried vintage lenses before, I bet they give a different feel to photos. I dunno about the camera holding up, the main functional parts are fine but some of the bells and whistles are now in my coat pocket. 😂
I'm looking for ways to diversify my game and getting experience in photography types that I'm not used to and have been booking myself "free-gigs" for nov-dec(basically getting a pass to get my camera where I normally can't for my blog) , getting my foot in the door where ever I can, hopefully in time lead to bigger things as my blog continues to grow. Wouldn't mind getting out of the oil industry before it gets obsolete but that's not for a while since we are building new test technologies in emission capture and production of cleaner burning fuels.
The Sony 150-600 is around 2K but the sigma one is around 1K so could be an option for me, but for now I am thinking the wider lens will be better for me,
Mirrorless is for sure lighter thats why I switched initially, but then we carry heavy lens anyway LOL
The Helios 44-2 gives a nice bokeh an swirl, I took a few shots with it today but the su kept hiding behind clouds so did not use it as much as I was hoping
I dont get out in places with wildlife much but maybe that is something i will look into when I retire and have more time
Those gigs sound interesting good luck with them
2k US is a lot to dish out for a lens, even more with Canadian shitcoin that's worth like 65-75 cents on the US dollar (not keeping up anymore because the fast devaluation is depressing) I was looking at the sigma as well for that one. They do make some good lenses (not all). Given the big NY landscape, you would probably have fun with a wide angle, also more affordable. I got one second hand years ago for the rockies, pretty sure that is a sigma as well.
I know right! Lighter camera with a big monster lens! lol
Well the sun has to come out at some point, try again another day. Interesting to see the finish tho. I might have to hit markets for vintage at some point, would be an interesting twist to new projects.
Just, before you get carried away with large wildlife, do some reading up on it like safe distances, behaviors and body language, how to protect yourself and what to do in case SHTF first to stay safe and know when to abandon ship, running away is not an option in most cases. Certain periods like mating or calf season are more dangerous and not a preferable scenario if your are out with nowhere to hide. That will make for fun retirement projects!
Well the one I'm really excited about involves local world champion pro-boxing but that's not a for sure yet until that pass is in my hands but that's in the works for possible approval at the moment. (I did get some iphone pics for now, don't know if I'm going to share them yet, quality is kinda meh)
I have had two sigma and two Tamron lenses over the years I think back when I had a Pentax camera and hey were great and affordable, of course I did read many views before getting them, as some of their lenses are not as good as others, but the sigma 150-600 and the Tamron 17-28 both have great reviews, infact what I am leaning for now is to eventually get the 12-28 2.8 and 28-70 2.8 Tamrons and as the 28-70 is a lot better than the kit lens that came with the camera, and they use the same filter size which. Is handy and those are good ranges for city shooting and for each visits also
Back int he day I used to do a lot of bush walks and hikes even camping overnight so I am pretty good with knowing what to do and not do to stay safe, but that said I dont think I will ever be heading to deep into wild areas i am not as young as I used to be LOL
WOW getting a pass for pro boxing would be so cool and a greta experience, now that you mention that I think if I ever got a chance to pal=ply for and get a pass to shoot events like that then the bigger lens would be a must
Sorry for breaking in on the conversation, but is the new released Tamron 17-28 (or is that the 12-28 you're mentioning?🤔) nothing for you @tattoodjay combined with the already strong performer 28-75 from Tamron it is a golden combo. Wish Tamron released those for the Z-mount as well. But can't complain, Nikon just delivered my new toy the 14-30
I never tried Tamron, I know a few people that had some and they weren't impressed but each their own. I have sigma 18-200 (my work horse) and my first lens + 10-24mm (or something like that) like them both very much. I have an other sigma I think it's a 18-300 macro-tele combo. I'm not thrilled with that one, it's ok in high sun but that's about it. If I can sneak in with my Nikor 40mm, I'll go with that any day. The rest of my lenses are Nikkor and I really like them, so crisp and vivid.
Haha "deep into the wild". Different camping then in Canada then. Some of our camping is deep into the wild with nothing more than a cheap camp site and what you bring. No phone, internet or signal for 30km all around!! They are not all like that. hehe
Yeah for sure bigger lens. I will be bringing my 18-200 and my 300. I got a phone call this afternoon, IT IS A GO!!! Whoaaaaa. lol. Can't use flash but the ring is well lit. Harder because once the boxers get sweaty, they look like big white glow in the dark blobs with iphone fully zoomed in. I don't like violence and never thought I would like to watch ppl punch each other in the face repeatedly but I have a coworker that had his pro-debut last weekend and we went to support him and it was so much fun. It's actually an elegant sport to be there, they have so much grace even outside the ring. The next match is almost on my birthday so we are getting ring side table seats with other co-workers anyway(that's what I asked @silvergingerman for my birthday gift & outing). Nice that I will get to bring my camera at least for this event. I can also get pretty close when they come out to get in and off the ring, get some hugz and handshakes & fist bumps from the boxers...so special.
Wooha nice that you got a photo approval🎉
Woohoo thats great news that you got the approval, have fun and get some awesome shots so they will invite you back :) it sounds like a cool event to shoot
Yes tamron initially had a bad rep, but they have been improving I have seen rave reviews on the lens I am thinking of getting
Well that's good, at least they are trying. Maybe I'll try renting one and see, might be another cheapy brand for me to get into.
I hope I get good shots too, I never did sports photo like this before and on top of that, I will be in photography row to watch the fight with the real photographers!! Best seat in the house! My birthday is going to be so epic.