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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    I would spell it 'Eider' on my side of the pond. They are common where my sister lives in Scotland, I've seen one duck and one drake in my 60 odd years in South Wales. So I don't know them that well. It's a drake, I'm sure, but not in breeding plumage, so it is either in eclipse plumage or...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    I don't usually shoot video, and this is not a bird, and I wish I hadn't tried taking a few stills while the movie was being taken. But I have to post this - I took it about 5 hours ago and I'm still flying. My best sighting ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0gkJZ5QSuY&feature=youtu.be David
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    I'm beginning to dislike house sparrows

    My impression round here is that there was a big decline a few years ago, but then a pretty steady revival till this year, when there has been an explosion in their population. And yes, they are monopolising feeders at the expense of tits in particular. David
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    Questions about Gannets and their young.

    The background to these questions is that I'm staying with my sister in Fife at the moment and a couple of days ago we enjoyed a trip to the Isle of May. The guy on the boat said that a lot of young gannets were so well fed that they were too fat to fly (I wonder if perhaps having wings that...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    Yes, I manage OK with varifocals after adjusting the diopter. David
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    Hi Rapala One thing to consider is the difference the atmosphere can make when shooting at distance, particularly when it's sunny and convection currents in the atmosphere tend to make things a bit fuzzy. In one post crazyfingers shows the same view taken on the same settings on different days...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    Bhoggy I've found, as other people have mentioned, that taking lots of pics gets the odd one way better than average. Using the custom setting rather than Av does cut depth of field down a bit, I spose, but does allow the digital converter that I have on the S button. Here is a pic of a bumble...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    Back at using the Raynox macro lens with the SX50, today I tried using my C1 settings, as crazyfingers posted some hundred posts ago, and used the converter to zoom out of vignetting range, and was very pleased with the details shown on the images at both 1.5 and 2x. More playing and...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    I know it is not bird related, but at the moment I'm spending more time trying out my new Raynox macro lens. I am pretty much a noob at taking pictures by any other method the automatic point and shoot, so it will come as no surprise that I find it difficult to know what to do with settings...
  10. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Oldrarek, I know that Roy often shoots in RAW and does some post production. A couple of points, though, from a comparative newbie like yourself, but perhaps a few months ahead. One is that even with superzoom cameras there is no substitute for getting close to the subject in good light. The...
  11. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Just thought I'd have a go at video. Lots wrong with it - shaky,extraneous wind noise, hand held at very high zoom - but still not too bad, I think. Totally unedited, and just a few seconds long of Fulmar feeding a chick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfXEqIiz2mI David
  12. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Some more macro efforts showing room for improvement, but I'm not unhappy with results so far Cabbage White - or perhaps Small White - eggs on a wild cabbage, a shot of part of the plinth of a statue with fossil dead centre, and a macro pic of the fossil...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    Roy can do better without the Raynox than I can with it - so far anyway. But here are a couple of my early experiments with it, taken today http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMG_4399ladybirdtrim_zps77c46796.jpg...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    This pic from yesterday is not wonderful, but is aimed at making people from other parts of the country jealous. Taken an the Old Deer Park above Martin's Haven. http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMG_4208chough_zps1d104c78.jpg And the next one is not a bird, but an example of...
  15. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    I took my first photos with the Raynox added today, with no clue about what settings to use, so I just set it on Av, zoomed in enough to get beyond vignetting, on a mini-tripod, with a remote focus/shoot gizmo that I got of ebay for a couple of quid a few months ago. Advice on custom setting...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    I've just won an ebay auction for one of those Raynox macro lenses, which should arrive in a few days. I will have a play with it then, though apparently I might have to get some sort of fitting first, but then it would be rather surprising to me if I don't have to ask for advice about how to...
  17. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Fabulous pic, Rob. A couple of questions - does it owe a lot to post production, and to what extent, if at all, is it cropped. I don't really understand how the fixed 4 inches ties in with the moving it backwards depending on zoom. How far away from the butterfly was that taken? I want to...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    This is taken at too great a range by an unsteady hand, so there is no way it can be a great photo. It has its virtues though. Throughout the winter and spring I often saw and photographed a female kestrel,which has been missing for a couple of months. It frequents a very popular area, Castle...
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    Canon SX50 Specs

    Well it takes ages to upload a few seconds of shaky unedited video, hand held at high zoom. I might as well post it though, as I took it more as a video test than anything else. However it does show a pair of Canadas at Carew Mill Pond. It's a place I've known pretty well all my life, and I...
  20. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Roy, what sort of lens would a DSLR require to get the quality of that sort of cormorant shot? I don't imagine that blowing up a 3x zoom would be able to hack it, even with huge pixelage, and a very high quality lens - but I really have no idea what sort of zoom it would take to equal it. 300...
  21. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Anyone familiar with Stack Rocks in South Pembs? This taken full optical zoom hand held today, with lower link the same place shot from much the same place a couple of years ago with my SX30. David
  22. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    After trying more today, I now don't think it quite so clear cut - sometimes I do better from distance, sometimes using macro. Still thinking about what I am doing, different types of targets etc to see if I can work out some generalities for when it is best to use the one or the other, and how...
  23. D

    A new App for Birding

    And pics of immature birds, at various stages where applicable, and eclipse plumages with approximate times of year for when birds in eclipse. David
  24. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Did a bit of comparing macros of flowers with full zoom pics taken as close as will focus, and have pretty much changed my mind. The full zoom usually clearly better and always easier. David
  25. D

    Canon SX50 Specs

    Bed calls soon, so I'll try to remember to upload a flower pic tomorrow. 1) I've taken pics of flowers on slopes or walls so that I don't have to crouch too low 2) Yes - some flowers are easier to use macro on than others 3) Unlike when I take birds, my best results have been on cloudy days...
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