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

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    Birds In Flight Settings For Canon 7D MKII

    I have had the best luck using the zone focus (central one-third of available focus points). I have never been able to get a spot focus on a fast moving bird. Of course this is best when you do not have a strong background pattern that grabs the focus points. I also generally need to have at...
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    Catalina State Park Oro Valley AZ mystery bird

    Thanks to all for the ID. Lawrence's Goldfinch is a life bird for us.
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    Catalina State Park Oro Valley AZ mystery bird

    We saw this bird 9 December 2014 in the Catalina mountains at about 3000 feet. We are unable to identify this bird. It is about the size of a large sparrow. Can anyone help with this?
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    Mystery bird Muscat, Oman 18 Jan 2014

    Thank you all for your comments. It looks like the consensus is Temminck's Stint and I'm willing to go with that.
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    Mystery bird Muscat, Oman 18 Jan 2014

    Birding last month in a marshy area near a dam, we spotted a group of Little Stints. One looked slightly larger. We had got as far as saying the legs looked yellowish when the group flew. We relocated the larger bird at a great distance and got this photo. Any chance it's a Long-toed Stint?
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    Unknown bird Malheur, Oregon, USA

    I looked again at the reference James gave; indeed the tail can appear all black when closed. BillB
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    Unknown bird Malheur, Oregon, USA

    Thank you all for your time on sorting this out. After re-examining this photo (and a few others of very poor quality) I agree that the view is of the bird backside (my wife still maintains it is a front view). It is hard to understand why the tail appears all black; lighting maybe? Also, is...
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    Unknown bird Malheur, Oregon, USA

    Please help us identify this bird seen at the P Ranch, in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon, USA. 17 June, 2011. It was possibly about House Finch size. The photo shows the bird from the front, with a very vivid golden breast color.
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    Comment by 'Guest' in media 'Red-tailed hawk and Northern Pintail duck'

    Thank you all for the nice comments. I must say that this is an example where timing is more important than equipment. I was digiscoping, not normally a very good for technique action shots. Bill
    • BillB
    • Gallery comment
  10. Red-tailed hawk and Northern Pintail duck

    Red-tailed hawk and Northern Pintail duck

    Red-tailed hawk capturing and dispatching a Northern Pintail duck
    • BillB
    • Media item
    • Comments: 5
    • Category: North America
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    How long did it you take to learn digiscope?

    I totally agree with RJM on the value of intensive practice. In fact, you can learn quickly within your own backyard. Take thousands of shots carefully adjusting each parameter, e.g., focus (scope vs. camera), aperture and depth of field, exposure compensation, ISO, and notate what works and...
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    Swaro ats + DCA + Nikon P6000 + ?

    Hello, Kristoffer: you will need an adapter for the P6000 to connect it to the DCA. I believe that this is the Nikon UR-E21. I have a P5100 which I use with the same scope. If you have the angled eyepiece, you will not even need to use the tightening screw on the DCA when mounted, as gravity...
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    which compact super-zoom?

    I have recently purchased a Panasonic FZ35. I bought a Lenmar battery as a backup (Chinese knockoff), and it works just fine in the camera (I would use it only as a backup). It is a fraction of the cost of the Panasonic battery, but might not provide all the failure "safeguards" of the...
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    Frustated P6000 Swaro spotting scope user - cr*p focus...

    If you are pressed for time, you can also shift the apparent image from the scope into the camera macro range by deliberately focusing the scope a very small amount beyond the target (now commonly called "back focusing"). While not as precise as the Gene's suggestion, it is pretty fast, and...
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    basic question on focusing

    Just to clarify my Savannah Sparrow example: I do focus with the scope eyepiece (actually "back focus" a tad) then pop the camera onto the scope. With the DCA adapter, this is really a quick action. BugBear apparently has an arrangement that does not allow a quick mount of the camera, so I was...
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    basic question on focusing

    The camera autofocus will correct optics misfocus, but works much better one direction than the other, and the amount of misfocus is important. Here is a lengthy thread on the subject: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=118486. So it seems that you would have to focus the optics with...
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    Defocusing to get better focus

    Neil, I tried your method of focus using the digital zoom with very good results. In fact, I cannot really see any difference in results than when using Macro focus mode and back focusing (in good light). Digital zoom certainly makes focusing easier. This technique will be very useful for...
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    Defocusing to get better focus

    MXP asked the great question: "Have you observed at which distance the camera think it is? Does the camera think the object is very close or that the object is located close to infinity?" I now want to improve my earlier answer to this. I set the scope 10 meters from a transparent light bulb...
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    Can't do any better with digiscope NEED HELP

    How far away was the bird? My impression is that the softness is due not to movement, but pushing the optical quality to an extreme. If I had this result, I would have either zoomed in too far with the camera, or had excessive heat disturbance in the atmosphere. I do not think you can correct...
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    Defocusing to get better focus

    Thank you very much, Neil. This gives me a whole new set of approaches to try out. It never occurred to me to try focusing with the digital zoom. Bill
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    Defocusing to get better focus

    Neil: I too wear bifocals and have exactly the same problem with focus, and I use the same approach. I am very interested in your use of other eyepieces for greater magnification. If I zoom in with my Swarovski 20X - 60X zoom eyepiece, I get severe vignetting, basically making it necessary to...
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    Defocusing to get better focus

    Well, I was hoping that someone who understands optic better than I do would answer the question. Originally, I took an older film type SLR camera and focused on the scope after focusing the scope by eye. The lens of the old camera had to be set to around 15 meters to bring the image in the...
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    Flycatcher ID, Seattle, WA USA

    Thank you for the ID, Eduardo.
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    Flycatcher ID, Seattle, WA USA

    Hello, I hope someone can help me with this flycatcher. I am guessing it might be an Olive Sided Flycatcher, but am not sure. I photographed it in Discovery Park, Seattle, on 17 May. Thanks, Bill
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    Defocusing to get better focus

    Hello, Jerry: Thank you very much for sharing your fine piece of research. It further clarifies what I have found in practice, particularly the part about difficulties focusing when zoomed in (which is unfortunately too frequent with small birds at distance). I really suspect that with my...
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