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Are they as skitish as Long-tailed Tits? We had a bunch in our bushes this morning, but they don't stay still for a second! Got this one this fall:
View attachment 478377
No, the Waxwings are different. Contrary to the LTT they will settle down and stay still, but usually only shorter periods of time and will quickly move between areas providing food supply. Luckily the groups are easily spotted, but it's a bit of luck being at the right spot at the right time. And with Sparrowhawks around they are wary.

Very nice photo of the LTT by the way, and sharp as well. I haven't yet come close to that result with the scope.
 
Raptors and Deer

Went out for a drive yesterday to visit one of my favorite areas. Spotted plenty of raptors, seven species in total (including record shots of Sea Eagle, Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon).

Unfortunalely no close encounters, but you can't always get what you want. It helps with the big gun (700mm, F/6.8) in such situations. The Rough-Legged Buzzard hovering in search for food was fun to photograph against the background.

I was also rewarded with some encounters with Deer. These photos are taken from the car, 100-200 meter range, with the short scope 480 mm F/6.

This winter is such a contrast to last one. +7C, grass is still green.
 

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Thanks. Did you mean something like this? Now a 50% crop of the original.
 

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I was actually just walking along the paths on a local golf course. They have some ponds scattered around and I was looking to see if there were any waterfowl there. The deer there are used to people being around, but usually keep their distance. This one was feeding in this bed of weeds and I guess felt he was secure. I walked up to within around 60 feet and he looked up at me and then just went back to feeding. Much more cooperative than the ducks.
 
Here are a few of my early attempts.
 

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cabin fever

Slammed again on Long Island with another major snowstorm. Took a couple of shots of the backyard feeder activity through my back deck sliding glass door. Not the best but the high temperature today was 12 F and with wind chill was well below zero so I wasn't motivated to set up outside. My rig now is a SV 80mm F/7 with integrated GSO 2x barlow + Olympus e-510. Sharpness much better than my earlier rig using a Jaegers 76mm f/5 and CA minimized. Shots taken at iso 400 with IS on and at 1/500 sec exposure. A most remarkable experience--we have a Castor hawk hunting in our backyard this winter. It will literally drive sparrows into the back glass door and scoop up the unfortunate few that are stunned by the impact. I haven't been successful at photographing one of these episodes--there have been 3 so far this winter--but they happen so fast. Rich
 

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braved the cold

OK--so I decided to move my rig outside in the snow. After sitting for 20 minutes the birds returned. I was able to finally snap the woodpecker in decent light. The sparrow was also nicely positioned. Both pics were cropped 50% Rich
 

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First shot with my E-M1:
12095626334_9001ab05f1_h.jpg
;)
At a 45° angle through a double glassed window, ISO 400, 1/40th second. On my 90/600 triplet.
Sweet little camera. Didn't have much time to play with it.
 
Olympus OM-D EM1

Dan

I agree these new Olympus flagship mirrorless cameras are really nice. I wish I had the $1400 to shell out for one. Curious, are you manually focusing through the 1.48 EVF or are you using the back panel LCD?
rich
 
First shot with my E-M1:
View attachment 480885
;)
At a 45° angle through a double glassed window, ISO 400, 1/40th second. On my 90/600 triplet.
Sweet little camera. Didn't have much time to play with it.
Not bad at all considering the circumstances. My windows are dirty (I am blaming the wind blowing up dust from the construction site across the street) so I would not even think about it!
What is your first impression, compared to the E-M5?

And keep them coming (without glass in between).
 
Never shot with an E-M5. My guess is the 5 has a slightly better sensor but the 1 has a better view finder. Easy to pop a VF-4 on a 5.
 
Never shot with an E-M5. My guess is the 5 has a slightly better sensor but the 1 has a better view finder. Easy to pop a VF-4 on a 5.

Dan,

The EM-5 with a VF-4 will cost almost as much as a EM-1. Might as well get the EM-1 which is a MUCH better camera.

I have owned both and IMO, the EM-1 as a better sensor. The main difference is that the EM-1 does a better job at moving objects because it has PDAF. Also, I haven't used it enough yet to compare at high ISOs but reviews says that it does a better job.

Regards
Jules
 
That is interesting because I have read that the high ISO is slightly better on the 5 due to the pixels being used for autofocusing in the 1.
I have played with it with my 50-200, with and without the EC14, and if the light is GOOD, it is more or less OK, if not so good, meh.... if bad.. hopeless! It completely gives up where the Canon 5DII with a 400/5.6 still goes bang bang bang. Tried all sorts of different settings. Not at all what Olympus said about 4/3 lenses being completely compatible. Why, even my good OLD E-30 held out long after the E-M1 gave up, and in good light was much faster than the E-M1. Great little camera, no doubt, and nice to use on the scope, and maybe good with mFT lenses, but with the three I have (35/3.5 macro, 14-54 II, 50-200 I and EC14) it is less than satisfactory in anything other than really good light.
 
That is interesting because I have read that the high ISO is slightly better on the 5 due to the pixels being used for autofocusing in the 1.
I have played with it with my 50-200, with and without the EC14, and if the light is GOOD, it is more or less OK, if not so good, meh.... if bad.. hopeless! It completely gives up where the Canon 5DII with a 400/5.6 still goes bang bang bang. Tried all sorts of different settings. Not at all what Olympus said about 4/3 lenses being completely compatible. Why, even my good OLD E-30 held out long after the E-M1 gave up, and in good light was much faster than the E-M1. Great little camera, no doubt, and nice to use on the scope, and maybe good with mFT lenses, but with the three I have (35/3.5 macro, 14-54 II, 50-200 I and EC14) it is less than satisfactory in anything other than really good light.

Dan, the EM-1 was not made for 4/3 lenses; it is made for M43 lenses while ensuring compatibility with 4/3 lenses. The results show that 4/3 lenses perform reasonably well but not as well as M43 lenses. Section 8 of the EM-1 DPR review "Real world AF experience" describe that in great detail with focusing examples videos. Worth reading:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympus-om-d-e-m1/8

Comparing a M43 sensor with a full frame is not fair. Your 5D sensor is TWICE as big. However, your 5D II is double the cost, weights twice as much and is much larger. Like they say, "You can't be all things to all people"...

Regarding the EM-1, I have used it at ISOs up to 6400 and it performed to my satisfaction. I have also tried it for sports photos using PDAF and it performed perfectly. Size and weight are just what I need and want, stabilisation is the best there is and the WYSIWYG EVF is outstanding. This is all I need. Is is the perfect camera ? Certainly not, there is no such thing. Perfect for what ?? For my use, it will be near perfect if it performs well for BIF, which I aven't tried yet, due to weather.

Have you read this Camera Labs review ? It sums up pretty well all that has been written about the camera.
http://cameralabs.com/reviews/Olympus_OMD_EM1/

There is also this one by Michael Reichmann of The Luminous Landscape. This guy is known to concentrate on what counts and has extensive photographic and industry experience.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/best_new_camera_of_2013.shtml#update

Regards
Jules
 
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