My blog is mostly about wildlife, particularly birds, walking, days out, all growing things and anything else that comes to mind.
To view pictures in larger format, just click on any picture for the picture gallery....

Monday 30 June 2008

Another visit to LWC - trying out a camera.

Today, at short notice, I met a friend at the London Wetland Centre; Hugh had offered to lend me his Nikon D70 with his Sigma 50-500 Lens (this doesn't have IS (Image Stabilisation)). My camera is a Canon D20 and, for birding, I use a 100-400 with IS. The loan was to enable me to compare differences. If I were to use the Canon lens with IS switched off, then my pictures aren't very good.

I've also been dissatisfied with my results recently - even with IS!!

Well - firstly the extra 100 focal length certainly makes a difference; secondly, the Nikon and lens are a little heavier but not much.

Getting used to having all the function buttons and menus programmes etc. in different places was quite challenging!

Outcome: I was very pleased with the results. Some pics were hand-held whilst others I had a fence rail or a shelf (in a hide) to take the weight of the camera. All those of the young Blackbird were hand-held but I have to admit it was only about 8ft away! This can't be a true comparison although some of the shots wouldn't have been quite so good with a shorter focal lens.

Herewith the fruits of my labours - some subjects I'm afraid are the same as Saturdays but not that many.

Tomorrow (hopefully) I'm going to try some comparative shots around the garden, using both cameras and taking the subjects with the same settings, focal length and without IS (on the Canon) - if I've got the patience that is!

If anyone notices any particular differences, please feel free to let me know - good or bad!

Something floral to start with





and the birdy pics...

Mr. House Sparrow was one of the first shots with the camera and
I hadn't really got the hang of this - the subject refused to face the camera though!

Coots again..




A return appearance of the young Grey Heron


A young blackbird cooling down - it was lovely to watch.





Lapwing

Mute Swan

Moorhen

Collection bird (apologies - can't remember the name of it)

ditto....

9 comments:

The Quacks of Life said...

barnacle goose.

the blackbirds are excellent but at 8ft I don't think the magnification makes much difference.

is the young heron at a similar distance to the one you got saturday?

one of the things i'm wondering if there is something not right about your AF on the 100-400. the 70-300 pics on holiday are excellent

there seems more detail in todays heron and other photos. mine is only 400mm max and that produced more detail.

i think you ought to meet up with malcolm and try his.

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks for ID Pete and..
Heron probably about same distance; maybe a foot nearer.

I think I used the 18-50 for most of the landscapes on holiday; those of swans/otters/etc. were the 100-400 lens. I'd need to check individual pics other than that.

I'm inclined to agree that there maybe something amiss with my camera (other than the photographer!); it's what I've suspected.

avalon said...

Hello tricia, glad you had a lovely holiday with your mum. really great pictures well done. Loved the otters from last week.
From avalon

Cheryl said...

Well I am not here to comment on the camera thing.......but for me the photographs are stunning, I love the lapwing. We get them here in the winter, they use the field across the lane.
They make a wonderful post, tku for sharing them.........

Tom said...

Why have I never been here before?... I so called I followed your link for your comment today.. I will link back to here from my side bar. I look forward to seeing and reading more.
Tom

Tricia Ryder said...

Hi Tom and welcome, nice to see you here.

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks for your comments Ocean and glad you enjoyed your visit again.

To be honest, I think it's me causing the blurs rather than the lens/camera LOL

Anonymous said...

Tricia, the photos are brill, especially that young blackbird.

I rented a 100-400 the other week when we went on holiday (photos on blog as soon as I've finished editing them) and I have to say that I preferred the 300mm I rented a few weeks before that. I found the 100-400 zoom rather heavy and fiddly.

My first long lens was the Sigma 50-500 and it was a big beast! I could hardly carry it around, let alone hand hold it. I have all on hand-holding with the 135-400 I replaced it with, but the thing that has helped me, as you know, is the ErgoRest.

Tricia Ryder said...

Thanks Di. Looking forward to hearing more of your hols. It seems that most of use were in the Devon/Cornwall area at the same time!

and yes, the Sigma 500 does weigh in rather heavily - not one to carry about too much!

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