All quiet on the western front - PM 2023

[michael-ibk]

I didn´t know they can do that (I´ll have to start researching before I give up my beloved but battered 7DII), that´s reasssuring.

[PeterHG]

Excellent pictures with the new camera, @pedro maia! The number of shots may take some getting used to, but it’s good that lowered the number of frames per second. Yes, those silent shutters : sometimes I get home with 100 shots of the inside of my car when I have inadvertently leaned on the shutter button with my elbow. And not even in focus, so I can’t use a single one 

[pedro maia]

2 hours ago, PeterHG said:

Excellent pictures with the new camera, @pedro maia! The number of shots may take some getting used to, but it’s good that lowered the number of frames per second. Yes, those silent shutters : sometimes I get home with 100 shots of the inside of my car when I have inadvertently leaned on the shutter button with my elbow. And not even in focus, so I can’t use a single one 

 

I had plenty of pictures of soil, skies and reeds without birds .

[pedro maia]

This morning I practiced a bit more, I find it difficult to nail the birds in flight, especially with the full extended lens, also with busy backgrounds, I couln´t get a single half-decent photo under those circunstances.

 

With perched birds it´s easy to get better photos than with my previous cameras.

 

 

I like this Zitting cisticola

 

 

 

 

This kestrel allowed some decent pictures, but of course it was only moving the wings

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I was able to improve on the swifts, far from perfect but decent I think

 

 

 

 

It was strange that I returned to the same spot one hour later, the swifts were there but I couldn´t take a sinlge picture of them

Edited May 7, 2023 by pedro maia

[Galana]

2 hours ago, PeterHG said:

Yes, those silent shutters : sometimes I get home with 100 shots of the inside of my car

Well I am pleased you have it on silent. Its the others in the Hide that cause me problems. Every time they rattle off in my ear I dive to the floor and hurt my knees.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Galana

[michael-ibk]

You're learning fast, the Cisticola is excellent indeed and the Swifts are definitely more than decent -very good in my book. At least one Pallid there, no?

[pedro maia]

1 hour ago, michael-ibk said:

You're learning fast, the Cisticola is excellent indeed and the Swifts are definitely more than decent -very good in my book. At least one Pallid there, no?

 

Maybe, I must confess that I didn´t try to ID.

[PeterHG]

1 hour ago, Galana said:

Every time they rattle off in my ear I dive to the floor and hurt my knees.

That is one of the reasons I keep the camera on silent shutter mode!

[xelas]

9 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

The number of shots these new cameras are taking is really something I'm afraid of. Seriously. 

Don't be! You can always set a lower speed. But yes, eventually one has to get a new PC alongside a new camera.

Edited May 7, 2023 by xelas

[xelas]

Very good shots, Pedro! Indeed it took some practice to "see" the bird on the screen (OVF) if inside a bush or in front of a busy background. For BIF just don't extend the zoom fully. You can always crop the photo back home.

I am happy to see more of fellow bird photographers to update their gear, that will give us plenty of birds to enjoy the rest of this year.

[TonyQ]

A great start with your new camera @pedro maia.

Very impressive.

If you are using electronic shutter you can set a very quiet shutter sound which is not heard by other people but the photographer can just hear. This gives some indication of how many photos you are taking. I have found this helpful.

For still birds I often use 3 fps, and I never (so far) use 30 fps other than when I tested it. I have a button set to change frame rates easily.

 

You have taken some great photos already!

[pedro maia]

3 hours ago, xelas said:

Very good shots, Pedro! Indeed it took some practice to "see" the bird on the screen (OVF) if inside a bush or in front of a busy background. For BIF just don't extend the zoom fully. You can always crop the photo back home.

I am happy to see more of fellow bird photographers to update their gear, that will give us plenty of birds to enjoy the rest of this year.

I can crop the photos but in order to do that I need a sharp picture, if the birds are not close and without the full zoon estension I’m struggling, but I have plenty of time to practice.

[pedro maia]

1 hour ago, TonyQ said:

A great start with your new camera @pedro maia.

Very impressive.

If you are using electronic shutter you can set a very quiet shutter sound which is not heard by other people but the photographer can just hear. This gives some indication of how many photos you are taking. I have found this helpful.

For still birds I often use 3 fps, and I never (so far) use 30 fps other than when I tested it. I have a button set to change frame rates easily.

 

You have taken some great photos already!

thanks for the tips Tony, I’ll look for that quiet shutter sound, it seems usefull. And next time I’ll use 3fps for still birds, I was thinking about using that setting.

 

 

[Soukous]

13 hours ago, xelas said:

eventually one has to get a new PC alongside a new camera.

 

and that's the bit that puts me off, together with all the software upgrades. 

I'd love a new camera - just for the sake of it  - but the cost of the new camera & lens is just the beginning of the expenditure.

[Soukous]

Why is the sound of a camera shutter suddenly such an issue?

People have been using DSLRs and before that SLRs for decades and the shutter always made a noise. 

I get annoyed with people who look at me when I take photos with an expression that says "Oh poor you, are you still using that old camera?"

Yes I am, and I will be for the foreseeable future. 

 

Oops, sorry Pedro, I just remembered this is your thread; not the place for me to rant. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Soukous

[pedro maia]

55 minutes ago, Soukous said:

Oops, sorry Pedro, I just remembered this is your thread; not the place for me to rant. 

 

No problem at all, feel free to rant as much as you want here .

[Galana]

24 minutes ago, pedro maia said:

feel free to rant as much as you want here .

OK then. May I attempt to answer about shutter noise? It is not shutter noise but an electronic noise purely for effect. Just like the 'focus' and 'on/off' peeps.   Not usually a problem but in instances where one has switched to 'video', as I do from time to time, it is disturbing to hear all those clicks and peeps on the sound track (let alone rattling chairs and other "noises off".) It is a wonder that somebody has not yet composed a minor symphony from all these extraneous electronic noises. They could call it "Dawn Chorus by the waterhole by Nikon/Panasonic/Sony!"

OK. If your camera does not have the facility I can live with that but the main offenders are those in hides that can but don't and yet have it set on max fps. Note I said Hides and not cars.

Well you did ask.

[Soukous]

46 minutes ago, Galana said:

It is not shutter noise but an electronic noise purely for effect.

 

OK, I'll agree with that. My camera shutter makes a noise, that's just the way it is, but all other 'sound effects' are turned off.

[Peter Connan]

Pedro, the shots you have been posting all look great to me.

 

BIF will come, because you are working at it. Not even the greatest new cameras do it all by themselves (I think anyway, never used a mirrorless yet myself).

[pedro maia]

Yesterday was time to try the new gear in my favourite birding grounds, the Castro Verde/Mértola area.

 

It was a great day with very nice sightings, I´m slowly getting the feeling of the new camera but I have a lot to improve, most photos I take are pure garbage and I need to improve the focus, in my defense most birds we saw kept their distance.

 

We started the day in Casével, where the Lesser kestrels are a sure sighting this time of the year:

 

 

 

 

We looked for the residnet Owl in Castro Verde and the poop on the ground revealed it´s location

 

 

Montagu's harrier have also arrived

 

 

A few Griffon vultures flew by

 

 

 

We had a great sighting of a pair of Imperial eagle nesting, very close to where we saw a pair one year ago with @xelas and Zvezda, could be the same pair since they were aduts now. Unfortunately they were quite far from te road, I would say 800m/1000m, so the pictures are very poor.

 

 

 

They were nesting in this tree

 

 

Huge crop

 

 

We saw this nice fox

 

 

 

Time for a light meal

 

 

 

And we went to look for the Golden eagle, which showed up 10m after we arrive to the usual spot, didn´t came close, stayed over the other bank of the Guadiana river, and the midday light didn´t help to show details.

 

 

 

 

The flight of the eagle revealed it´s nest 

 

 

And the cropped photo shoewd a surprise we didn´t see in the spot

 

 

Not a bad day...

[michael-ibk]

Wow, how cool to see a Golden Eagle chick! You are really lucky to have such a great birding area (relatively) close by. Mind you, all of Portugal is excellent.

[xelas]

An excellent reminder to revisit this excellent place!

 

@pedro maia on first 2 Lesser Kestrel photos there is a small sign in the upper left corner, which when clicked shows the efix data using Exifviewers.com . How did you manage to get it there?

Edited May 14, 2023 by xelas

[pedro maia]

4 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Wow, how cool to see a Golden Eagle chick! You are really lucky to have such a great birding area (relatively) close by. Mind you, all of Portugal is excellent.

 

Just catch a flight Michael, the chick isn´t going anywhere soon.

[pedro maia]

3 hours ago, xelas said:

An excellent reminder to revisit this excellent place!

 

@pedro maia on first 2 Lesser Kestrel photos there is a small sign in the upper left corner, which when clicked shows the efix data using Exifviewers.com . How did you manage to get it there?

 

I don´t see any sign Alex, I don´t know what it is.

[Kalaharikind]

What a great Namibia collection! And I'm in awe at the huge area you covered in a week.

 

Enjoy the new camera - super shots from it.