A Possum!

I found this old photo of a Common Brushtail Possum, taken in Melbourne in 2005.

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My photographic gear

People keep asking what my equipment is, how I use it, if I'm happy with it. Decided to write a few words about this.

I've had several film cameras. The first one was a Смена 8М, documented in a photo from 1974 or 75.

My first digital camera was Fuji FinePix S5500, a compact ultra zoom, quite good for its price and 2004. I took some nice photos with it and the best ones are available on this bloG, carefully indexed with a special label. It was fast for a compact, but not fast enough for birds in flight. I soon realized I needed something much better, and, unfortunately, much more expensive.

For a long time I was reading and getting familiar with Nikon models, but when I was about to make a purchase, circumstances were more favorable to buy a Canon. I don't regret. I bought an EOS 30D body,

and an EF 70-300 IS USM lens. That was the best equipment I could afford. I was hoping to be able to buy some more and better lenses later, but it never happened. I don't see such thing happening in a foreseeable future either. For a while I was dreaming to get a battery grip to get a better hold on the camera when taking vertical photos, but have given up on this too.

All the photos on this bloG (except those labeled with FinePix) are taken from a hand held camera with this body and lens, almost always at 300mm.
I tend to shoot at ISO 320-640 most of the time, using short image bursts (HiSpeed) of twos or threes to try to capture action. Most of the action shots are taken on Shutter Priority (TV) mode. I find that 1/1250 to 1/2000 is usually fast enough to freeze birds in flight.

Am I happy with the lens? I don't know.

• It has a very nice and pleasing bokeh. Many times even if there's nothing in focus I will stare at an image and enjoy the beautiful blurry painting that the lens has produced.
• It can be sharp. Every now and then I get an image that amazes me with its crispness. I don't know if it's due to a combination of factors, but such images are very rare. One in a thousand I'd say.
• At 100% images are generally soft. It might be due to the specific subjects, being quite small and feathery. Maybe the AF system gets confused. It can be due to shaky hands, but it shouldn't matter much at high shutter speeds. It could be due to the Image Stabilizer / Auto Focus conflict, but I have tried to shoot with stabilizer switched off. I don't know.
• Many times AF is too slow. I know. I only have F5.6 at 300mm. There's not enough light.
  

Those rare sharp images show me what the sensor and the body are capable of. Obviously a lot. But even this sensor is too small for the contemporary expectations. 8 megapixels are just not enough for a decent crop.

What do I do to the photos in the computer? Nearly nothing. I crop them to get a pleasing composition. Rarely adjust levels, if exposure is not good, but the image is otherwise worthwhile. Then scale down to 1024 by whatever and publish to the blog.

Why are there no EXIFs in the photos? Not on purpose really. I use such an old version of Photoshop (Five!) which just cannot keep them when re-saving the jpg. And I don't think they are too important either.

I wish I could afford to spend much more money on equipment, which would produce much better images, but as photography is only a spare time activity for me, it is not currently possible.

[Quick update: August 2016]
Some two years ago I finally bought a better lens - the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM.

I have only posted a few photos of Sammy the seal, taken with this lens. AF is much more accurate and sharpness is generally better at all F-stops, decreasing the amount of failed photos significantly.

However, I have a feeling that the bokeh is not as pleasing as it were with the cheaper 70-300, but this may just be subjective. I can only imagine what the performance of this lens could be on a better, newer body.

Frogmouths

A friend recently said that she hasn't had the chance to spot a Tawny Frogmouth in the wild yet. It's not easy to see them and since I came to Tasmania I haven't seen even one. But I can count more than a dozen times when I have come across those 'dead branches' in Sydney and Melbourne. The photos below were taken with my old FinePix S5500 in Sydney and Melbourne.

Tawny Frogmouth, Sydney and Melbourne

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A big 'duck'

Australian Pelican, Sydney

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Melbourne Possums

I loved Melbourne for its possums!

Brushtail Possum, Carlton Gardens

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Eastern Water Dragon

Eastern Water Dragons, photographed at Lane Cove National Park, Sydney

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Real Wild Rainbow Lorikeets

I just saw on someone's blog a photo of a Rainbow Lorikeet taken in an aviary in Hong Kong. The bird looked a bit too skinny and some of the colors were completely 'wrong'. What have they done to the poor Lorikeets? Was it a hybrid or just some strange mutation that occurred in captivity? That made me post some old photos of real wild healthy Rainbow creatures, so that everyone can see how they look in Australia.

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A portrait

I've just come across this nice portrait of a Little Pied Cormorant, taken near the bank of Yarra River in Melbourne about two years ago.

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Pied Currawong

Another guy that used to visit me from time to time in Sydney was the Pied Currawong. Quite wary they are, but the sight of a few grapes was irresistibly attractive to them. Currawongs are mad about grapes!

The photo below shows how the poor Fuji couldn't do better. And I was only about 2 meters away.

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Magpie-lark

This is a bird I miss a lot in Tasmania. Magpie-Larks are friendly and communicative. They sing in duets and are among my favorite Australians.

The male, female and juvenile birds are easily distinguished by their colors. Above you can see a female and below is a male. Both photos were taken in Melbourne.

Below is another female Magpie-lark, but this time in Sydney.

And the photo below shows a father feeding a young chick. Blurry, out of focus pictures like this one made me want to buy a DSLR long time ago. If I could only not miss all those moments... !

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Australian Wood Ducklings

Yesterday I introduced some more [ bracketed labels ] and to make full use of them here is an image that was a part of an earlier post, but thematically goes well with the new one and they both fit under the same category.

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Bell Miner Kids

The cute Noisy Miner chicks in the previous post reminded me of this old photo.

Fluffy Bell Miner babies in Melbourne.

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Duckography

above: Pacific Black Duck in Sydney

above: Chestnut Teal (female) in Melbourne

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Rainbow Lorikeet at the window

Very old photos taken in Sydney

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Alien invasion

If you look at the eyes of the creature on the second photo you will certainly agree that it is an alien disguised as a marsupial. These pictures were taken about two years ago in Melbourne.

above: Common Brushtail Possums in Melbourne

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Red Rump or Grass Parrot

These are two old photos taken in Melbourne in 2005. Only the male has the red rump; the female is quite desaturated.

Australian Wood Ducks

An Australian Wood Duck family - old pictures taken in Melbourne.

above: Mother Duck

above: Father Duck

above: some kids

above: Australian Wood Ducks, Melbourne

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Do you know these guys?

Cute well-camouflaged nocturnal creatures, the Tawiny Frogmouths can only be spotted by the most observant. I haven't had the chance to see them here in Tasmania yet, so I'm posting some old shots taken long time ago in Melbourne.

above: Tawny Frogmouths, Melbourne

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Through the window

I just took this picture of a female Blackbird through the window. It could have been much better if I wasn't still fully asleep and I didn't have to swap lenses and go through all the settings of the camera.Below are two very old photos of male Blackbirds taken in Melbourne with the FinePix S5500

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Two of the best shots taken with the old Fuji

Technically these two are among the best images I could take with the marvelous FinePix S5500. The exposure is pretty good and the detail is brilliant.

above: Little Pied Cormorant, Yarra River, Melbourne

above: Noisy Miner at the balcony, Sydney

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