Lens test..

Went to the EOS lens discovery event in Rotterdam last week. Got a chance to play with the entire lens line-up that Canon has these days, and follow two workshops. One on wildlife photography and one one macro photography. Best of all; free of charge if you have an EOS camera. Came to the conclusion that i still missed one lens to complete my own set. The 70-200mm.. Picked it up this week, and, to coin a phrase.. im happier then a pig in sh*te. What an awesome piece of equipment.. See for yourself; Ill be using this one a lot. I cant recommend it enough.

Re-shoot

We decided it would be fun to do some re-shoots of the pics we took during the 365 project. Just to keep us busy and to show how Mini-man has grown over the year. We chose this photo to re-shoot as nr 1. Since Mini-man is in less then a cooperating mood when it comes to taking pics these days we resorted to bribery with some raisins, a scenery change and a move outdoors. It kinda worked. Here is the result; That wasn't all we did today.... We went for an early morning walk in the Amsterdam Drinking Water dunes. Mini-man walked almost all the way with us. When he needed a rest we put him into his chariot..



We did a quick snapshot shoot with him on a branch of dead wood;



During the walk we ran into this young buck fallow deer. An awesome specimen.


When you have something like this in your crosshairs, its when the investment in the 300mm F/2.8L pays off.

Busy, busy, busy..

But not too busy to take pics! Did a bunch of stuff this month, besides the 365 project. Last monday we went to our favorite area for photography, the Amsterdam Drinking Water Dunes. The results were... Well, see for your self; We had a great day. Lovely weather. Probably the last good day of the year. Good thing about that is that mushroom season is about to start.. Time to break out the macro stuff!

Blijdorp Zoo

Been to one of Holland's finest zoo's last week. Blijdorp, in Rotterdam.









This ones were taken in the Amsterdam Drinkingwater Dunes;


Taken with 300mm L F/2.8 IS.

Navigating in the field.

Not really photography related, but...

Ive purchased a SatMap Active 10 last week. Since taking wildlife photos involves being in the great outdoors, i thought it would come in handy. Also for the vacation i have planned this year it should be a very welcome companion.



I swapped the normal AA battery powerpack with a rechargeble NiHM battery, which also makes the device less bulky.



What is it? Well, in a nutshell; Its a GPS thingie where you can load different area maps into. The maps are the well known Ordnance Survey maps, or if you get the dutch maps they are from the Registrars office. Quality guarenteed.

You cant use it for embedding GPS data into a photo, as far as i can tell now.



I bought mine with a 1/50000 map of the Netherlands, and i got a 1/50000 of Wales from the manufacturer. They come on SD cards, that you can very easily swap.



It comes with a pouch that should be very easy to attach to your photobag.

I havent been able to go on a good walk with it, and supposedly i can load the route i took into google maps, but ill get to that when i find time..

Whooper Swanns.

Spent 4 hours of today walking in a dune area at subzero temperatures, trying to get a "Fox in snow" photo. Too bad the fox didnt show up.

Came across a group of Whooper Swanns instead;








Loads of young fallow deer about, trying to find food under the snow;



All pics taken with the Eos 7D with 300mm F/2.8 IS USM. Handheld. (didnt bring the 3pod again...)

The illustrious I-pad

Probably the most talked about gadget of the last year, the Apple I-pad. These days there are a whole range of tablets available from many reputable manufacturers. Its use for photography is huge. Many applications (Apps) are available thru the App-store, some free, others for a small fee.




I use mine as an agenda, rolodex, portfolio holder and game console in one. Ive gotten the Apple Camera Connection kit that goes with the I-pad, which was a very good €25,- investment, if you ask me. It comes with an SD card reader and a USB connector.

Even the 25mb big RAW files of the Eos7D are fastly and smoothly loaded. Import them to the device and you can instantly see result! Very handy in the field, when you want to see on a larger screen if you are on a roll.



I now have the App Photogene installed, so i can do some editing in the field.






One of the Apps i use most is I-books. I download a hefty amount of PDF files every week, and reading them on the I-pad works really well. There are loads of books, magazine's available on the internet about pretty much every subject. For some you pay, some you can download for free.













I carry it around in a Neoprene sleeve by CaseLogic®.

Weapon of choice.

Every photographer has his or hers preferred lens. Mine currently is the 300mm F/2.8 IS USM L series. Light enough to carry around for extended periods of time, and tack sharp. I usually shoot handheld with this, but ive mounted it on a gimbal head or mono-pod too.



Ive fitted it with a so-called Lens Coat. Besides the camouflage aspect, it helps protect the lens from bumps and scratches. In cold weather it also keeps it a bit warmer to the touch. Since the lens is metal, it can get really cold really fast..

Ive only recently aquired this lens, when Canon announced the new versions of the 300 and the 400mm L series. I had planned on getting this lens at some point, but the increase in price for the new models made me get it sooner. Since i am an amateur, this is about as expensive as i could rationalize aquiring. Havent regretted it for a moment though. My photo's have improved, in my opinion.


This offcourse isnt the only lens i have. Since i like to do all sorts of photography... I have the collection of lenses to boot..



In this Pelican case are the Eos 7D with batterygrip, the Canon 100-400L F/4.5-5.6 IS, the Canon 24-105L F/4, a Sigma 150mm F/2.8 APO Macro DG HSM lens and a Sigma 10-20mm F/4 - F/5.6 DC HSM wide angle lens.

I dont carry around the Pelican Case when im in the field, but ill get to camera bags in another post.

Some of you probably noticed the white lenshood on the 100-400mm lens... "Hey! That aint right! Canon only makes black lens hoods!"

True. But from the moment i got that lens, that black hood annoyed me. Purely for cosmetic reasons i decided to go DIY on that sucker. That too will come in a future post.. (So you'll just have to keep coming back..)



When im out with this lens, a lot of people are looking at it. Trying to define the model of the lens. So far i havent gotten any negative comments.



Pics taken with Ixus 60.

Some of my photos, should give you an impression of what i like to shoot;

Welcome!

Ive been actively taking photos since 2003 when i got my first digital SLR, a Canon 300D. Since then my photography and my collection of photography stuff has come a long way... At least, i think it has...
Lenses have come and gone, and these days i think ive got the best stuff i need, within my budget offcourse..

I mostly do wildlife photography, including Zoo's. Since i live in the Netherlands, there isnt much in the way of Tigers, Lions or Bears in the wild.. But i am fortunate to live near an area where lots of deer, birds and foxes live, so they will be featured here on a regular basis.

Enjoy your stay on this blog.