High-speed, high ISO...

I know, i know...

Havent posted anything lately. But one must work hard in order to play hard. I did manage to take this photo.





Taken at ISO 12800. Its not the most stunning pic ive ever taken, but it shows the capability of the 7D pretty well. Believe me when i say that it was pitch dark.

Taken with 7D / 100-400L at 1/6sec, 200mm, F/5

DIY Bean bag.

I was looking around for a beanbag for some time, but the prices put me off. So, i thought; "How hard can it be to make one myself??".

First, the needed supplies.

[x] one pair of camouflage pants.

[x] one sowing set.

[x] one big bag of polystyrene pellets.


I cut off one of the trouser legs to serve as the beanbag.



I measured it to my longest lens at the time, the 100-400L.



I then proceded to sow the bottom of the trouserleg shut with a double stitch.

No pics of that, you ask? Yes. No pics of that. Needle and thread isnt my thing, i was too busy swearing and trying not to stab myself with the needle.

When that was done i put a plastic bag inside the trouser leg. It serves as a container for the poly-pellets, and it makes swapping the content of the beanbag easier. (I now use poly-pellets, but i could switch to rice, seeds, whatever is available.)



Filling the beanbag with the pellets is what is known as "the fun part". Again, no pics, but believe me when i say that ones livingroom is easily covered in those white plastic stick to anything bastards.

After the filling, i sew the top of the bag shut, again with a double stitch.

The result of all that hard work;





Total costs;

About €5,- to 7,-

Total time spent;

1.5 hours.

Total time spent vacuuming the escaped poly-pellets;

4 hours.

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..

Fox-hunt...

Finally got around to going on a photo-walk today. Took some nice pics of foxes and got powned by a fox too... All in a days photography.

I brought the Eos7D with F/2.8 300mmL IS USM with me, stuck on the Manfrotto Monopod that i described in my previous post. Also brought along the 1.4 mkIII extender and the G12 for up close and personal shots.

Result!;










Yes, i mentioned getting powned by a fox. Im not proud of it, but man enough to admit it... With a big smile on my face.

When i took this last photo, there was a cute little guy/girl curiously looking at me from close by.


(Taken by SWMBO©)

At the time i was attaching the 1.4 teleconverter to get a little more reach. Here are two comparison shots;

@300mm;


@420mm;



I havent noticed any big distortion in quality, but then again, im not a trained eye..

Last pic. Taken with the G12. Im very pleased with the way that camera handles. Ive got it with me at all times.






Thanks for visiting.

Arca-Swiss DIY thingie

Since i got a little fed up with switching plates on my lenses to suit the different systems i decided to get an Arca Swiss compatible quick release plate off Ebay.






I wanted to install it on one of my Manfrotto 679B Mono-pods.



After it got here i came to the conclusion that the size of the screw on the Monopod's 234 tilt-head did NOT compute in a suitable fashion with the release plate.

If i am going to rely on that connection with a €4000,- lens, then it had better be rock solid.

So, cue the A-team tune. Time to DIY. Well... Not really DIY, more like a "Dive into the box with spare screws and stuff and dig up something usefull"...





And this is the result. So far it holds up nicely. Im still nervous though. Trusting a €4000,- lens to a 2ct screw just isnt natural...

Flickr.

Ive added a Flickr photostream to the gadget bar to the right. I filled it for now with some random photos. Ill update it when i can.

Storage.

When i first started photography, i kept my stuff in the backpack i carried it around in. But when the collection of gear grew, so did the need for decent storage.










My eye fell on the Pelican brand of cases. Particularly the 1510 model. Enough room for equipment, not too big, and its airline carry-on compatible.





I dont bring the cases with me in the field, thats a little too cumbersome. But storing and transporting your gear in one of these is very recommendable. The handle extends so you can drag it behind you, as a regular trolley.





I now have 3 of these. 2 with the padded dividers, and one with the foam. The dividers work best in my opinion. When you cut the foam, thats it. Not much room for error, and certainly very little room for change.


This is the latest addition. Since im less then impressed with the case that Canon gave with the 300mm F/2.8 IS USM L, i decided to get another 1510... The Canon provided case requires taking the lenshood off every time you store it.




These cases look and feel like you could take a sledgehammer to them, and they wouldnt budge. They dont come cheap, but they are worth every penny.


Im still looking for some cool image that i can sticker or airbrush on them for some personalisation.