My Palouse Gear Bag: Heavy on Wide Angle and Fisheye Lenses

What’s Up?

I met denise at MSP. We flew to GEG, rented a car on the way to the IPT hotel, and scouted on our way down. We will be leaving at 4am tomorrow to photograph sunrise. This blog post, the 140th in a row, took about 2 hours to prepare. It was published at about 12:40am eastern time on Thursday.

Bosque IPTs Heating Up

Interest and registrations and for both Bosque IPTs have been picking up greatly over the past two weeks. See below for complete details.

Used Photography Gear for Sale

There has been lots of action on the Used Photography Gear page here. Stuff has been flying off the virtual shelves here almost every day; the following items have sold within the past week:

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens sold for $4999 by Jacques Bouvier on May 20, 2015.
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II sold by Carl Zanoni for $1649 on May 19, 2015.
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM sold by Owen Peller for $799 on 5/19/15.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV sold by Gerald Barrack for $1599 in May, 2015.
Canon EOS 7D DSLR Digital Camera Body (with battery grip) sold for $579 by Barbara Garmon on May 23, 2015.
In addition, a sale is pending on Barbara Garmon’s old 100-400.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charges a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily.

Brand New Listings: these four should sell almost instantly!

Canon 600mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Pat Lillich is offering a used Canon 600mm f/4L IS II USM lens in near-mint condition (with only some minor wear on the hood knob) for a ridiculously low $9500: serial number 9000000194, new in July 2012. The lens sells new right now for $11,499 at B&H. The sale includes all original packaging and accessories, a RealTree LensCoat,the front cap, a black LensCoat TravelCoat, and a 4th Generation Design low foot. Recently sent to CPS for a Clean and Check and unused since. Has the letter “P” in silver paint on the base of the lens foot. Will hand deliver within 150 miles of San Jose, CA for an in person cash sale. Otherwise buyer pays insured FedEx shipping. The lens of course will not ship until your check clears.

Please contact Alan Lillich via e-mail or by phone at 408-348-7479 (Pacific time).

I own and use this amazing lens often. It is, simply put, the premier super-telephoto lens for bird, wildlife, and nature photography currently in production. It blows the Nikon 600 f/4 away with regards to both weight and sharpness. Many of the young guns hand hold it routinely often with the 1.4X III. Patrick Sparkman hand holds it often with the 2X III TC. Did I mention that the 4-stop IS system is so good as to be hard to believe.? You can own this great lens and save just a shade under $2,000 right now! BTW, both Pat and Alan take very good care of their gear.

Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO USM Lens

Stephan R. Leimberg is offering a used Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO USM Lens in excellent condition for $3699–another BAA lowest-price-ever for this item. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the leather front hood, the original case, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Please contact Steve via e-mail or phone at 904-491-0474 (eastern time). Please e-mail for photos. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

I used this lens for several years with great success, especially for birds in flight and when working from various type of water craft. Gannets in Love was created with the 400 DO. You can that one and 13 other killer images that I made with my 400 DO here. The title of that blog post is “The Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO Lens: Fourteen Images that Prove that the Internet Experts are Idiots.”

Canon 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Clemens Vanderwerf is offering a Canon 500mm/f4L IS II USM lens in near-mint excellent plus condition for $7,999.The lens was only used once during a trip to South Georgia in October 2012. The sale includes the LensCoat that has been on it since day one, an off-brand replacement foot, the fabric front cover, the rear lens cap, the lens strap, the warranty certificate, the lens booklet, the original box with everything that came in it, and insured UPS ground shipping to the lower 48 states. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

This lens is super sharp and light. There is not a single scratch, ding, or chip anywhere on the paint.

Please contact Clemens via e-mail or phone at 954 608 8704 (eastern time).

I owned this lens and loved it and with the reach advantage of the 7D Mark II I am thinking hard about selling my 600 II and getting the new five….

Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens

Kevin Hice is offering a used Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens in excellent plus condition for a lowest-price-ever $4750. The sale includes the LensCoat that has been on it since day one, the lens trunk 300B (with a few insignificant scuffs), the fabric front cover, the rear lens cap, the lens strap, the CD, the original box with everything that came in it, and insured shipping via UPS Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

This lens is super sharp and great in low light. No scratches or chips on the paint even on the tripod foot.

Please contact Kevin via e-mail or phone at 701 460 6112 (central time).

I own and use the amazing lens often. It is great for hand holding and for flight, with or without either the 1.4X III or the 2X III TC. In all cases it is amazingly sharp in competent hands. Outdoor Photographer editor Rob Sheppard was stunned by the sharpness of my allo-preening Macaroni Penguins image that was created with the 300 II and the 2X III TC.

My Palouse Gear Bag: Heavy on Wide Angles and Fisheye Lenses

Last year I was fortunate to join Denise Ippolito and two friends on Neesie’s scouting trip to the fabulous Palouse region of Eastern Washington state: tapestries of rolling farm fields dotted with both derelict and restored farmhouses and barns. We worked very hard, had a truly great time, and found dozens of treasured locations. The result? Two completely sold out IPTs. We had a good collection of landscape lenses with us last year but this year we have outdone ourselves.

What’s in the bag?

Canon EOS 5D Mark III . My 5D III will be my primary camera body on this trip. It offers huge, high quality files and its full frame sensor offers complete wide and super wide coverage.

Canon EOS-1D X . I am bringing a 1D X along as a more than worthy backup. This body also has a full frame sensor.

Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM lens. We were able to borrow a copy of this brand new, hard to get, ultra wide angle zoom lens through the B&H affiliate loaner program thanks to the kindness of Izzy Flamm. We had it shipped to a friend’s son’s home and should be picking it up (along with the next two items) on Thursday when we scout in the St. John’s area.

Tamron SP AF 10-24mm f / 3.5-4.5 DI II Zoom Lens For Canon DSLR Cameras. Izzy also was able to get a loaner of the Canon version of this much less expensive ultra wide angle zoom for us to evaluate. We hope to compare it with the Canon version above and report back here. As you can see in the widget above, the Tamron 10-24mm is offered in both Canon, Nikon, (and other) mounts.

Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye USM lens. The always fun to use “circle” lens as I call it offers a 180 degree circular view when used with a full frame camera body while providing true 15mm fish eye capabilities when used with a 1.6 crop factor camera body like the Canon EOS 7D Mark II which you might have figured out by now is home on a shelf in my air-conditioned garage; it is not a good idea to store camera gear for long periods of time in hot humid places. My best tips for the 8-15: use it mostly on cloudy or partly cloudy days so that you can avoid getting your shadow in the image.

The Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM lens is an all purpose wide angle zoom that–with IS–is easily hand held.

Canon EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens with Internal 1.4x Extender. I love long glass for landscapes both for their reach and their ability to compress the various elements in a composition. The lens alone gets me to 560mm with the internal TC engaged and to 784mm with the an external 1.4X III TC in place. Having the ability to zoom in and out makes the 2-4 that much more valuable on a Palouse trip. Neesie is bringing her Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM or long lens landscapes. She will use it alone at times but more often with a 1.4X III or a 2X III TC.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. My well worn copy of this extremely versatile lens will almost surely be my most used and valuable lens on this trip. Be sure to remember to bring the tripod collar with a Wimberley P-20 plate in place for low light and perfectly aligned HDRs. The P-20 plate is ideal for pretty much all Arca-Swiss compatible tripod heads.

I have two Canon Extenders EF 1.4X III and a single Canon Extender EF 2X III in my Think Tank rolling bag. The former will be used with either the 70-200 or the 200-400 while the latter might be used in a pinch with the 70-200mm.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. A while back I sold my 24-105 and purchased the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens but recently I got myself a new copy of the amazingly versatile 24-105 for several reasons:

1-it is image stabilized.
2-the 77mm filter size is much more convenient for me.
3-it is an almost perfect fit with either the 11-24 or the 16-35IS and the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens and a good fit with the 70-200 II. With both the 70-200 and the 2-4 along for the ride the 100-400 II is also at home on a shelf in the garage.

I have my beloved Mongoose M3.6 tripod head along for use with both the 70-200 II and the 200-400, the latter with the CRX-5 Low Foot mounted so that the lens is centered right over the tripod. This prevents the lens torquing in the wind or when the tripod is set up slightly off kilter.

I also have 5D Mark II that I converted to infrared. Lots more on that soon.

In 2015, we are offering a 3-DAY IPT before Thanksgiving and a 4-DAY IPT after the holiday. You can attend either and spend Thanksgiving Day with your family. Sign up for both and we will be glad to apply a $100 discount to your balance. We know that there are lots of less costly workshops being offered these days. Many of them are downright cheap. Please remember that you get exactly what you pay for. With us you will have two full time pros there for you every minute we are in the field. Together they have more than 28 seasons of experience at the refuge. If you want the finest in photographic instruction and want to be assured of being in the right spot at exactly the right time every day, do join us.

Bosque del Apache 2015 BIRDS AS ART/A Creative Adventure Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT). 3-FULL DAY IPT: NOV 22-24, 2015. $1149. Two great leaders: Denise Ippolito and Arthur Morris. Meet and greet and introductory slide program after dinner on your own at 7:00pm on SAT NOV 21.

Tens of thousands of Snow Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, ducks, amazing sunrises, sunsets, and blast-offs. Live, eat, and breathe photography with two of the world’s premier photographic educators at one of their very favorite photography locations on the planet. Top-notch in-the-field and Photoshop instruction. This will make 21 consecutive Novembers at Bosque for artie. This will be denise’s 7th workshop at the refuge. Nobody knows the place better than artie does. Join us to learn to think like a pro, to recognize situations and to anticipate them based on the weather, especially the sky conditions, the light, and the wind direction. Every time we make a move we will let you know why. When you head home being able to apply what you’ve learned on your home turf will prove to be invaluable.

This workshop includes 3 morning and 3 afternoon photography sessions, an inspirational introductory slide program after dinner on your own on Saturday, 11/21, all lunches, and after-lunch digital workflow, Photoshop, and image critiquing sessions.

There is never a strict itinerary on a Bosque IPT as each day is tailored to the local conditions at the time and to the weather. We are totally flexible in order to maximize both the photographic and learning opportunities. We are up early each day leaving the hotel by 5:30 am to be in position for sunrise. We usually photograph until about 10:30am. Then it is back to Socorro for lunch and then a classroom session with the group most days. We head back to the refuge at about 3:30pm each day and photograph until sunset. We will be photographing lots of Snow Geese and lots of Sandhill Cranes with the emphasis on expanding both your technical skills and your creativity.

A $449 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 7/25/2015. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Whether or not your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check (made out to “Arthur Morris.”) You can also leave your deposit with a credit card by calling the office at 863-692-0906. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

In 2015, we are offering a 3-DAY IPT before Thanksgiving and a 4-DAY IPT after the holiday. You can attend either and spend Thanksgiving Day with your family. Sign up for both and we will be glad to apply a $100 discount to your balance. We know that there are lots of less costly workshops being offered these days. Please remember that you get exactly what you pay for. If you want the finest in photographic instruction and want to be assured of being in the right spot at exactly the right time, do join us.

Bosque del Apache 2015 BIRDS AS ART/A Creative Adventure Instructional Photo-Tour (IPT). 4-DAY IPT: (three full and two 1/2 DAYS) NOV 28-DEC 2, 2015. $1499. Two great leaders: Denise Ippolito and Arthur Morris. Meet and greet at 3pm on SAT NOV 28 followed by an afternoon photo session at the crane pools and the introductory slide program after dinner on your own.

Tens of thousands of Snow Geese, 10,000 Sandhill Cranes, ducks, amazing sunrises, sunsets, and blast-offs. Live, eat, and breathe photography with two of the world’s premier photographic educators at one of their very favorite photography locations on the planet. Top-notch in-the-field and Photoshop instruction. This will make 21 consecutive Novembers at Bosque for artie. This will be denise’s 7th workshop at the refuge. Nobody knows the place better than artie does. Join us to learn to think like a pro, to recognize situations and to anticipate them based on the weather, especially the sky conditions, the light, and the wind direction. Every time we make a move we will let you know why. When you head home being able to apply what you’ve learned on your home turf will prove to be invaluable.

This workshop includes 4 afternoon (11/28through 12/1), 4 morning (11/29 to 12/2) photography sessions, an inspirational introductory slide program after dinner on your own on Saturday, 11/28, all lunches, and after-lunch digital workflow, Photoshop, and image critiquing sessions.

There is never a strict itinerary on a Bosque IPT as each day is tailored to the local conditions at the time and to the weather. We are totally flexible in order to maximize both the photographic and learning opportunities. We are up early each day leaving the hotel by 5:30 am to be in position for sunrise. We usually photograph until about 10:30am. Then it is back to Socorro for lunch and then a classroom session with the group most days. We head back to the refuge at about 3:30pm each day and photograph until sunset. We will be photographing lots of Snow Geese and lots of Sandhill Cranes with the emphasis on expanding both your technical skills and your creativity.

A $599 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your slot for this IPT. Your balance, payable only by check, will be due on 7/25/2015. If you cancel and the trip fills, we will be glad to apply a credit applicable to a future IPT for the full amount less a $100 processing fee. If we do not receive your check for the balance on or before the due date we will try to fill your spot from the waiting list. Whether or not your spot is filled, you will lose your deposit. If not, you can secure your spot by paying your balance.

Please print, complete, and sign the form that is linked to here and shoot it to us along with your deposit check (made out to “Arthur Morris.”) You can also leave your deposit with a credit card by calling the office at 863-692-0906. If you register by phone, please print, complete and sign the form as noted above and either mail it to us or e-mail the scan. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail.

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