Your Ear Please. And the one thing that I hate about my EOS 5D Mark IV

What’s Up?

Feeling much better. Hoping for a low white blood cell count report this afternoon so that I can head south. Otherwise, very busy getting ready for 9 1/2 weeks away from home…

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of the folks whom I see in the field, and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear, especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

The Streak: 333!

Today’s blog post marks a totally insane, irrational, illogical, preposterous, absurd, completely ridiculous, unfathomable, silly, incomprehensible, what’s wrong with this guy?, makes-no-sense, 333 days in a row with a new educational blog post. There should be no end in sight until my big South America trip next fall. Or not… As always-–and folks have been doing a really great job recently–-please remember to use our B&H links for your major gear purchases. For best results use one of our many product-specific links; after clicking on one of those you can continue shopping with all subsequent purchases invisibly tracked to BAA. Your doing so is always greatly appreciated. Please remember: web orders only. And please remember also that if you are shopping for items that we carry in the new BAA Online Store (as noted in red at the close of this post below) we would appreciate your business.

Your Ear Please

First off, let me say that I appreciate every single person who subscribes to the BAA Blog and every single person who clicks to visit. I exalt those who use my B&H links, visit the BAA Online Store, take advantage of the Used Gear Page, and leave a comment. All of you–and those who attend IPTs–combine to make my part time job on the blog profitable enough to avoid having to become a greeter at WalMart. So big time thanks and hugs to all of you.

Each time that I have made a big international trip–heck, as I type this on the afternoon of Sunday October 9, 2016, I do not even know for sure that I am heading to South America for nine weeks on Wednesday the 12th–I have prepared a combination of re-cycled and brand new blog posts usually scheduled every other day. When I have done that, log visitation numbers have fallen off 30-40%. For this really big trip, my longest ever by far, I decided to try to publish a brand new blog post every day while I am away. If I go 🙂

Right now–after a colossal effort–I have 48 blog posts in the queue. Those will get me to the day after Thanksgiving, November 25. That leaves 24 more blog posts to be completed to cover the day I get home, December 18. As I will be on line quite a bit in South America (again, if I go), those should be a piece of cake. Wish me luck.

What I ask of each of you is to visit the blog as you usually do, as if I were here. When I do get online, I will respond to your relevant comments as time permits. Much appreciated.

My Trip

Here is the somewhat tentative schedule:

12 OCT fly MCO to MIA to SCL.DEP MCO at 6:00pm, ARR Santiago at 7:35am the next morning, 13 OCT.
13 OCT: Condor Photography day trip.
14 OCT: Inca Tern and Peruvian Pelican day trip.
15 OCT: fly SCL to MPL, Stanley in the Falklands. Continue that same day via a FIGAS flight to The Rookery on Saunders Island to begin the OCT land-based Falklands IPT.
18 OCT: fly FIGAS to Bleaker Island.
21 OCT: Fly to Stanley.
22 OCT: Rockhopper day trip. Board the Sea Spirit for the CES expedition to the Falklands and South Georgia.

I should have decent internet access from 12 OCT through 22 OCT.

6 NOV: get off the Sea Spirit in Ushuaia, Argentina.

I will have no internet access from the afternoon of 22 OCT to the afternoon of 6 NOV.

6 NOV thru 11 NOV: on holiday in Ushuaia. With excellent internet access.

11 NOV: Fly to Lima Peru. Photograph on the coast and in the jungles until 30 NOV. I will have internet access at most locations on the coast and sporadic internet access at the jungle lodges.

30 NOV: fly back to SCL.

1 DEC: Condor Photography day trip.
2 DEC: Inca Tern and Peruvian Pelican day trip.
3 DEC: fly SCL to MPL, Stanley in the Falklands to begin the two-week Falklands land-based IPT. Overnight in Stanley.
4 DEC: Volunteer Point day trip for King Penguins.
5 DEC: Fly via FIGAS to The Neck on Saunders Island.
9 DEC: Fly via FIGAS to Seal Lion Island.
12 DEC: Fly via FIGAS to the Rookery on Bleaker Island.
15 DEC: Fly via FIGAS back to Stanley.
16 DEC: Rockhopper day trip.
17 DEC: Fly back to SCL. ARR Santiago at 10:20pm.
18 DEC: Fly SCL to MIA to MCO. ARR Orlando same day at 10:59pm.

I should have decent internet access off and on from DEC 1-18. At this point I am not sure how I am getting home late on SUN 18 DEC.

Right now, at 8:15pm on SUN 9 OCT, I feel as if I am coming down with a cold. So I am gonna get some rest. You gotta love it.

The one thing that I hate about my EOS 5D Mark IV

Actually, it is not the 5D IV, it is the Canon BG-E20 Battery Grip for EOS 5D Mark IV. First off, it is different from all previous Canon battery grips. For no reason that I can figure. The batteries are offset with one higher than the other. It is difficult for me to insert the batteries into the pack. Once they are in, they usually fall out easily even though there is some sort of snap lock. Since I have a problem inserting the batteries into the battery pack, it is often impossible for me to insert the battery pack into the battery grip.

Canon, simple stuff like this should not be made so difficult. BTW, did I read the instructions? Whaddya you think? But heck, I never had to read the instructions before.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And we are always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above we, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

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Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right 🙂