After Hurricane Ian at Indian Lake Estates, FL

When I hit the sack last night at about 9:30pm — late for me, the forecast for ILE was for winds as strong as 77mph peaking at midnight. I slept pretty well and never heard the wind. I woke twice during the night and was surprised to see that we still had power. With more than 2.5 million Floridians without power this morning, we were and are quite blessed. Not wanting to jinx myself, I do understand that we might still lose power due to flooding. Ian was quite different from Hurricane Irma in 2017 when the house shook all night, a large tree fell, and we were without electricity for more than two weeks.

Fort Myers Beach got creamed and seemed to be completely underwater late yesterday afternoon. I am anxiously awaiting reports on Sanibel, Fort Myers, Cape Coral (where good friend Bill Schneider lives), and points north to Sarasota and Tampa. Good luck with the house, Bill. And I just learned that a section of the causeway leading to Sanibel was wiped out by the remnants of Ian early this morning. See the storm damage photos and learn more here. And there has been unprecedented flooding in Orlando.

Today is Thursday 29 September. It continues to pour here. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, I hope that you too have a great day. This blog post took about three hours to prepare and makes one hundred eighty-eight days in a row with a new one.

Please remember to use the B&H and Amazon links that are found on most blog pages and to use the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout when purchasing your new gear from Bedfords to get 3% back on your credit card and enjoy free second-day air FedEx. Please, also, consider joining a BAA IPT. You will be amazed at how much you will learn!

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BIRDS AS ART Image Optimization Service (BAA IOS)

Send a PayPal for $62.00 to birdsasart@verizon.net or call Jim at 863-692-0906 and put $62.00 on your credit card. Pick one of your best images and upload the raw file using a large file sending service like Hightail or DropBox and then send me the link via e-mail. I will download and save your raw file, evaluate the exposure and sharpness, and optimize the image as if it were my own after converting the raw file in Adobe Camera Raw. Best of all, I will make a screen recording of the entire process and send you a link to the video to download, save and study.

Induro GIT 304L Price Drop

Amazingly, we have two, brand-new-in-the-box Induro GIT 304L tripods in stock. They are $699.00 each (were $799.00) and the price now includes insured ground shipping to the lower 48 states. Weekday phone orders only: 863-692-0906. Order yours here.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR Lens (with an extra)

BAA Record-low Price!
Price reduced $200.00 on 9/28/22

John Armitage is offering a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens in excellent condition for a for a BAA Record Low $2296.95 (was $2496.95). The sale includes the original lens foot, a RRS stuff foot, the front and rear caps, the lens strap, the soft case, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail.

Yes, I loved this even now hard-to-get lens a ton when I used Nikon gear. The Nikon PF series telephoto lenses are tremendously popular as they are relatively small and light and offer great reach. Both do well with the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III. On my bucket list trip for the Emperor Penguins, I brought two D850 bodies, the 500 PF, and the Nikon 80-400 VR lenses! The 500 PF is still hard to come by and sells new for $$3,296.95. At $2296.95, John’s lens is a steal as you save an even $1000.00. artie

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR Lens with extra

BAA Record-low Price!
Price reduced $200.00 on 9/28/22

John Armitage is offering a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/4E PF ED VR lens in excellent condition for a BAA record low $1195.95 (was $1,395.95). The sale includes the original tripod mount, a Lens Collar Support Tripod Mount Ring RT-1 for Nikon AF-S 300mm f/4E PF ED VR lens (a $29.99 value), the soft case, the front and rear caps, the original box, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail

The skilled and venerable Anita Gail Erica North owned and used this lens a lot on her international travels when she shot Nikon. It is light in weight and focuses quickly and accurately. artie

Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM Lens

Price reduced $100.00 on 9/28/22

John Armitage is offering a Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM lens in excellent condition for a very low a BAA record-low $399.00 (was $499.00). The sale includes the front and rear lens caps, the tripod mount ring, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower-48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact John via e-mail.

When I shot Canon, I loved my 300 f/4L IS lens. With its 4.92′ (1.5 meter) minimum focusing distance and impressive 0.24X magnification, it was great for large flowers, dragonflies, butterflies, and frogs. With or without the 1.4X TC it makes a great auxiliary/flight, or starter lens for any bird photographer. It does very well on birds in flight and in action. I preferred it to my old toy lens, the 400mm f/5.6L lens as it offered Image Stabilization and greater reach at f/5.6 with the 1.4X TC. This great lens is no longer in production. artie

Before Hurricane Ian at Indian Lake Estates, FL

This image was created on 28 September 2022 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lakes Estates, FL. Working from the front seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1000. The exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/160 sec. at f/4 (wide open). AWB at 10:38:38am on a windy, cloudy morning. Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy the larger version. Image #1: Adult Red-shouldered Hawk perched in pine tree

Down to the Lake. Or Not?

It was dark and very windy and raining hard early on Wednesday morning. I skipped my walk. With the brisk northeast wind, I knew that I could comfortably shoot from the car with the wind (and the wind-driven rain) behind me. While getting set up at the Vulture Trees, I saw a red-shouldered fly up from the South Field and land in the pine trees on the east side of the road. I headed north, hooked a u-turn, and almost missed the bird sitting in the open on a relatively clean perch. So I went to work.

DMF OFF when on the BLUBB

Sony folks using large GM lenses on a BLUBB, are reminded to turn the Direct Manual Focus switch to the FFF position. Doing so eliminates the possibility of inadvertently throwing off the focus when framing the shot.

This image was also created on 28 September 2022 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lakes Estates, FL. Working from the front seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 1600. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/800 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect. AWB at 10:52:30am on cloudy, windy morning. Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #2: Turkey Vulture struggling in wind

Wind Lessons

With the Vulture Trees west of Banyan Drive, I opted to head down to the lake only because of the wind direction: northeast. I could angle the car to keep the wind behind me and stay dry at the same time. By Thursday morning, the wind had swung to the northwest; the decision to stay warm and dry at home was a no-brainer. If I headed to the Vulture Trees this morning, all the birds would be facing away, and the rain would be blowing right at my lens and into the car (not to mention my face).

On sunny mornings with a northwest wind, and the light behind you, the birds will be facing and landing and taking off and flying away from you. Bite the bullet and stay home.

This image was also created on 28 September 2022 down by the lake near my home at Indian Lakes Estates, FL. Working from the front seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter, and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Digital Camera.. ISO 4000. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel: 1/2000 second at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect. AWB at 10:55:08am on cloudy, windy morning. Tracking: Spot S/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #3: Turkey Vulture struggling in wind

Your Call

Which of today’s three featured images do you like best? Please leave a comment and let us know why you made your choice. I have a single favorite.

High ISOs and Large Crops

It is amazing that we can now work at ISOs of 4000 and beyond and then execute large crops without batting an eyelash. I attribute that to three things:

1- The image quality and dynamic range of sharp, properly exposed Sony a1 raw (ARW) files is outstanding.

2- Exposing properly to the right reduces noise dramatically.

3- Topaz DeNoise is remarkable.

Typos

With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.