Wanted to Buy
I have a friend looking to purchase a used Sony a9 iii. If you have one in excellent or better condition sitting on a shelf somewhere doing nothing and would like to get a fair price for it, please get in touch with me via e-mail. And if you are looking for a piece of used gear, do the same and LMK what gear you are seeking.
Sony Alpha 1 (a-1) Mirrorless Camera Body
Multiple IPT veterans and long time BAA friend Pat Fishburne is offering a rarely used Sony a-1 (ILCE-1) mirrorless camera body in excellent plus condition for a BIRDS AS ART record low $3,298.00. This body has been updated to Firmware 3.00 that reportedly improves Bird Face-Eye tracking to levels attained by the a1-ii. The camera has my current a-1 set-up on it. The sale includes the current Buttons and Dials Guide and the Info Sheet, the original product box, one battery, the charger, the camera strap, 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 Pat via e-mail
I used Sony a-1 bodies as my workhorse cameras for more than three years. They produce stunning 51MP files with vivid natural colors. The AF system is superb. They are rugged and dependable and 30 frames per second is nothing to sneeze at. With a brand new A-1 ii going for $6498.00, you can save an even $3200.00 by grabbing Pat’s nearly as good as new a- copy ASAP. Right now, B&H is offering a used Sony a-1 in 9+ condition for $$4,507.95 (here). Prices of some used gear items are actually rising in anticipation of the tariff wars coming.
artie
In the Last Blog Post
I the last blog post, Robus MonoPodding With the Sony 400-800 G Lens here, the few folks who commented liked Image #2, Great Egret breeding plumage adult with stretched wing best. Because of the elegance and the lovely reptilian green lores, I would have to agree. For me, Image #1, Great Egret breeding plumage adult with twig for nest, was a very close second.
BTW, the stretched wing in the background of Image #2 did not belong to the subject bird; we are seeing the covert feathers on the dorsal surface of an egret wing. That stretched wing was the wing of the subject bird’s mate.
What’s Up?
Photography for the last two mornings at ILE has been excellent. All nine of the record young cranes are doing fabulously well. On Tuesday, Anita North and I had a first-ever for me at ILE Solitary Sandpiper; I was thrilled to create a sharp image of the bird jumping forward at 1200mm off the BLUBB. On Wednesday, we concentrated on the super-cuddly orange colts at the north end of the North Field; they are getting larger every day. I went with the 400mm f/2.8 hand held while sitting on the ground and was more than happy with what I got. Some of those images here soon.
I will be down to the lake early to see what’s around. Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you too opt to have a wonderful day. Do remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com.
Yesterday, I sent the updated BAA 300mm Lens Guide PDF to all on the list. If you did not receive yours, please shoot me an e-mail and let me know. In addition, I began work on the BAA 400-800mm Lens Guide (free to all who use one of my two affiliate links to purchase; otherwise, $101.43 via PayPal to e-mail.)
Right now, it is very difficult to get either a 400-800 or an a- ii. Be sure to use one of my two affiliate links to earn your free lens or camera guide. The latter includes my settings in the form of a .DAT file, instructions on getting that onto your camera, a Button and Dials Guide, and a detailed INFO sheet.
On Friday morning, older daughter Jennifer and younger daughter Alissa along with her younger son Idris will be joining Anita North and I for a very early morning sail on Lake Blue Cypress. After that, we head to Tampa for an afternoon at the North Tampa Rookery and Saturday morning at Fort DeSoto. From there, I head to Cape Coral for two days of In-the Field Instruction with longtime friend and student Pat Fishburne and the Burrowing Owls.
If an item — a Delkin flash card, or a tripod head — for example, that is available from B&H and/or Bedfords, is also available in the BAA Online Store, it would be great, and greatly appreciated, if you would opt to purchase from us. We will match any price. Please remember also to use my B&H affiliate links or to earn 3% cash back at Bedfords by using the BIRDSASART discount code at checkout for your major gear purchases. Doing either often earns you free guides and/or discounts. And always earns my great appreciation.
|
|
This image was created on 15 April (Fabulous Wednesday) by Anita North down by the lake near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated on the sand beach left of the pier and working off the rear monitor with the camera held just inches above the ground, she used the hand held Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II Lens (at 148mm) and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined by Zebras with ISO on the rear wheel — ISO 640: 1/1000 second at f/2.8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was perfect. AWB at 7:40:02am on a cloudy morning. Wide/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the larger, inexplicably sharper high-res version. Image #1: Sandhill Crane small chick with mayfly and ILE pier |
Anita North ILE Crane Chick & Pier Without Peer
One of the two crane families with two still small chicks often hangs out on the sand beach south of the ILE pier. We usually strive to avoid having the pier in the backgrounds of our images. When Anita shared this one with me on her laptop, I was floored by her creativity. Including the angled, completely defocused wooden structure as a major element of the composition was a stroke of brilliance. Anita often shoots low angle perspectives by lying on her back. For this one, however, she sat and hand held her 70-200 just an inch or two above the sand (working of course, off the tilted rear monitor). She says that the key to the success of her relatively short lens/super-low perspective images is trusting Wide AF with the Sony a-1 ii.
The relatively sharp line of grasses adds a lot. And the super-sharp mayfly in the chick’s bill is the cherry on top.
Your Thoughts?
What are your thoughts on this image? Would you chance anything at all?
|
The BAA Middle of Florida Photographic Site GuideYou can purchase your copy here in the BAA Online Store. |
The BAA Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide
126 pages, 87 photographs by Joe Przybyla and Arthur Morris.
The PDF for this e-Guide is an electronic download sent via e-mail.
Purchase your copy here in the BAA Online Store.
I had thought about doing a guide to some of the great but little-known photo hotspots around central Florida for about a decade, but those plans never came to fruition. I met Joe online in the Avian Forum at BirdPhotographer’s.Net about two years ago. Joe’s photography has improved tremendously over the past few years; he credits the BAA blog, my books and PDFs, and his participation on BPN. The one thing that I learned right from the get-go about Joe is that he is a hard and tenacious worker, always striving to improve his skills and to grow his knowledge base. As he knew of more than a few good spots in central Florida, I broached the idea of us doing a photographic site guide that covered many of the little-known photographic hotspots from Brandon to Lakeland to Joe Overstreet Road to Indian Lake Estates (my Florida home for the past 20 years or so). After more than many, many dozens of hours of effort, The BIRDS AS ART Middle of Florida Photographic Site Guide is now a reality. Thanks to Joe’s wife Dottie for her review of our writing. We all learned once again that writing is a process, a back-and-forth process. All thanks to the white pelicans of Lakeland. Below are the locations that are detailed in this e-Guide. Please note that last season, Gatorland did not offer a Photographer’s Pass.
- Indian Lake Estates: Sandhills Cranes with chicks and colts, lots of vultures, and Ospreys up the kazoo!
- Gatorland, Kissimmee: Learn to make great images of wading birds in a cluttered rookery. Note: Gatorland no longer offers a Photographer’s Pass.
- The Brandon Rookery: Great for nesting Wood Storks, Great Egrets, and more.
- Circle Bar B Reserve, Lakeland: Here you will find a great variety of avian subjects in a great variety of habitats.
- Lake Morton, Lakeland: There are lots of silly tame birds here including and especially American White Pelican during the colder months.
- Lake Mirror, Lakeland: Tame Anhingas, Limpkins, and a zillion White Ibises at times.
- West Lake Parker, Lakeland: Here, if you are lucky, you will have a chance for two difficult birds: Snail Kite, and Purple Gallinule.
- Joe Overstreet Road, Kenansville: Crested Caracara, meadowlarks, Loggerhead Shrike, and much more on the fenceposts and barbed wire.
Each location includes a map, a detailed description of the best spots, best season, light and time of day instructions, the expected species, and an educational and inspirational gallery that is designed to open your eyes as to the possibilities.
You can purchase a copy here in the BAA Online Store.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Love it! Aside from the mayfly as a winning element, the cloudiness accentuates the tiny hairs on the colt’s face and head. I almost missed the out of focus water droplets at the tips of several blades of grass. The low angle put the colt larger in the frame which matches the species nicely.
At f2.8 the wooden structure became a fabulous leading line! kudos Anita!
Thanks Mishael. I agree 100%.
much love, artie
I like everything about the photo except the background. I didn’t even know it was a pier
Artie
I love Anita’s Image and I can place where on the beach and the pier.
I love the low perspective and the crazy fat little legs of that little one how cool. I like the grass in front down low and the Mayfly is perfectly positioned and you can see the long antenna on the bug or whatever they’re called. That little girl had to be so very close to Anita and that is amazing, I bet mom wasn’t far away. Over all Anita this is really sweet and I am guessing due to f2.8 that things well beyond were blurred because of this and the pier adds a bit of placement in the photo with the little one left and nicely in the frame as she looks huge and kinda awkward with such big ol legs I love it. 🙂
Always with love b
Funny that nobody mentioned those huge fat ankles. (Yes, ankles, not knees.)
with love, artie
Beautiful image. I love the hi key. And would love it with and also without the pier. The grass and mayfly make it great.
Thank you kindly.
a
Great composition combined with a can’t-be-beat POV.
I think some folks are having a DOF issue because of that extreme POV. Extreme blur to a distinct plane of focus and back quickly to OOF must be disconcerting for some – not me.
My only concern, as I put myself in the shoes of those not familiar with ILE, is whether the pier is recognized as such.
Thanks, Pugs. That’s why I put “pier” in the title 🙂
Yes, f/2.8 is about as thin as it gets with a telephoto lens.
with love, a
Anita: That is a terrific image! I never would have thought of incorporating the pier in this manner, and it was a great call to do so on your part. The line of grass is a nice touch as well, and whatever is bugging other folks about it I just can’t see it myself and is a non-issue for me. Congrats on a memorable frame!
Thanks, Dan. That’s how I see it.
with love, a
Remarkable photo. Would like to hear more about how Anita photographs lying on her back, maybe with a photo illustration. Incidentally, reversing the colt photo horizontally, although cheating a bit, seems to work better for me, with the pier outline leading to the colt which is the satisfying fixation point in the frame .
Thanks, Max. Photo coming soon.
with love, a
ps: I have never been a big image flopper 🙂
Love the composition, the sharp mayfly, and the soft foreground grass. Would prefer to see the sharpness of the mayfly extend into the colt’s wing and legs, maybe f5.6 to f8 and ISO 2500 to 5000?, even at the cost of making the pier more distinct.
Thanks for your comment, Cliff. I think that you are off a bit as far as getting a sharp wing. At most, the distance to the subject was five feet (but more likely closer to four feet or less). At 141 mm, the DOF at f/2.8 beyond the point of focus would have been about .03 feet, or a bit more than 1/3 inch. Going to f/8 would increase the DOF beyond the point of focus to about .08 feet, a bit less than one inch, nowhere near enough to cover the folded wing stubs that are at least three inches beyond the point of focus (if not four).
with love, artie
Artie, I never think about DOF mathematically, only whether I’d like more and whether higher ISO and a smaller aperture might help (seeing the mayfly, I’d shoot first and think later, as you advise, though working close I do usually stop down). I sometimes use the DOF sharpening procedure from Fraser and Schewe’s Real World Image Sharpening (2010) to augment apparent DOF (create a new layer called DOF sharp set to 50% opacity and Overlay, run Unsharp Mask at 200%, 2.5 radius, then run High Pass Filter at a radius of 30, then mask that all out and paint in or otherwise select the areas where DOF is needed). Gives an effect somewhat like Dehaze.
I love the image, especially the wonderfully sharp mayfly. However I, like Maggi, find myself wishing my eye did not so quickly wander to the rather sharp demarcation between the focused and out of focus boundary in the sparse grass at the bottom of the photo. Whatever the depth of field issue is, I find it distracting.
I absolutely love Anita’s image. I’m starting to incorporate more wide angle compositions into my wildlife photography and this image really resonates with me. The low angle and high key look are very complementary. The use of the pier is simply brilliant. This image is one of my favorites of a Sandhill Crane colt to date. Excellent!
Thanks for leaving a comment, Michael. I agree, but only 100%.
a
Lovely image of the chick by Anita, but spoilt for me by the obvious line between the natural grass and the blurred grass at the bottom of the image. Was this intentional?
Not seeing any “obvious line.” Whatever is bugging you is a 100% depth of field related.
ps: And just for the record book, all of the grass is “natural.”