African Photogragphy inspiration wanted!!!

On 29 Apr 2007 12:13:04 -0700, Bill wrote:

Here are a couple of links to a trip we took in January to
Tanzania ... some cat pics, starting with lions (the serval catching
mice was the cat highlight though) ...

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta..._2007/lion.htm ...
and a few bird pics ...

http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...07/birds_1.htm

Bill,

thanks for the web pages! Wonderful photos, very well presented.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.

"the_niner_nation" wrote:

i have no idea if my lens is better than yours, the lens I have is this
one..

http://www.canon-europe.com/For_Home...eras/EF_Lenses...
it dosn't have image stabilisation.

The page says that its optically based on Canon's 75-300 f/4-5.6 III,
which was replaced over a year ago by the much optically better 70-300
(and 70-300 IS).

Its a "medium" performance lens close in, but gets soft at telephoto.
You should plan to shoot at f/8 or higher, and to do this, boost your
ISO speed to ISO 400 so as to avoid shooting this lens wide-open (ie,
f/5.6) - its worth the trade.

BTW, here's my photos from southern Tanzania last year (Mikmumi,
Mufindi, Katavi & Ruaha):

http://www.huntzinger.com/photo/2006/Tanzania_album-2006s.pdf

While I own the 75-300 IS lens, before going on this trip, I paid to
upgrad to L glass quality with the 70-200 f/2.8 IS which I used
extensively with a 1.4x teleconverter, which effectively transformed
it into a 100-300 f/4 lens, which then mounted on the EOS 20D, this
resulted in an effective length of 150-450mm f/4. While this glass
was expensive, the trip was more expensive, so it was a good
investment.

I don't have the steadiest hands int he world, so i will be taking a bean
bag and maybe a tri/mono pod, as I realise that the majority of game drives
are very early morning or at dusk when lighting isn't optimum.

Beanbag is the way to go. IMO, the one to get is the one made by
Kenesis:

http://kgear.com/r/

The straps make it look odd, but what they allows it to do is to
reconfigure to become taller when in a self-supporting mode.

FWIW, I thought about taking a tripod or monopod, but found that for
the types of vehicles that I was riding in, the beanbag was the only
real practical tool. When you read the reports from the high-end
photographers (big "L" glass, etc), you'll see that they have rooftop
mounts and relatively few passengers per safari vehicle, which allows
them elbow room to set up.


being new to 'proper' photography, I might potter around the independant
camera shops and ask for advice, and prepare to spend way over my modest
budget for the right lens...no matter how hard i try or alter the settings
on my camera, even using a tri pod I can never get the crisp,sharp picutres
everyone else seems to be getting with their 400d, so i am certain I need to
invest in a decent lens.

I'd say the first thing to do would be for you to test out your gear
right now - - sandbag it and shoot with each lens, etc, and see if
peraphs your 400 is defective in that it isn't autofocusing properly,
or if your telephoto is a bad one. You really have to make sure your
gear's working correctly before you leave home. BTW, also consider
throwing the lens in question on an old 35mm Canon for testing.


I realise that overlanding isn't the best safari, but on my budget it's all
I can afford, but the operator has said that they use mini-buses and not the
big trucks, but I see your point and I am somewhat resigned to being in the
company of restless kids.

If you already have a 35mm body, consider taking it along - - they get
great battery life, its already paid for and its cheap insurance in
case the digital goes south or just runs out of power. Also consider
carefully just how much data storage you're taking - - don't be
surprised if you shoot 200+ images per day, as it is very easy to do
so with so many new-to-you subjects.


-hh

In message
Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:39:33 +0100, Liz Leyden wrote:

I can hardly imagine you could set up a tripod in a minibus. I usually
just rest my lens on the edge of the window opening or the top.

The little trick here is a little bean bag, which I always carry
with my compact camera. Mine is actually a rice bag. Lentils and
similar things work just as well. Even sand works, but is heavy.

I've tried the beanbag route, and didn't take to it. In any case, with
the particular vehicle I mentioned, I was on tiptoe balancing my lens
directly on the opening, which wasn't very stable. One or two inches
more would have been impossible (so would a window mount have been).
This was the first time I've had that problem, and I don't know how
many of that particular vehicle are in use.

I'm fairly tall for a female. One of our party could hardly *see* out
of the roof hatch!

I did take a monopod and found it quite useful around the lodge
grounds and when watching the lodge dancers. A tripod would have been
fine for these uses too, but our UK flight weight restrictions
wouldn't have allowed it: it's shocking how much heavier my case is
now that I have to carry all the toiletries/first aid and field guides
instead of halving them. Thank the inventor of wheels for cases!
One time I took a tripod (on a private trip), and despite putting it
in the middle, packed all round with clothes, it ripped the case!
Another time when we flew from Stone Town to Mombasa to start our
safari, I forgot about it and had to go back to the airport for it.
:-(

Slainte

Liz

--
http://www.v-liz.com - Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Galapagos
Photo Gallery:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/g...emberID=165111

I can hardly imagine you could set up a tripod in a minibus.
My husband managed it on trips where you are in open vehicles (Zambia,
Botswana) and when we were sat for a long time looking at eg a pride of
lions devouring a buffalo carcass.


--
Rita Daggett

In message
"Rita Daggett" wrote:


I can hardly imagine you could set up a tripod in a minibus.
My husband managed it on trips where you are in open vehicles (Zambia,
Botswana) and when we were sat for a long time looking at eg a pride of
lions devouring a buffalo carcass.
Oh yes, I did it in Selous!

Slainte

Liz

--
http://www.v-liz.com - Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Galapagos
Photo Gallery:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/g...emberID=165111

Depending on what your demands of picture quality are, the
choices are these:

Poorest
vvvvvvv
* Cheap consumer zoom with telephoto converter
* Cheap consumer zoom
* Quality zoom with quality telephoto converter, ideally by the
same manufacturer and advertized as matching the lens
* Quality zoom
* Quality zoom with image stabilizer
* Quality fixed lense
* Quality fixed lense with image stabilizer
^^^^
Best

Even if you buy a compact camera, watch out for the quality of
the lens. Some compact zoom cameras with image stabilizer use
high-quality Leica lenses, for example, and these are good
choices. Canon also makes very good lenses, if you're prepared
to pay the price, even for their compact cameras.

Hans-Georg
--
No mail, please.

I can hardly imagine you could set up a tripod in a minibus.

I always admire the jeeps used by film crews. They have big
support bars mounted on the side of the cars, where several
cameras are mounted, plus similar things on the rooftop.

We'll never have that, so we have to be inventive, prepare, and
improvise.

Anyway, it pays to spend a little thought on this and try
various things. I once tried to fix a clamp mount to the
half-open car window, and that actually worked, but somehow I
ended up finding it inconvenient. A problem is that it takes
some time to mount, and when you go fast, you have to unmount
it, if you want to close the window. You also can't quickly take
the camera away when the car goes through bushes or even thorns.
So that wasn't the ideal solution either.

Actually just pushing the camera against the window frame,
particularly into a corner, already works fairly well even
without a bean bag. I sometimes do that when something suddenly
comes up and I have no time to prepare. Another good hint is to
lean yourself, particularly the elbows and lower arms, against
the window frame or some other solid structure.

Hans-Georg
--
No mail, please.

"Hans-Georg Michna" wrote in message
...
I can hardly imagine you could set up a tripod in a minibus.

I always admire the jeeps used by film crews. They have big
support bars mounted on the side of the cars, where several
cameras are mounted, plus similar things on the rooftop.

We'll never have that, so we have to be inventive, prepare, and
improvise.

Anyway, it pays to spend a little thought on this and try
various things. I once tried to fix a clamp mount to the
half-open car window, and that actually worked, but somehow I
ended up finding it inconvenient. A problem is that it takes
some time to mount, and when you go fast, you have to unmount
it, if you want to close the window. You also can't quickly take
the camera away when the car goes through bushes or even thorns.
So that wasn't the ideal solution either.

Actually just pushing the camera against the window frame,
particularly into a corner, already works fairly well even
without a bean bag. I sometimes do that when something suddenly
comes up and I have no time to prepare. Another good hint is to
lean yourself, particularly the elbows and lower arms, against
the window frame or some other solid structure.

Hans-Georg
--
No mail, please.

I might just invest £40 in one of those 'gorillapod' things..it's kinda
like a bendy tripod that can curl its self onto branches, pipes etc



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

the_niner_nation schreef:
I might just invest £40 in one of those 'gorillapod' things..it's kinda
like a bendy tripod that can curl its self onto branches, pipes etc

If you have a car with windows that slide down vertically, the Ergorest
Window mount is great. I have been using one for many years now, fitted
with an Arca Swiss ballhead. Works like a dream.

http://www.ergorest.com/eng/products/tripod.htm

Regards,
Hans

On Sat, 5 May 2007 22:45:00 +0100, the_niner_nation wrote:

I might just invest £40 in one of those 'gorillapod' things..it's kinda
like a bendy tripod that can curl its self onto branches, pipes etc

May not be too useful in a car, though, that nas neither
branches nor pipes.

Remember, most wildlife photography can't be done on foot. The
gorillas are the exception.

Hans-Georg
--
No mail, please.