Richard & Caroline's Blog

So how did the trip go? Well as you have seen in my previous blog entries the main photographs I wanted was of Tintern Abbey and of Symonds Yat.

The Tintern Abbey shoot was very challenging, getting a clear shot of the Abbey was difficult. For the Abbey shot I used the Ebony 45S large format camera. For the rest of the day I used the Leica M8, as its so small and light but performs extremely well.

The photographs I took from Symonds Yat Rock were all either with the Nikon DSLR’s or again the Ebony. The above shot was a HDR composite taken with the Nikon D200 and 24-70mm f/2.8. I bracketed widely because the light was very flat at the start of the day. I thought HDR might lift the shot and make it more interesting.

The bird photography was a little disappointing but you cannot make the birds perform as you want, only set yourself up in the best spot and wait. This time it did not work but maybe next time.

The shots in the garden of the bird feeder went well, but then using bait to bring the birds to the exact spot could be considered cheating.

Camera wise, I took quite a lot of equipment with me, the Ebony kit, the SLR kit, the Leica kit and the Nikon Series One kit. Of these I used them all except for the Nikon Series One.

With the exception of the bird photographs, all of my photographs could have been taken with small mirror-less or SLR camera. With the amount of walking we did a small camera outfit is possibly the way to go and while a camera like the Leica is idea if you can put up with manual focusl, the cost of such an outfit is outside the range of many photographers and many people today like autofocus. If I had to buy a single camera after this trip then something like the Fuji X100s or the Fuji X Pro1 would be top of my list. If you shoot wildlife then there really is no choice but an SLR.

So in my opinion for your next holiday pack a Fuji X100s but if your into your wildlife you will need your big heavy SLR.

After the previous days attempts at wildlife I gave myself an easier task today.  If your after starting out then the biggest tip I can give you is to get the wildlife to come to you.  The cottage in which we are staying for a few days in the South West has a lovely garden and lots of bird feeders scattered around.  I filled up one of the feeders then sat myself down in a comfy chair with the camera setup on a tripod in front of me.

It was not long before the birds started to ignore me and came to feed on the freshly filled bird feeder.  If you have a mirror-less camera or an SLR with a zoom lens that can reach to the equivalent of 300mm on a 35mm camera then on a bright and sunday you can get shots like these.

It’s that time of the year again were we are going to spend a few days concentrating on photography. The intention is to take some landscape photographs but also a few wildlife shots. One of the locations was scouted out last year. I also used an iPad application called the Photographs Ephemeris, a mapping app which one can set a time and date and use to predict the location of the sun and moon.

Equipment wise, I wanted to limit what I took with me. For the Landscape I would be shooting large format using my Ebony 45S camera. For the wildlife then it had to be my Nikon SLR’s and the big heavy lens.

We would also be taking some time to visit a few antique shops and books shops, there might be an opportunity to grab a few nice shots of people and scenes, so I would need a small light easy to carry camera that would not be noticed.

I was torn between the Nikon V1 and the Leica M. In the end as they are both so small I will pack both.

Just a few years ago there was one large sensor compact the Sigma DP, it was slow to use but had excellent image quality, and with each version it has gotten better.  Now though it seems hardly a month goes by without another one coming a long.

Recently we have had the new king of compacts, the Sony RX1, a stunning full 35mm sensor’ed camera, and just the other month the new Nikon A with its DX sensor.

Well now we have the latest version of the Ricoh GR.  At £600 compared to the Nikon at £999 its a bit of a bargain.  Once again Nikon price themselves out of the market.  I love my Nikon DSLR’s and they are very competitive, but on the Compact and System Compact ranges they keep over pricing themselves, as if they are scared of competing against their own SLR’s.  When will they realise that DSLR users also want a good quality compact.  I use the Nikon 1 system as my compact and to be honest that was over priced and with the heavy price drops that followed its release, I may not buy into the system any more.