As most of the family are by now aware, we want to start keeping Bees and Chickens.
To that end we have been attending Bee Keeping Classes every Saturday Morning held at Whisby Nature Reserve.
Well tonight we had the chance to meet up with some members of the Lincolnshire Bee Keeping Association at a talk being given by the local Bee Inspector.
If you do keep Bees its well worth introducing yourself to your local Bee Inspector and also registering your hives.
You will get advanced warning of any crop spraying and diseases in your local area. If you think you may have a problem or just need advice they don’t mind coming round and giving you the help and advice you need. This is a free service that all Bee Keepers should make use of.
I find it hard to believe how changeable the weather has been recently.
Last Sunday was cold but bright and a great morning’s Photography was had.
The first half of this week has been dull and overcast but temperatures have been gradually rising, culminating with Thursday being one of the warmest days, a record for this time of year. Not only that but we had bright blue skies and lovely sunshine all day long.
With the week just getting better I started to make some plans for the weekend. Possibly a long motorcycle ride to the North York Moors, with camera in hand of course for the Sunday.
Instead the weather is looking decidedly dodgy in the forecast.
We have another day at Whisby Nature Reserve on Saturday for Day 3 of our Bee Keeping Course, which we are looking forward to, so if the weather is nice we will try some more bird photography and hope for a nice Sunday.
One of the joys of living in the British Isle, the weather forecast can often be wrong.
What camera is the best, Canon or Nikon. Mirror-less or DSLR. Is film dead. Is digital not an option for fine art photography!
There are a lot of strong feelings about what is best on the internet forums, and in camera clubs, still some anti-digital feelings in some areas, lots of anti-film people. Lets not get into the battle of wills thats is between the users of Canon and Nikon cameras.
I am always getting asked, what camera should I buy, what camera is best?
With the newly announced Nikon D800, and especially the D800E, I am extremely tempted to finally upgrade my D200’s.
The question is what do I want from a camera?
Currently I use several cameras. My carry everywhere camera is normally either my iPhone or my Nikon V1.
Nikon V1 advantages:
Portability
Responsiveness
Large depth of field
Against this you lose the ability of using limited depth of field and you sacrifice some image quality and have the noise issues that come with small sensors.
These small mirror-less cameras are now extremely popular, cameras like the Nikon V1, J1, the Panasonic and Olympus micro four third cameras, and now high end models from Fuji and Sony with APS-C sized sensors, which sacrifice very little for image quality.
My D200 SLR’s
Excellent Image quality
Responsiveness
Reduced Depth of Field
Low Noise
The downsides, are there size, and my long lens are very big and heavy, but the modern SLR is a fantastic all rounder. With cameras like the Nikon D3X, Canon 5DmkII, Sony A900 and now the Nikon D800; these cameras approach medium format quality in an easy to use body.
Window Light
Next you move up to my Medium Format kit, my Hasselblad.
Very High Image Quality
Moduler
The downsides are; its very slow to use. The other problem is cost. I shoot film with my medium format camera and high quality drum scans are not cheep, digital is also not an option, as a digital back costs around £10000. The lovely Leica S2 a SLR styled Medium Format camera will set you back £20000 for the body and the lens are £5000 each.
Each format has major advantages, and disadvantages. On the camera forums, many will argue that one camera is better then the other forgetting that many are designed for different purposes.
For example, you will find Panasonic users arguing that the DSLR is dead and there camera is far better. Well if you need a small lightweight camera as your priority it possibly is.
A few weeks ago was the American Superbowl, did you see any photographers using compacts or small mirror-less cameras. Were they after the ultimate in image quality, did you see them using Large Format or Medium Format? No they all had top of the range professional DSLR’s either the Canon 1D or Nikon D3s, they wanted to use long lens, short lens, and needed high performance.
I know a few top Landscape photographers, and while sometimes they may use Medium Format when they want to travel light, but most often they use big heavy Large Format cameras. To them, image quality and the ability to use advanced camera movements is key.
Want to shoot casual candids on the street, well you could try a DSLR but you might get noticed. How about a small mirror-less compact, you can shoot discreetly and if you are spotted then you will be ignored, you don’t have a ‘professional DSLR’ so your not seen as a threat.
For my carry everywhere camera, I want a bit of an all rounder, but size is the key factor and a built in viewfinder, thus I use the Nikon V1.
For my studio work, while I want medium format, I compromise due to cost and use a DSLR, but I may upgrade to something like a D3s, D700 or D800.
For Landscape I use my medium format, its slow to use but the landscape is not moving anywhere and I am thinking of adding a large format camera to my kit as well for the advanced camera movements, its cheaper then buying a tilt and shift lens!
I also have another requirement. As a motorcyclist who rides all over europe, I want a small outfit that has the best image quality going for landscapes. This is a camera that I don’t own yet, but so far if I had to choose one now, I would pick either the Fuji X-Pro1, the Sony NEX-7, the Leica M8 or a Lecia M9.
I keep getting asked by people what camera should they buy, what they should be asking is; what do I want to shoot, and how much kit can I be bothered with carrying!
Instead of getting carried away with the latest must have camera, think about what you shoot and what camera would be best for you, and if it suits you then its the best camera, not matter what others think!
You can certainly tell that spring is on the way now.
The Photographer in me has started to spot the Crocus and Snowdrops raising their heads into flower. Thoughts of Macro Photography start to fill my mind.
This bright and sunny Sunday morning saw myself and Caroline pulling on our running shoes and going for a run out of the village. The signs of spring were very much in evidence.
We saw Coal Tits, Chaffinches as well the usual Wood Pigeons, Black Headed Gulls and some very noisy Black Birds.
The fair weather motorcyclists are also starting to make an appearance, they can be spotted on their overly loud Japanese motorcycles, sporting garish one piece leathers. Power Rangers on Rice Rockets is the colloquial term.
Though as a rider of a BMW Motorcycle, that makes me a Pipe and Slippers man, obviously too old to have fun and should be a paid up member of the Advanced Motorcyclist Group, who never go over 50 mph.
As I am sure you are all aware, Nikon today announced the D800.
In many ways a great camera, but it’s not a D700 replacement, but more of a cheaper smaller D3X. In many ways it is ahead of the D3X.
At 36MP it’s in medium format quality range. For people who cannot justify the cost of Medium Format is a very cheap alternative.
Its no speed freak, at 4 frames per second but then it is not really targeted at the photo journalist or sports photographer. This is more a studio or landscape camera.
One of the things that makes this camera of interest to me, is that it comes in two version. The standard D800 and the D800E.
As I have mentioned before in a previous post https://brown-family.org.uk/?p=3568, there is a filter covering the sensor on most digital cameras that actually reduces the resolution of the image. Nikon have taken the brave move of releasing a version of the D800 without this filter, this is the D800E. I love studio work but cannot afford or justify yet digital medium format, this could be a viable alternative.
Today we have had the day off and have enjoyed ourselves just being able to do as we pleased. This meant a pleasant motorcycle ride round parts of Lincolnshire, and included a trip to Wisteria Patchwork. They had a sale on this week, so some fabric indulgence was a must for Caroline. Then we headed further North to Kirton in Lindsey, the weather had turned colder at this point so we stopped at Mount Pleasant Windmill and enjoyed some of their warming soup. I also took the opportunity to stock up on some fresh flour for my own bread making.
We then went home as dark clouds were heading our way.
Once home I proceeded to make some fresh bread while Caroline did some sewing, making some more quilt tops.
Forgive the poor quality shot above, low light and shot with my phone, never conductive to good photography.
Do you find a lot of your photographs very similar? Do you have a style or are you stuck in a rut?
Sometimes it’s good to try something different.
If your after suggestions try these:
Shoot Black & White
Try digital blending in Photoshop instead of HDR
Try a lens you don’t use very often
Shoot a Portrait with a Wide Angle Lens
Shoot a Landscape with a Telephoto
At the big family get together today, I was asked for recommendations on what camera to buy for a complete beginner.
A very difficult question. They had pretty much already decided on a Canon SRL as that a ‘real’ camera.
I asked what they wanted to take pictures of but they had not really thought about that.
Choosing a camera should fit the purpose of what they want to photograph, but also needs to be a model that suits them.
I pointed them at the low end Canon and Nikon SLR’s but also suggested they take a look micro four thirds and the Sony Alpha Range.
I often see very expensive top of the range Leica’s, Hasselblad’s and Ebony Cameras for sale that have hardly been used. I sometimes think, someone walked into the shop and asked for ‘Best’ Camera money could buy, rather the the best camera that suits the sort of Photography they want to do, at a level they are currently competent in.
Unable to produce a half decent shot that even a Casio compact could excel at, they give up in disgust.
With everything that’s been going on over the last month, the Gym and our fitness in general had taken a back seat.
Well after an exhausting days Christmas shopping at the weekend we visited our local Gym. Instead of hitting the weight machines, for a change we spent an hour leisurely swimming, and we both really enjoyed it.
