May 4, 2016 | Field Reports
Yep, Jake and I are teaming up for some winter bird photography along the coast of Texas. Jake is a great photographer and has a way with critters, which makes him a natural leader and teacher. Hundreds of bird species funnel through Texas as they head south of the border. The variety is huge and the opportunities almost exhausting. And there are some resident birds you won’t find anywhere else. This combination and a whole lot more make this a great place for bird photography!
This is a long and short lens adventure and more than likely, a little flash thrown in for good measure. When you combine this all together, it makes for good times. The dates are 11.01-06.16. You’ll fly into Houston on the 1st and fly out on the 6th. Right now, we will base 2 days out of Galveston and 2 days out of Corpus Christi. Weather can affect the migration, which might cause a slight change to where we base out of. The price of $1975 covers instruction, transportation to and from airport and entire week and a whole lot of fun! Limited to 6 folks with one open spot available. Call Sharon 661.204.1506 if you’re up for the fun and challenge!
Apr 28, 2016 | Field Reports
This has been a LONG time coming! The D5 introduces quite eloquently the new Nikon SB-5000 and its wireless Creative Lighting System. You still have iTTL Flash Metering, but the camera and flashes talk wirelessly as well as optically. The HUGE advantage of wireless over optical is no more worrying about line of site for triggering your flashes. So for example if shooting along the Texas Coast with us in November and you need to use your SB-5000 with your long lens, no more cables between the camera and flash to fire and meter. No more wires to get caught in branches or scare off birds!
Besides having a wireless capable body (only the D5 & D500 so far), you need to have the SB-5000 and WR-R10. If you already have the WR-R10, it needs to have firmware 3.0 which Nikon is doing for free (that is not a typo). Once you have all the pieces, pairing the flash, remote, body, all together is simple. But the controls are different with the body doing much of what was done on the flash. All my pieces just arrived yesterday and while all working instantly, learning what to push when to get the desired effect is not ingrained. Once it is, I’ll post the settings (instruction book leaves out a couple of things) and how I’m incorporating this very new and exciting technology into my photography. And yes, I have updated my D5 settings with this new technology now in hand :-)
Apr 27, 2016 | Field Reports
From the back seat of the van down 60 … the farm.
Apr 26, 2016 | Field Reports
Very old gas station, Ames, OK.
Apr 25, 2016 | Field Reports
The D5 opens up a great window into DSLR video production with its 4k abilities. When shooting 4k, you are limited though to just 3min clips when recording to the XQD. For many applications and filming, this works just fine. But a few of the products I’m currently creating, longer is needed. The solution to this and more is beautifully solved with the new Ninja Assassin 4k. Plug the Ninja into the HDMI, remove the XQD from the D5 and shoot, that’s it to unlimited shooting. To make life really simple, install the SSD into the Ninja and have two Batteries and you’re set for all day. While doing this, you have the beautiful Ninja 4k monitor to look at and operate the video recording. I’ve had a number of monitors over the years which includes an earlier Ninja, none compare to this one for ease of use, quality of image and problem solving. It’s a great addition to the D5 arsenal!
Apr 21, 2016 | Field Reports
This is simply a brilliant product! Where have you been? The DSLR Parka Cold and Rain Protector is so simple but sooo effective I wonder why it didn’t come out long ago! It’s real simple, you place your camera / lens inside and place your hands inside and you shoot. You can shoot easily down to zero with no gloves easily with this. You can put a flash through the top slot and see everything through the viewfinder and LCD with clear back panel. It’s real simple to attach or remove and get your hands inside to your gear. The inside lining is soo soft as well, it just screams “come in!” It fits any body, any lens as well as any size of hands. If you’re shooting with a Nikon AFS lens, be sure to have it set to M/A and not A/M. Otherwise, this is the perfect outdoor photographer accessory. Where’s the snow when you need it? Oh, BTW … it makes a great sound blimp too!
(lens not included)
