Birds of Manitoba - Craig & Rose: March 2016

Saturday, 26 March 2016

Assorted Birds and Scenery from 2015

Black and White Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Belted Kingfisher

Chipping Sparrows

Magnolia Warbler

Veery

Thrush

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Fort Whyte Pond

Fort Whyte Floating Boardwalk

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Nikon D3300 and Tamron 150-600 Part 2

Went to Fort Whyte today in hopes of getting some birds in flight closer than 100 yards. Sadly that didn't happen.
Below are some more sample photos which should give an idea of the lenses capabilities.
Today I used a Stedi Stock for shooting. It is basically a plastic rifle stock onto which you can mount your camera by means of one of 3 holes through which the mounting screw passes to attach your camera to the stock. It is not to bad, it gives more stability than shooting free hand but not as much as a tripod. The biggest fault with it is that it does not have the little metal nub you find on tripods that fits into one of the slots on the bottom of your camera. Thus the camera eventually starts to swing to and fro. If not enough attention is paid the camera and lens could completely detach themselves from the Stedi Stock and fall to the ground. Today I placed a tie wrap around the tripod mount and the Stedi Stock to further secure the camera and lens to the Stedi Stock. It did help but the camera and lens still moved a bit, but there was virtually no chance of it coming detached.

Canada Geese 100 yards 300mm
The first 3 photos are not cropped or edited

Canada Geese 100 yards 500mm

Canada Geese 100 yards 600mm

Canada Geese over 100 yards

Mallards at over 100 yards
I could tell these were ducks but couldn't identify them as Mallards looking through the view finder. They were flying toward the sun in this photo so it is over exposed.

Mallards at 100 yards
Original size with sides cropped to make file size smaller

Mallards at 100 yards
Cropped
I thought the focus locked on this group but now I'm not certain.

Seagull at over 100 yards
Gull was impossible to get a focus lock on as it was so tiny in the viewfinder

Seagull & Geese at over 100 yards
Once again it was impossible to get a focus lock due to distance and size of Gull

The following are some of my better photos for the day

Chickadee
15 feet

Common Redpoll
First time I've seen one in at least 2 years
15 feet

Deer
50 feet

House Sparrow
15 feet

Rusted Rail Car
100 feet

Squirrel
10 feet

Saturday, 19 March 2016

Birds and Scenery

American Redstart

Baltimore Oriole

Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Squirrel

Swainson's Thrush

Tennessee Warbler

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Abandoned Church
S/W Manitoba

Roseisle - Fall

Thursday, 17 March 2016

Nikon D3300 with the Tamron 150-600 - 17 March 2016

Got my new camera gear today, Nikon D3300 and Tamron 150-600 lens.
I was anxious to try them out so I charged the battery for an hour and went to the pond we frequent.
It was not a perfect photo day, gloomy with a moderate snow falling for most of my time at the pond.
I took about 220 photos and kept 18. There were a lot of almost identical photos and many at a distance did not turn out due to the snow. In some of the photos the snow fall was heavy enough that the camera actually focused on the snow.
I was rather pleased with my new kits performance considering the weather, my limited abilities and this being my first time using this kit.
Photos taken range from about 60 feet to over 200 yards.
I tweaked the exposure on all the photos and added some sharpness.
The D3300 is very small and light.
The Tamron 150-600 is large and weighs in at about 4 lbs.
Some of the photos were shot hand held and others with the lens resting on a door window in our van.
I think hand held shots are very possible with the 150-600, except for birds at a distance. I am really looking forward to better weather so I can get some more experience with it.