• Hi Guest - Sign up now for Secret Santa 2024!
    Click here to sign up!
  • Hi Guest - Come check out all of the new CP Merch Shop! Now you can support CigarPass buy purchasing hats, apparel, and more...
    Click here to visit! here...

Bird Watchers

Those who know me know me as a Nikon kind of guy - mainly because I’ve always admired the quality of the photos. It’s been an absolute pleasure to use my D800 - and the beautiful sensor in that camera has really elevated the quality of my shots. Recently I “lucked out” and purchased two Canon 70D bodies at an auction very reasonably priced that I’m setting up for my wife and grandson. I’ve been experimenting with them and am very impressed with the quality. they are definitely a different sensor and a bit more challenging with the noise (not as easy to take lower light photos). But - within the last hour I took this amazing photo and wanted to share it with my CP friends. Thank you all for your kind words and appreciation of the photos I’m taking. They don’t do any good to leave them in the camera! I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and successful new year! Enjoy!

86A06FB5-9901-4D0D-B1D1-2B7142B31E01.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Those who know me know me as a Nikon kind of guy - mainly because I’ve always admired the quality of the photos. It’s been an absolute pleasure to use my D800 - and the beautiful sensor in that camera has really elevated the quality of my shots. Recently I “lucked out” and purchased two Canon 70D bodies at an auction very reasonably priced that I’m setting up for my wife and grandson. I’ve been experimenting with them and am very impressed with the quality. they are definitely a different sensor and a bit more challenging with the noise (not as easy to take lower light photos). But - within the last hour I took this amazing photo and wanted to share it with my CP friends. Thank you all for your kind words and appreciation of the photos I’m taking. They don’t do any good to leave them in the camera! I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and successful new year! Enjoy!

View attachment 64069
I think even JoeMo would say that is a great photo. I'm enjoying them man.
 
"Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to keep his anger in motion." -Shakespeare.

This one line Shakespeare wrote referencing a starling is what prompted late 19th century New York pharmacist Eugene Schieffelin to release the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) into the the US. In 1877 he was the chairman and driving force of the American Acclimatization Society and being a self-described avid Shakespeare admirer, he decided the group should introduce to North America the roughly 60, (give or take) bird species that Shakespeare mentioned in his works - including the European starling. For those who are bothered by the birds - we have Schieffelin to thank!

_DSC7644.JPG
 
That lens was a significant investment - and the sensor on the Nikon D800 is amazing. Combined it creates some pretty great photos - stuff I could never do with an iPhone (even the new iPhone 14).
I’ll say! I have it, and it can’t even come close.
 
That lens was a significant investment - and the sensor on the Nikon D800 is amazing. Combined it creates some pretty great photos - stuff I could never do with an iPhone (even the new iPhone 14).
Been looking at a second hand 80-200 2.8f, and even that is a significant investment. Camera stuff is stupid!
 
Been looking at a second hand 80-200 2.8f, and even that is a significant investment. Camera stuff is stupid!
I have the 200-500 f5.6E - and both you and my lenses are in the "moderate" range... I'm not yet tempted to go into the "holy crap!" range... 😁

I've had pretty good luck buying used equipment - as long as I've stayed with reputable sellers. It's a crap shoot to buy a piece of camera equipment from a seller that is not in the business.
 
I’ll say! I have it, and it can’t even come close.
I wonder what you're doing/not doing...

I have had to learn how to steady the camera to keep from creating blurred images. I have a Monfrotto tripod with a Neewer Gimbal Head - and the combo of the two makes a pretty solid platform to steady the shots. I also always shoot in manual mode so that I can better adjust the settings to lock in the best possible image that reaches the sensor. Too light and especially too dark and it really does significantly impact the final picture.

Also - post-processing is huge (I'd say better than 50% of the final product). I'm using the latest version of Lightroom, which gives me a lot of ability to lightly tweak the image in a lot of different ways - especially in cropping and clarity by removing a good portion of aberrations and noise. (I've been studying techniques of Ansel Adams - the master of post-processing).
 
Top