MindSquatch Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Hi SWWASAS, I carry a Panasonic 550 cam corder with me. On that day I was using both cam corder and the phone. I should just simply not ever use the phone anymore when out there, mainly used for tracks. Here's a photo of a track just about 75 yards away in another side creek coming off the same mountain taken in late winter of 2016. I wanted to go up that creek to explore, but It was starting to get late with not much day light left. Going to go again to do a retake photo and go explore the mountain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatFoot Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 1 hour ago, MindSquatch said: Hi SWWASAS, I carry a Panasonic 550 cam corder with me. On that day I was using both cam corder and the phone. I should just simply not ever use the phone anymore when out there, mainly used for tracks. Here's a photo of a track just about 75 yards away in another side creek coming off the same mountain taken in late winter of 2016. I wanted to go up that creek to explore, but It was starting to get late with not much day light left. Going to go again to do a retake photo and go explore the mountain. A retake photo from something in 2016? Not saying.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSquatch Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 9 minutes ago, NatFoot said: A retake photo from something in 2016? Not saying.... No, a retake of my trip from last Monday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatFoot Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Ahhhh--thanks. I was obviously not following! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmknight Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 On 1/3/2019 at 3:31 PM, SWWASAS said: I carry a little Cannon camera that zooms up to 30 X optically and goes to 40 X digitally. Optical zoom is more like the zoom on a 35 mm camera. Digital zoom actually magnifies the pixels, and can make the picture worse to look at, as well as degrade an already optically zoomed in picture. Most digital cameras will use digital zoom after the optical zoom is maxed out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catmandoo Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 ^^^^^Spot on. Digital zoom sucks. Turn digital off and use optical all of the time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted January 5, 2019 BFF Patron Share Posted January 5, 2019 Good point. I try to avoid going into the digital zoom region because of the pixellation. Even at that when you blow up an image taken with a digital camera at some point the pixels take over and ruin the image. I got some software that supposedly processed that out but it did not seem to do anything. The best thing is to use the most optical zoom you can get out of a camera or at least what you are willing to carry if it is a DLSR. I got a DLSR when I first started field work but carrying about a big camera with an even bigger lens gets real old. If you knew where you could find BF walking around regularly, you could get a huge lens and image them from a distance where they are unaware you are there. But that is as unlikely as getting BF to pose for pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmknight Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 You don't need a "huge" lens at all, SWWASAS. All of the major DSLR mfrs have teleconverters for their lenses now, so you can take that short 50-210 kit zoom lens, stick a 2X-teleconverter between the lens and the body, and now you've got a 100-420 Zoom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted January 6, 2019 BFF Patron Share Posted January 6, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, cmknight said: You don't need a "huge" lens at all, SWWASAS. All of the major DSLR mfrs have teleconverters for their lenses now, so you can take that short 50-210 kit zoom lens, stick a 2X-teleconverter between the lens and the body, and now you've got a 100-420 Zoom. Still too heavy. Besides you apparently do not understand the relationship of the focal length to telescopic magnification. www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Lenses/Canon-Lens-Magnification-Value.aspx A 300MM DSLR lens only magnifies the image 6 times. You divide the FL by 50 to get you the magnification. So the magnification of your 420 MM lens is 8.4 power. My small Cannon zooms to 30 X optical which is 3.57 times greater than your 420 MM lens equivalent magnification on the DSLR. So my little Cannon camera does a lot better in telephoto magnification than the big DSLR. with a 300 MM or 420 MM for that matter. Not worth the weight to carry it unless you are doing low light work and need the larger diameter DSLR lens for gathering light. Additionally just the 300 MM telephoto lens cost more than the small Cannon camera did. Edited January 6, 2019 by SWWASAS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted January 6, 2019 Moderator Share Posted January 6, 2019 ^^^^ That's why I went with the Nikon P900 .. 83x optical magnification. The stabilization software is pretty decent. It is a bit bulky but nothing like a DSLR. MIB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catmandoo Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 4 hours ago, SWWASAS said: Still too heavy. Besides you apparently do not understand the relationship of the focal length to telescopic magnification. www.the-digital-picture.com/Canon-Lenses/Canon-Lens-Magnification-Value.aspx A 300MM DSLR lens only magnifies the image 6 times. You divide the FL by 50 to get you the magnification. So the magnification of your 420 MM lens is 8.4 power. My small Cannon zooms to 30 X optical which is 3.57 times greater than your 420 MM lens equivalent magnification on the DSLR. So my little Cannon camera does a lot better in telephoto magnification than the big DSLR. with a 300 MM or 420 MM for that matter. Not worth the weight to carry it unless you are doing low light work and need the larger diameter DSLR lens for gathering light. Additionally just the 300 MM telephoto lens cost more than the small Cannon camera did. I have never considered a teleconverter for forest work. I am in dark areas under the forest canopy. For example, my trail cameras switch to IR at 5PM during June and 1PM during Sept. Teleconverters do not work with all lenses. Less light passes to the image media. For a 1.4 teleconverter, you get a 40% focal length increase but loose one f stop. For a 2x teleconverter, you get 100% focal length increase at a cost of 2 f stops which may disable the auto focus. With less light, the auto focus is slowed down or doesn't work. Switch to manual focus. Camera shake is multiplied and subject motion blur is a factor. Increasing shutter speed in low light conditions is difficult to impossible. Opening up the aperature to wide open will not save you. Most lenses are designed for optimal performance 2--3 stops down from maximum. Very few are designed for best performance when wide open. Degraded image quality of sharpness and contrast due to the teleconverter magnifying lens defects. I work in the arena of image capture in the camera, not post processing pixel massage. Somethings to keep in mind for people thinking about buying a camera: some companies selling cameras have never designed or made a lens and Canon and Nikon are the masters of ETTL flash ( if you can't do flash manually ) 1 hour ago, MIB said: ^^^^ That's why I went with the Nikon P900 .. 83x optical magnification. The stabilization software is pretty decent. It is a bit bulky but nothing like a DSLR. MIB MIB, I am not familiar with Nikon gear. I am a Canon guy. P900 looks interesting. What is the range for smartphone--wifi control? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted January 6, 2019 Moderator Share Posted January 6, 2019 10 minutes ago, Catmandoo said: MIB, I am not familiar with Nikon gear. I am a Canon guy. P900 looks interesting. What is the range for smartphone--wifi control? No idea. I haven't used that feature. It isn't anything I put any value on. For me it's just a very good point and shoot camera with a USB connection. That does everything I have any need to do. I've had it almost 2 years and still haven't finished the manual no ever started the aftermarket manual I bought. MIB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catmandoo Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 I was wondering about the zoom feature. With that camera on a tripod and using the smartphone for control, you would not have to touch the camera and eliminate vibration and camera shake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted January 6, 2019 Moderator Share Posted January 6, 2019 That makes sense. If the subject is out of center, you've got to touch the tripod and adjust anyway. So yeah, I guess you could change zoom, but I don't know if that is very valuable. I bought the external trigger .. think it might be I.R. but I'm not sure ... to trip the shutter w/o touching the camera. I've been surprised, though, how clear some of my long distance pictures are even at max zoom just by tucking my elbows against my hip bones and pushing the button ... no tripod used at all. I carried a large tripod into the woods my first 2-3 times with the camera but once I saw what I could do without it just by using good technique, I quit. Knocks 5-6 pounds off my day pack weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 7, 2019 BFF Patron Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) A monopod works wonders, for anxiety prone photos, just link it in to the end of a hiking pole, if necessary have two links or screw jobs, holding your breath works wonders too~ Edited January 7, 2019 by bipedalist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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