Not a Wordless Wednesday- Birds

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

I have been struggling with the weight of the Nikkor 200-500mm plus my tripod for sometime-well since moving here actually. Birding here requires more walking or it seems that way to me, so I decided to go to a lighter system for birding and wildlife.

I switched from my long-loved system too. I bought a Fuji X-T3 and their 100-400mm lens. I’m gaining some on the wide end, but losing some distance which I hope I don’t feel too much since the Fuji is an APS-C cropped sensor camera.

A simplified definition of Full-Frame and cropped sensor cameras-  A Full-frame sensor has the same size dimensions of a 35mm film format. That’s long been the standard in film size. A cropped sensor is a cropped or smaller sensor size than 35mm film format.

Where you see the difference in an image is on a Full-Frame camera the area of view is wider than a cropped sensor, and the cropped sensor camera’s area of view is cropped in for a tighter view.  So, and 50mm lens on a full-frame camera’s area of view is 50mm, but on a cropped sensor camera with a 1.5x crop the area of view is about 75mm.  Wildlife and birders love APS-C or crop sensor cameras because of that added reach from the multiplier gain.  It’s from that gain I’m hoping I don’t miss the 500mm end of my heavy 200-500mm lens.  Clear as mud?  It makes my head spin sometimes!

On the weight side. I’ve shed half the weight of what I was carrying.  Nikon kit w/tripod = 11.01 pounds. Fuji kit= 4.22 pounds! Now, instead of needing the tripod to make the shot and improve my keeper rate and that added 4 pounds of weight I can leave it behind and shoot hand-held with the new kit, and be a lot quicker. That’s the plan anyway. 😀

It’s a whole new system that is going to take a while to get comfortable with after 12 years of shooting Nikon, but I am not ditching Nikon completely. I’m keeping my Full-frame cameras and several lenses as they have a place in my bag and photography needs.

I’ll stop talking, and show you an image I made with the new camera and one with my Panasonic Lumix FZ200 from a few weeks ago. FYI- When #1 Grandson heard I bought a new camera he asked for my Lumix FZ200. How cool is that! 😍

Fuji X-T3 w/Fujinon XF 100-400mm

House Finch

Panasonic Lumix FZ200 Mom and Dad American Bald Eagles.

American Bald Eagle Pair

Plus one more! iPhone 7 Plus- We’ve been painting birds for several weeks in my Watercolor class. Here’s the last one I finished.  M. Graham watercolor on Canson 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Rooster_198CC240-54E4-4CD1-9795-776A44B43BBA

 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and the load you carry this week isn’t a heavy one!

more to come…

 

Wordless Wednesday- Chick-a-Dee

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Chick a Dee feeding from my Hand

Me feeding a wild Chick-a-dee!

Lumix FZ200| PS CC 21.0.2

more to come…

Whatever Weds. This and That

Copywrite ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

I have been out photographing things but didn’t post last week so I thought I’d share some of what’s going on and what I’ve been photographing.

There’s a BIG event here at the end of January called Eagles and Ag. Ag short for Agriculture.  The Ag is grass, Cows, and sheep that eat that grass. During Calving season which is now, Eagles and Hawks make an appearance to feast on the afterbirth.

Anyway, there are talks and tours on private ranches and lands.  This was the third year I tried to get in on some tours and I finally made it to not one, but three tours! YIPEE!

One of the tours was called the Owl Prowl.  I saw Great Horned owls… too far and behind lots of branches to make good images of, and two Barn owls…I was too slow and far away so didn’t get a good shot of them while they flew by. Sigh, but I did get one Great Horned owl shot, sadly, I clipped one wing.  I was still thrilled to see it. Birds SCORE! Deborah not so much.

Great Horned Owl

I saw two American Bald Eagles, but they were so far away for my lens. I got a good look through the guides spotting scope though- no photo sorry.

We toured the wetlands behind my house and I learned a lot. These wetlands are private property and the only time the public can get in there is on this tour or you’re a member of Incline Village Hunter’s club.  The wetlands are where Incline Village drains their effluent water which creates a wonderful habitat for shorebirds, and wildlife and they have treatment ponds out there to further clean the water where it eventually flows back into the Carson River, and some are reclaimed to water a golf course or two.

It wasn’t very birdy, but the reflections in the ponds were spectacular. That’s the Carson Range.

IVGID Wetlands Tour Reflections

A few days after Eagles and Ag a couple of girlfriends and I went snowshoeing and on the way home, we saw a family unit of American Bald Eagles in a tree not far off the highway! We stopped! Almost out of range for my little Lumix FZ200, but still a nice look I think.  That’s Dad on the bottom, Mom and Jr up at the top.

American Bald Eagle Family

Then I went to Baby Girl’s for our Littlest’s first birthday party and I did a Cake Smash Photoshoot.  Baby Girl and I collaborated on decorations and props. I think it came out alright.  I did a pre-cake smash session followed by a nap, and feeding then the cake smash.

Landon's 1st Birthday Photoshoot

He wasn’t quite sure what to do with the cake, but curiosity got the best of him and he dug right in as you can see!  I just LOVE his curls!!

Landon's Cake Smash Portrait Sitting

We had another dusting of snow, so my girlfriends and I are heading to mountains a bit north of here to snowshoe in a new place today. I’m hoping to see some Chick-a-dees. They’ve been known to eat right out of your hand. I hope that happens!

That’s about it. I hope your week is off to a great start and continues to be a good one!

Panasonic Lumix FZ200| iPhone 7 Plus| Nikon D810 w/ 50mm f/1.8G lens| Hoodman and Sandisk Digital Film| PS CC 21.0.2

more to come…

 

 

 

 

Thursday Doors: Lord John Russell Pub

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Whist in London over the Holidays I passed this pub on the way to the British Museum and had to stop to get a photo of the lovely Blue Door. I love the hanging sphere plants and that shade of blue. Lord John Russell

I did a quick search to see how long the pub has been there and found it’s been there a LONG TIME! In 1856 a John Russell was in the postal directory at this address.

Here’s the link to the London pub wiki that shares the pub’s history.

To see more doors from around the world visit our favorite Doorlican Norm here!

iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 21.0.2

more to come…

 

Whatever Weds. Daybreak on the Pond

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

We had 7 inches of snow last Thursday all over Carson Valley!  On Friday a friend and I got up and out really early to catch the sunrise and do some birding.  Before we even made it out of our gate we had to stop at the pond to catch the wonderful color and scene at the pond.

Daybreak on the Pond

The storm blew through really fast, but oh what it left behind is so pretty!

Nikon Df| Nikkor 24-120mm @24mm| f/11|0.5s| ISO 100| PS CC 21.0.2

more to come…

Whatever Weds. A Montage

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A really neat feature about the iPhone is it will take images if there are enough of them in a timeframe and create a montage of them in video format.  I love this feature.

It created a video of some of the images I made while in London over the Holiday break.

I apologize in advance for the tilted horizons.  A videographer I am not, but I hope you enjoy the sights around London, Windsor, and museums.

iPhone 7Plus| iMovie

more to come…

Whatever Weds. An Evening in Soho…

Copyright ©2020 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Hello, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It feels like an age since I last posted.  If you follow me on Instagram you know that I was in London for most of the Christmas Holiday. That’s why I wasn’t posting or commenting on your posts.

On New Year’s Day, we have a family tradition of eating Hot Dogs,  sausage, and sauerkraut for luck. I skip the Hot Dogs, as I don’t care for them, but sausage is good! I made it a mission to find a place to eat our traditional meal on New Years Day.  I employed Yelp to aid me in finding a good place.

I thought a German place would do the job and found Herman Ze German in the Soho district. I created a Hot- link for you so you can see their menu.  See what I did there? 😜It was wonderful!  We all had their Chili Brats which is a beef brat,  we had fries and a really good German beer the man taking our order recommended. It was Augustiner Munchen Helles bier. It was so good. Unfortunately, we can’t get this particular beer here in the States.  Did I take any photos of my food?  NO! I forget to do that all the time, but I did take a picture of the beer label so I could look for it here at home but, I haven’t uploaded it, so on the image score for that meal- Total Fail!

After having our “good luck” meal we headed toward our hotel on foot. We did a lot of walking while in London.

While walking through the Soho we stumbled across Chinatown where I did snap this image.  Oh, look there’s a crane for Dan, and Lanterns for Joey!  😀

Chinatown, Soho London UK

We’re home, and I’ve still got to get the Christmas decorations down and put away and catch up on all the laundry.  I hope your New Year is off to a great start!

iPhone 7 Plus| PS CC 21.0.1

more to come…