First, if you are coming here from Gab, I’d like to say that I saw all your great comments on my Monday “good morning” post in the Good Morning Brigade group. Thank you for that. Some of them were quite entertaining. Typically, I try to respond to each of the comments on my good morning post. I did not do that yesterday.
I left quite early for Lake Conestee Nature Preserve. I rented a 500 mm PF lens for this week. The PF elements makes the lens fairly lightweight, easy to handle. This is the third lens I rented this year, and by far the best one. The only drawback is that it is a prime lens, which means it has only one focal length, 500 mm. This is my first experience with a prime lens.
Not being able to back off to a shorter range was occasionally annoying, making it impossible to get certain shots, especially landscape photos. But I rented that lens for a specific purpose: wildlife photos, primarily birds. And it was a good day for bird photography.
I took almost 1000 photographs, probably the most I’ve ever taken in one day. Unfortunately, as is always the case, most of those photos are just repeats of the same scene, over and over, as I click a burst of shots, hoping to capture a good one in the process. I have gone through about one third of the photographs so far, deleting a couple of hundred, and finding a dozen or so keepers. I got some interesting photographs, including photos of the distant heron nests, which currently have several juvenile herons, being tended by their parents. I’ve never been able to get that particular kind of photograph before. The focal range of my lenses was always much too short.
The West Bay observation deck has become quite popular with birders, along with other folks like me who just enjoy taking photographs. Although every person I have met or spoken to has been friendly, the presence of all those folks on that platform kind of spoils it for me. Two or three different conversations going on at the same time, including one that I might be involved in, is too distracting from the purpose of being there. It’s not a social outing for me.
I stayed at the park for a couple of hours, got tired, got bored, got annoyed. I went home, after stopping by the drive through at Chick-fil-A. At home, I put my camera battery in the charger and started uploading the photos into Lightroom. Then I ate an enormous breakfast, watched some television, took a long, long nap. I was still tired when I woke up. Nonetheless, I spent several hours going through the morning’s photographs. I did stop to look at your colorful comments on my good morning post, but did not have the energy to respond.
I rented the 500 mm PF lens for the whole week, don’t plan to go out Tuesday, will probably go somewhere else (not the West Bay observation deck) Wednesday.
I learned something about myself that morning. It’s possible to get bored taking photographs. The thought of taking more photos of herons, wood ducks, and bitterns does not appeal to me right now. Some of the folks I have met at the park go there several times a week, just to look at the birds.
I don’t get it.
I also learned something that I already expected: when it comes time to upgrade my camera system, there is no need to consider a prime lens, no matter how good it might be. My favorite focal range is 70 to 200 mm. And I don’t think that’s going to change. Being locked into one focal length is too confining. Even though 200 mm is too short for most bird photography, I may find it difficult to justify buying a longer lens, just for that purpose.
The Nikon Z mirrorless system has a 100 to 400 mm lens that is just about perfect for bird photography in the park, but the window of usefulness for that purpose is only a few weeks long, in late fall and early spring. I may do what I’ve done this year during that timeframe, rent a longer lens.
There is one other possibility that I’ll be considering. My current camera (the Nikon D610) has 24 megapixels. Any new camera I’ll be considering, including the very expensive Nikon Z9, will have at least 45 megapixels. It will also have a crop mode, effectively adding 1.5 times to any lens’ focal length. Also, that system has an excellent 1.4 times teleconverter which is not too expensive. That means, if I used a 70 to 200 mm lens in crop mode with that teleconverter, I would effectively have a 420 mm reach. Given the high quality of Nikon’s Z system, that should give me results superior to what I can get now with any of the lenses I currently have available, at least for most photographs, excluding sharp photos of those distant heron nests I often speak of. Even the 500 mm lens I used Monday is not long enough to get a proper photo of the baby herons in the nest. I will show you what I got today in a few weeks.
Having said all that, I have to remind myself that I’m still saving up the money for that purchase. And I am hearing leaks and rumors about a Nikon Z8 camera that may be announced later this year. It will be less capable than the Z9, but likely give me everything I need. Plus, it will probably be between $1000 and $2000 cheaper than the Z9. The rumors about the Z8 go in a couple of different directions. One of those directions would be very compelling for me, a smaller version of the existing Z9 camera, same incredible sensor, same new processor. The other direction might spoil it for me, a 61 megapixel sensor with old sensor technology. I’ll just have to be patient and see what actually happens.
I guess I need to admit that I’m not in a particularly good mood right now. Personal matters and family matters are distracting me. These are all long-term issues which are mostly out of my control. I don’t like that. I’ll just have to deal with the issues as they unfold, like we all have to do.
We live in an uncertain world. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to handle all this uncertainty. I have decided to try to be prepared for either good or bad. I’m sure a little of both is going to happen. I will just try to keep my mind clear, and move forward with the best judgment I can muster. And when I can, I will take this old body and this old mind out into nature, where I can put aside the problems of the day, at least for a little while, and drink in the warmth of the morning sun.