[John Bennett]

Im not going to touch the right to bear debate with a 14ft spey.

But.

but my guess is Morsie could layout a nice case for not allowing civilians to have guns.  I think alot of times we are ethnocentric in thinking the US of A is the best thing going.

Not neccessarily Seafood.

Our laws are fairly strict and prohibitive.

Canada’s tough new gun control law, which took effect Jan. 1, 2001, requires individuals to obtain licenses to posses or purchase either guns or ammunition. By Jan. 1, 2003, registration of all guns in Canada will be required. The Firearms Act regulations apply to the importing, exporting, possession, use, storage, display and transportation of all firearms, and are in effect across the country.

Under the Canadian Firearms Act, the three classes of firearms are:

1)Non-restricted (most ordinary rifles and shotguns);
2)Restricted (mainly handguns); and
3)Prohibited (full automatics, converted automatics, handguns with a barrel length of 105 mm (approx. 4″) or less, and .25 or .32 caliber handguns among others).

One might think that Canada wouldnt have gun problems. The problem is, it isnt law abiding citizens you have to worry about. I live/work in Toronto and gang related violence is, depending on who you listen to, very much a problem and the illicit gun trade is of great concern, many of which are smuggled north. England, from what I understand is also having similiar problems although dont quote me.

And thats all Im going to say about that 🙂

/edit
not quite, feel i should clarify.
Alot of Torontonians are/were shocked at the “wanton” violence thats been occuring is the last few years, trust me some of it atleast for “us” has been pretty brazen. “Toronto the Safe”? Two summers, not a day went by that there wasnt a headline about the “Summer of the Gun”.

A blurb from a US Newspaper.
TORONTO — A city that prides itself as one of the safest in North America is bewildered by a surge in violence that has produced a record number of shooting deaths this year, the latest a 15-year-old girl on a street filled with holiday shoppers.

Whatever the cause, Canadians recoiled Tuesday after a gunbattle the previous day in Toronto left the teenage bystander lying dead and six other people wounded in a street near a popular shopping mall.

It was the 52nd death inflicted by a firearm this year in Canada’s biggest city, which is nearly twice as many as last year and raised the overall homicide toll to 78 — not far below the record 88 homicides of 1991.

From this year.

Two men have each been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the weekend shooting death of 11-year-old Ephraim Brown at an outdoor party, Toronto police said Monday[qote]

The 2002 Michael Moore documentary film Bowling for Columbine was partly filmed in Toronto. Moore visited suburbs in Toronto, where he found front doors unlocked and much less concern over crime and security.

In 2005, Toronto media coined the term “Year of the Gun” because the number of gun-related homicides reached 52 out of 80 murders in total;[1] almost double the 27 gun deaths recorded the previous year.[2] On December 26, 2005, 15-year-old Jane Creba was shot and killed in the Boxing Day shooting while shopping on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. After this incident, many people called for the federal government to ban handguns in Canada; this also became an issue in the 2006 federal election.

In May 2007, the shooting death of Jordan Manners, a 15-year-old, at his school, C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute, raised calls for a ban on handguns again.

On July 22, 2007, 11-year-old Ephraim Brown was killed after being shot in the neck by a stray bullet, during a gang shooting in the city’s north end at Jane Street and Sheppard Avenue.

On March 17, 2007 and on July 21, 2007, there had been early morning shooting deaths in the Oakwood-Vaughan neighbourhood. Both shootings happened during parties.

TORONTO – The stray bullet that struck and killed 15-year-old Jane Creba while she was shopping on a busy downtown street on Boxing Day 2005, left an indelible mark on the psyche of Canada’s largest city.

In Toronto, 2005 is still known as The Year of The Gun.

Yet two years later, murder rates have spiked to even higher levels.

Rosemary Gartner, a criminologist at the University of Toronto, says in the past Toronto has typically seen about 60 murders a year.

For the first time in more than 20 years, however, those numbers have spiked in two of the past three years, to 78 in 2005 and 82 so far in 2007.

Does Toronto have a gun problem?
I think so

[John Bennett]

Frissbees

[John Bennett]

Nice Kendal.
….I have to tell you, it is MADDENING to miss some photos!

Yes it is 🙂
Ive been trying hard to capture a sequence of that special moment just before impact of a Harris smoking a rabbit. Trying to anticpate sightlines in the scrub is the hard part and then I need to get lucky.

For BiF (Birds in Flight) you want todo everything you can to squeeze every last drop out of your sytems AF speed. This is all about hardware but there are a couple things you can do. Make sure you on center point only af, if your lens has a limiter switch set it to smaller of the two and if you can try to “preset” focus by preiodically focusing on anything at a distance that would be where a majority of flybys take place.

The limiter switch reduces how much the lens will look to acheive focus. At maximum it will “search” from its MFD to infinty. So if you set it at its smaller option it will only search through a smaller range.
It helps alot with acquiring initial focus.

if most action takes place somewhere betweeen 30 and 50 feet anytime you focus outside that, “preset” focus by locking onto something around 30 feet away. That way if something does happen at 40feet, the lens is dialed into 30feet and it can focus that much faster.

With the speed these birds move at fractions of a second make a large difference. Hope you dont mind me adding 2 frames to your post but it should illustrate just how much a difference it can make.

keep in mind I get 8 frames/second
Image # 7435

Image # 7436….1/8th of a second later

The two frames may as well be completely different images. Not only is it considerably closer in #2 its entire body posture is different just .125 of a second later.

That fraction of a second can mean the difference between a shot thats on your wall and one that leaves you cursing a blue streak as focus as just off.

[John Bennett]

I would think that the discussion turning to spirits qualifies as Crafts 🙂

Beer:
Well I wont get into what us Canucks think of American beer

[John Bennett]

I use Canons 400f5.6 L

As for TCs its hard to say.
At one time I used Canons 100-400L and would on occasion mount a 1.4 TC. I was occasionaly happy with the results. I guess it depends on what you want the image for. If I saw an Eagle in the distance and needed the reach Id be happy with what ever the result was. If I saw a Hawk at moderate distance and put the TC on hoping for a frame filler rather than accepting the reach limitation of the bare lens and the shots we’re so-so I might be dissapointed. Even with my 400 there are times when I debate putting the TC on. If for no other reason aside from possible IQ loss they cut your light by a full stop which has a direct impact on your SS and for wildlife shooting I dont know if anything is more important than keeping your SS high enough.

That said, a guide that Im going out soon with has a 70-200 and is thinking about picking up a 1.4tc. I happened to be at his shop with my gear and let him try his lens with my Canon 1.4 tc and I think it sold him on picking one up. Bottom line is, sometimes you cant have enough reach and wildlife are rarely accomodating. If the extra reach puts a smile on your face than its worth it. Although it has to be said that I ‘think” when discussing TCs they are better paired with primes than zooms.

J

[John Bennett]

Thanks guys although I do really just think its a matter of practise and no inherant ability. Since taking this up I can mark and see improvements each month, whether its improvement with capturing the image or improvement in processing techniques. You should see my images from first year 🙂 and I still think I have a long way to go.

[John Bennett]

Sweet Kendal
It is adicting isn’t it 🙂 I know for me it gets me into the outdoors when Id otherwise be suffering from cabin fever waiting for Trout Openers and really, it is just a slightly different way of hunting. Plenty are the days I dont get good pictures but get a great sense of accomplishment in locating, seeing and capturing images of various species.

I have plans to go out with my favorite fly fishing guide in the coming weeks to “hunt” some game (fox, Coyotes, Turkey and Eagles) with our cameras.

[John Bennett]

Welcome to the dark side.

Once you get used to shooting with a long lens you should find that a tripod isn’t a must with a 400, but that like most things it can be an aid. Im comfortable handholding mine, and would even hand hold a 500mm despite the extra length and weight…but not for longperiods. Keep in mind that the general rule of thumb for the average person 1/focal length. So with practise a day should come when you can get crisp shots at about and around 1/400th. As for grip, again I think in time and with practise you’ll find that just comes.

One product you mightwant to look at if long lens wildlife shooting really gets a hold of you is a Bushhawk. This is mine with my 400 mounted. The red button take the place of your bodies shutter realse both for releasing the shutter and focus acquisition.

In my opinion its a godsend. It makes tracking flying birds and moving wildlife considerably more intuitive/easier and for those occassions where shutter speed/focal length are an issue its pretty darned good t as a support mechanism.

1/50th at 400mm

But most importantly practise, practise, practise.

With regards to AF grabbing twigs or other elements one thing you should do if your not already is switch to center point focus only. After that different lenses and different AF systems react differently both with regards to grabbing and maintaining focus or losing focus and grabbing back gorud elements in te case of tracking flying birds. Keeping center point on target isnt easy with longer lenses and fast moving targets, especially when theres twigs, brush and grass to contend with.

Run Forest Run courtesy of the Harris above 🙂

Lastly, getting at wildlife is alot like hunting/fishing. Leaning the targets habits, habitat and how to find/get close all go hand in hand. Its a blast an extremely addicting 🙂

[John Bennett]

I don’t think its quite as simple as saying “thay can and are charging what the market will bear”.. While that may be, I think more to the point its worth examining why the market can bear those prices. I think, there are way more factors at play than can be covered here.

1) Any outdoor pursuit be it “fly-fishing”, hunting, rock climbing, bike riding, kayaking, you name it are literally booming these days. Demographics play a large role as does a move towards healthier lifestyles. For years, basically since the time I first started working 20+ years ago, Ive rarely blinked twice at the price of an item *if* it furthers my enjoyment of the outdoors and right now anything todo with getting Outdoors is big, big business.

2) Demographics again. People today, by and large are wealthier. Alot more young people have alot more disposable income than the previous generations. By way of example 4 single men (early 30s) I work with just bought homes this year worth 500K, one of which was an 800 sq foot condo. Times are different but I try to imagine my wife and I on dual incomes having that kind of confidence/security for a first buy. Also people are marrying later, having fewer kids again which just adds to the “wealth” or disposable income available.

Its also said (although Im not sure I buy it) that people *today* have more free time as well. More disposable income, more free time, more interest in healthier lifestyles…… One last note about demographics. Lots has been written in the lst year or two about “baby boomers” retiring, passing etc and because that generation was pretty well off large “fortunes” are being left/given to kids. Again, having an effect on the amount of disposable income the generation thats entering or has just entered the work force has.

Am I surprised that the Outdoor industry is cashing in? Not at all. Can I see it continuing? You bet, more and more I think the population of NA is going to put a premium on outdoor pursuits.

[John Bennett]

Alot will likely depend on the weight of your gear. In most instances, I prefer a ball head (manfrotto 486) with a QR. However with my 400+TC or my 180 f3.5 +1D the ball head creeps a bit and I really need to reef down on it so I use a traditonal 3 way ( their 804). When the day comes that I get a super tele like a 500 f4 or 300 f2.8 I’ll move to Wimberly products.

Best thing you could do is take your gear to your shop and test the mounts, you might find that a med ballhead like the 486 is all you need. Let the weight of your gear decide for you.

[John Bennett]

Been there done that on one level or another Seafood. I think my worst mistake ever aside from going for awhile before realising I didnt have a memory card inserted was filling all my cards one day. During my walk back to the car I was grinning about what agreat morning it had been when lo and behold stepping out of some was brush was a beuatiful buck no more than 20 feet away. By the time I franticaly deleted two images and raised the camera all I was left with was a great butt shot 🙂
I dont under any circumstances fill all my cards anymore.

Shame you lost that morning but there will be others.

[John Bennett]

your insurance is actually going to cover you droping the camera in a river?  who is it with?

Most general home owners policies should cover it. The problem becomes the deductible, the questions, ( did you really own it, when did you buy it, wheres the receipts etc), the hassle, and the time it takes to resolve it.

When first insuring my gear I spent alot of time on the phone asking both my broker and carrier just those types of questions. Where as, if you put it on Riders, sometimes called Schedules its pretty much

[John Bennett]

Thanks again.

Alan, the 400 f5.6L is sharp throughout. Depending on some variables I shoot anywhere between 5.6 and 8.0 but am at 5.6 more than Im at 8.0 simply due to my desire to keep my SSs high, typically 1/1500 to 1/2000th. That particular day the sun was in and out every couple minutes and the birds were at times in cover so I left my metering mode in AV and f5.6 to ensure I kept my shutter speeds up for fear of losing a swoop chase or takedown to motion blur.

J

[John Bennett]

Nice Kendal 🙂
Peregrines are blast to watch. I feel obliged to warn you though, once raptors get their meat hooks into you,

[John Bennett]

I really like playing with narrow DoFs. You should be able to replicate the effect with a digicam (PnS) with some success but be aware that the sensors in digicams and DSLRs are not the same.  I forget the exact technical reasons but all else being equal, a PnS set at a aperature of f8 will have a deeper DoF than a DSLR set at f8, or f4 or f2 etc

In order the get the effect your speaking of you want your aperature at its widest setting (smallest number). Keep in mind the more you reduce the aperature (f stop) the more your opening the lens and as such the more light your lletting in. Think of it as sqiunting with the human eye or the same process with any pupil. In dim/dark conditions they are wide and in bright conditions they contract.

So as Morsie said . If you have manual controls set your AV to the lowest number possible ( your lens is wide open) and let the camera determine SS. Until your more familiar with exposure and the “exposure triangle” of fstop, shutter, and iso, best to work in a semi manual mode. He explainedt the other options with regards to Shutter speed and ISO.

If you dont have any manual controls you should almost certainly have “Portrait Mode”. In a nut shell the effect your after is commonly used in portrait photgraphy. Be it glamor shots, wedding portraits or kids school pictues to varying degrees. Any portrait mode on any PnS should open the lens as wide as possible or near to.

Keep in mind that PnSs are hard wired to have more DoF at equal fstops. A bit about DoF to help you. Regardless of what body your using the effective DoF for any given shot is 1/3 in front of your focus point and 2/3s behind. <<< That relationship when used on fish is almost ideal for focusing on the eye. The near 1/3 will or come close to keeping the snout in focus, and the rear 2/3s extends down the body some. Other than that in "wildlife" photography the universal RoT is get the eye in foucus and better yet get some catch light. Two last things.
The amount that the BG is blurred will depend entirely on 1) how wide your aperature is and 2) how far the BG is from the subject. The further it is, the greater the effect.

This is my favorite. It was shot at f1.8 and you can clearly see the DoF (about 2 inches) and the transition of focus as you move further into the BG  all the way tthrough to trees in the BG which are naught but a creamy green blur

[John Bennett]

Thanks again guys, appreciate the sentiments.

Seafood. Not retired ( im a banker, they have me for life 🙂 ) but the kids are old enough now that weekends assuming work around the house is done are mine. Spring and summer that means Im out the door before sunup fishing and as we discussed Im so close to a variety of options I can be on the water in minutes and

[John Bennett]

Very nice Will.
I like the reflection is #1 but as a general rule dont like black bgs.

[John Bennett]

I don’t know if theres any special technique to finding owls. Mostly its just knowing a bit about the species and where they like to roost.

Long ears are fairly easy to spot because they congregate and where theres one, theres usually more. I know 3 woodlots that typically hold them. 2 are a close 5 minute drive from home but they are spotty. Further from home theres a spot thats relibe. The hardest part about getting them is te branches, They get rightinto the pines and sightlines are a chore. Usually if you dont approach too close they’ll sit and watch you. Being noctural they are more interested in resting but if you get too close they’ll bolt. Often thats how I know they are in the area, I inadvertantly flush 1 or 2 without seeing them and then look for more.

Saw-Whets hang out in cedars. They are tough to spot due to their size, typically about 6 inches. Unlike other species you can walk right up to Saw Whets. My daughter loved it last year when we found some. Nothing like being 2 feet from a small, cuddly little owl that could probably rip a finger off 🙂

Barred.
More luck than anything else I think. That photo above is the first shot of a Barred in decent light Ive managed. I see them somewhat regularily. Theres a couple here now in the same area but Ive only ever seen them just before dawn. Once the suns up they are back into the forest and very difficult to find.

Short Ears.
Ive seen tem as well but only at dusk when they come ou to hunt. Ive yet to get a decent image of a Short Ear.

Snowies.
Again I think its just a matter of knowing where some are. Once you know what to look for they are easy to spot. Kinda of like knowing the shape/shadow of a brow in water. It helps that Snowies are Diurnal (active by day).

If you know a woodlot thats holds one or some. The easiest way to find them is walking through it and watching for whitewash on the trunk or pellets on the ground. While i do scan trees when looking Im looking more for whitewash and if I see some than I sca the tree thouroghly for an Owl. A couple guys I know  suggest looking for mice hanging in the branches as well but Ive yet to see that.

Can you tell I love Owls 🙂

Joel. Thanks.
Id be glad to talk about any aspect but Im no expert. Still have a ton to learn myself. Fortunately I get to shoot with some really accomplshed photographers periodically who have taught me along the way and really shorteneed my curve.
Lights critical so Im always trying to work angles to get frontlight. A small thing but its makes all the difference.

Mode. Im either shooting manual or av depending on how constant or intermittant light is. Im probably in av more than some others I shoot wih who are manual 90% of the time.

Shutters speed is probably the single most important factor next to light and I’ll sacrifice iso to maintain atleast 1/1000th. Another key element is focusing speed. The faster your hardware the fewer opportunities you’ll miss. Center point only  AF, it helps speed up focusw acquisition and reduces/eliminates the chance another focus point will grab a background/foreground element.

One product I use thats great for wildlife shooting and tracking birds is a Bushhawk, its a great product. Other than that a ton of practise 🙂 Putting long lens primes on  fast moving targets and keeping them on center point takes a fair bit of practise. The fastr/smaller they are the harder

J

[John Bennett]

Most numerous Owl that I can expect to find would be Long Ear Owls, probably followed by Saw Whets and barred Owls.

[John Bennett]

Thanks guys.
Yuhina. “Birder” is a broad term

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