Monday wasn't too bad a day. It was rather nice at lunchtime and we decided on a visit to RSPB Fairburn Ings as it’s a place where I could do a little more camera testing and we could have a good brisk walk too.
Anyone who knows the reserve at Fairburn will be aware of the feeding station set up just outside the visitor centre. It’s usual a good spot to capture a few different varieties of birds and Monday was no exception.
There were lots of tree sparrows filling up on black sunflowers and under the feeders a couple of grey squirrels were making the most of the leftovers the birds dropped to the floor.
After a few minutes we set off on the riverside walk pausing for a few minutes at the “kingfisher” viewing point. Apparently only moments before a kingfisher had been spotted but it must have heard that we were arriving and had done a disappearing act. One day we might actually get chance to photograph a kingfisher. We headed off further along the path but the weather was deteriorating and besides a strong breeze it began to rain. We decided to take some pictures from one of the hides before heading back to the visitor centre.
This is just a general shot taken from the hide using my new camera. In the distance to the left of the white houses there is a field with some sheep in it. It’s difficult to make out so in the same picture below I've ringed the field in red.
As a little camera test I thought I would zoom into this field using the maximum zoom capability of the camera an see how good the resulting photograph would be. I wasn't expecting any brilliant results as the light wasn't very good as another light rain shower crossed the reserve.
I reckon the photograph above is pretty amazing. I didn't have the camera on a tripod it’s a hand held shot a maximum zoom range in poor light conditions. I didn't have the camera on any fancy settings as I haven’t worked out how to do that yet. The camera did all the work I just held it as steady as I could. The two photographs show the amazing range the camera has from wide angle to telephoto.
This cheeky chappy also thought the results were quite good too.
Here are my two zoom cameras laid side by side with my Nikon at the top with its zoom lens set at 500mm and below my Sony camera with its lens set on 1200mm equivalent. The Nikon weighs in at a mighty 2.553kg, compared with 0.668kg for the Sony. I know which camera will be in my bag on my next day out.
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Wow, that does look so much lighter - and I'm very impressed with the zoom. Looks like you've got a really nice camera there, your bird photos today and yesterday have been great.
ReplyDeleteNot only lighter but with so much more zooming power if needed. Glad you liked the pictures.
DeleteI want one of those! (Remind me of the model number, please Sue). Maybe it could be justified as a 60th Birthday present (coming up this year)...
ReplyDeleteHi Mark
DeleteNot sure I'd know which of these two cameras to pick if I had to go for just one.
Sue's Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ72 or my Sony Cybershot DSC HX300
Both have massive zoom lenses and are still good for wide angle shots. Nothing much different in the camera weights. if taking bursts of pictures is your thing than I have noticed that Sue's Panasonic is much faster. Both take rapid shots but it takes longer for the Sony to process the shots and give control of the camera back to you.
There's lots of information on the Internet regarding both cameras.
Thanks Martyn; Tough choice. Is Sue's camera just "as it comes" or did she have to buy any extra lenses for it?
ReplyDeleteNo extra lenses just straight out of the box. The only addition needed is a fast memory card. By the way both cameras do great video as well - full HD - the works.
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