Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

What’s Up?

I had too much fun down by the lake this morning when my favorite pair of cranes walked right up to me with both of their chicks. I’ve been swimming most every day, most recently about 60 lengths (with 44 to the mile). I swim very slowly. 🙂

I have been having a ton of fun the last few days reconnecting with some of my Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brothers. That precipitated by the recent death of Bob (Fat) Marcus who was a year younger than the great guys in my pledge class. Condolences to Bob’s wife Jamie and the rest of the folks who miss his smile.

I was glad to learn that Daniel Tishman will be joining six others on the DeSoto IPT — that leaves one slot open. And I was glad to learn of the sale of John Johnson’s Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens, perhaps my favorite ever super-telephoto.

Lakeland In-the-Field Morning Sessions

If you would like to join me in Lakeland for a morning of great photography next week — I am free this Friday, March 15 — please get in touch via e-mail or call my cell at 863-221-2372. Limit three. photographers/session.

Morning Session — 7-10am: $250.00
Morning Session with a working lunch including image review and Photoshop: $350.00

Saturday Cheap Gatorland Sessions

Join me at Gatorland this Saturday to learn a ton. If you are interested please get in touch via e-mail or call my cell at 863-221-2372. Limit three.

Morning Session — 7-10am: $200.00
Morning Session with a working lunch including image review and Photoshop: $300.00
Full day with the working lunch: $400.00.

IPT Updates

Despite lots of recent interest I still need three folks for the Galapagos trip. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 1. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Free morning session on WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 8. This trip is a go. Co-leader with more than 6 participants: Peter Kes.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 6 photographers/Openings: 5. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 13 photographers/Openings: 3. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Important Used Gear Note

All sales include insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only.

Recent Used Gear Sales Rocking!

Multiple IPT veteran John Johnson sold a Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens in excellent plus to near-mint condition for the BAA record low price of $7499.00 in early March.
John Bowden sold a Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS lens in near-mint condition for $798 (was) $848.00 in early March.
Karl Schneck sold a Canon EF 100-400mm L IS II USM zoom lens (the new 1-4) in excellent condition for $1,299.00 in early March.
Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman sold his Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art Lens for Nikon F in like-new condition for $699.00 (was 799.00) in early March.
John M Wright sold his Canon 24-70mm f/4L IS lens in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $488.00 in early March.
Errol Bellon sold his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8 G VRII N-ED Lens lens in new condition for a very fair $1125.00 (was $1296.95).
John Bowden sold his Sony a7R III mirrorless camera in mint condition (only 136 actuations!) for $2298.00 one day after it was listed.
Dick Bernard sold his Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM zoom lens (the new 1-4) in excellent condition (with an original 1.4X TC) for a BAA record-low-by-far $1,198.00 about 30 seconds after it was listed.
John Bowden sold his Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS lens in like-new condition for $998.00 the first day it was listed.
I sold my barely used (shutter count 16,263) Nikon D5 in excellent to near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $4,496.95 (was $5,496.95) and my Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens in excellent plus condition for only $1,499.00 (was $1799.00), both in late February 2019.
John M Wright also sold his Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS lens in near mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $488.00and his Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR body in near-mint condition with 28,567 shutter actuations for $1999.00 in mid-February.
I sold my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens in pretty close to near-mint condition along with the the RRS Collar Foot Package for a silly low $1099.00.
Multiple IPT veteran and good friend Paul Reinstein sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM in excellent plus condition for the BAA record-low price of $6,599.00 in mid-February.
Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman sold his Nikon D850 DSLR for $2699.00 just days after listing it in early February.
I sold my Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II in near-mint condition for a BAA record low price of $299.00 in mid-February.
Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman sold his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens in like-new condition for $10,996.95 his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens in like-new condition for $475.00, his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens in like-new condition for $910.00, and his Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III in excellent condition for $385.00 all within a day of listing them in early February.

Canon EF 500 mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Todd Koudelka is offering a Canon EF 500 mm f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent to near-mint condition for the BIRDS AS ART record-low price of $6499.00. Photos are available upon request. The sale includes the lens trunk with two keys, the front lens cover, the rear lens cap, the lens strap and the trunk strap, the original canon box, and insured Fed-Ex Ground shipment to the lower 48 US states only.

It is best to contact Todd via e-mail or by cell phone from 7-9pm Central time: 1- 608-577-5375.

The 500 f/4 super telephoto lenses have long been the world’s most popular for birds,nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. Canon’s Series II version is light, fast, super-sharp, and produces amazing images with both the 1.4X and 2X III TCs. The 500 II is relatively small, easily hand holdable for some folks, and is much easier travel with, focuses closer than, and costs a lot less than the 600 II. Lastly, and you might find this amazing, the magnification for the 500 II is the same as it is for the 600 II: .15X. How is that possible? Magnification is calculated at the minimum focusing distance of the lens — 12.14 feet (3.7 meters) for the 500 II and 14.77 feet (4.5 meters) for the 600 II. Simply put, the 500 II focuses more than two feet closer than the 600 II. The seller for the last one that sold here had five calls the first day; the first four folks quibbled on price. The fifth one jumped right on it … Please do not tarry if you are seriously interested in Todd’s lens as it too should sell almost instantly. Or not. As the 500 II goes for $8999 new you will be getting a pretty much new lens while saving $2500.00! I loved my 500 II. artie

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

Image #1: Sandhill Crane chick vertical head and shoulders portrait This image was sharpened for the web with Unsharp Mask at 110, 0.3, 0.

The SONY or Nikon ? Answer and What We Can Learn …

In the recent A Pleasant Surprise! And SONY or Nikon? blog post here, I asked folks to let us know whether they thought each image was created with a Sony rig or with a Nikon rig. Folks had greatly different opinions …

The fact is that both were created with my Nikon gear. My good BPN friend Joe Przybyla (say priz-BY-luh) wrote:

Hey Artie, prove me wrong again but I say Image #1 is Sony and Image #2 is Nikon. The detail and color in Image #2 look better. As you know I shoot Nikon and Image #2 looks like what I regularly post process.

My friend David Peak felt the opposite was true: My thoughts are the first image is out of the Nikon and the second from your Sony.

Image #2: Sandhill Crane chick stretching near-wing This image was sharpened for the web with Unsharp Mask at 110, 0.3, 0.

My Thoughts

Obviously I knew that both were made with my Nikon 600mm and a D850. Image #1 with the TC-14E at 850mm, Image #2 with the bare lens at 600mm. I knew that the second image was sharper than the first in part because of the wider depth-of-field that came with the shorter focal length for image #2 and the fact that the bird was farther away … So, any perceived differences in color were just that, perceived. To my eye they looked exactly like images made with the same camera body. That said, differences in post processing and the variability of Auto White Balance can lead to very different looking images as far as color goes.

Read on for my surprising comments on image sharpness.

Image #1: unsharpened 100% crop

Image #1 Sharpness

This is an unsharpened 100% crop from the (properly unsharpened) master TIFF file. Working at 100% I cropped to 1200 X 800 pixels. The image is presented here at 800 wide. You can click on the image to see a larger version.

This image is nowhere near sharp. It is not even close. Note the lack of fine feather detail (FFD) and the soft, detail-less appearance of the eye skin. I attribute the lack of sharpness to the dirty drop-in filter. What can we learn here? Even unsharp images can look decent for web viewing. And be sure to clean the drop-on filters of your big lenses regularly.

Image #2: unsharpened 100% crop

Image #2 Sharpness

This is an unsharpened 100% crop from the (properly unsharpened) master TIFF file. Again, working at 100% I cropped to 1200 X 800 pixels. The image is presented here at 800 wide. You can click on the image to see a larger version.

This one is somewhat sharper than Image #1 but the focus was not spot on. The image at 100% is not razor sharp. Again, note the lack of fine detail in the eye skin and the surrounding feathers. Again, I attribute the lack of sharpness to the dirty drop-in filter in the 600 VR. What can we learn here? Same as above: even unsharp images can look decent for web viewing and be sure to clean the drop-on filters of your big lenses regularly.

Image #3: with the same Nikon 600 and the same D850 after the drop-in filter in the 600 VR was cleaned

After the Drop-In Filter Was Cleaned

This is an unsharpened crop of an image that I made on Tuesday morning with the Nikon 600 and the D850 after the drop-in filter was cleaned. After you click on this image compare the fine feather detail with the fine feather detail in Image #2. After cleaning the drop-in filter I focus-fine tuned the 600 with and without the TC-E14 with both of my D850 bodies …

Viewing at 100%

In Photo Mechanic, with my Nikon NEF and Canon CR2 files, I hit Command + Z with the cursor on the spot I want to see enlarged and then Z again to get back to full screen. With my SONY files and their unfortunately small embedded JPEGs, I go to Capture One” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>Capture One and use the Loupe tool to view at 100%. Both the size of the zoom and the magnification are adjustable. For a screen capture showing the C-1 Loupe click here.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All of the images on this card were created on the 2018 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Seahouses, Bempton Cliffs, and the Dunbar, Scotland Gannet boat to Bass Rock! Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers. Co-leader: Peter Kes.

Join me in the UK in late June and early July 2019 to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet, Red Kite, and more both in flight and at close range. We will also have great chances with Arctic and Sandwich Terns, both with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many of those chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks; plus Grey Seal. There will be tons of great flight photography. As on all IPTs, if you pay attention, you will learn a ton, especially about sky conditions and the relationship between light angle and wind direction and their effects on flight photography.

Why go all the way to Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine, endure a two-hour boat ride, and have to photograph Atlantic Puffins from a cramped blind usually in bright sun (and well off sun angle) when you can hop a red-eye flight from Newark, NJ and be in Edinburgh, Scotland early the next morning. First we drive down to Bridlington for easy access to Bempton Cliffs where our primary targets will be Northern Gannet in flight. We will also get to photograph Razorbill, Northern Fulmar, Herring Gull, and Black-legged Kittiwake. While in Bridlington we will spend one afternoon visiting a Red Kite feeding station that should provide lots of flight photography action.

While in Bridlington we will staying at the Lobster Pot by Marston’s Inn, just fifteen minutes from Bempton Cliffs. After 3 1/2 days of photography at there, we drive down to Seahouses in Northumberland to the two lodges that will be our home base for a week. After a short boat ride each day we will have hundreds of puffins posing at close range all day, every day — usually in ideal cloudy-bright conditions. While we are in Seahouses we will do six puffin/seabird trips, all weather permitting of course; last year we did not miss a single landing. In five years we have averaged losing less than one half day per year to bad weather. We land at Staple Island in the mornings and then sail over to Inner Farnes for our afternoon sessions. In addition, we may enjoy a session or two photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level from a rocky beach in Seahouses.

In Seahouses, we stay 7 nights in gorgeous, modern, upscale lodges with Wi-fi. They are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The bedrooms are decent-sized. Each lodge has one double bedroom and two twin bedrooms. (See the single supplement info below.) At the lodges we cook our own breakfasts each morning and prepare our own lunches to be brought on the six puffin boat trips. For dinners we will alternate cooking in the lodges with fine dining at several excellent local restaurants. We stay two nights at the Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. We will enjoy a fine-dining Thank You dinner at the Dunbar Hotel on the Tuesday evening before we fly home.

On the morning of Monday, July 8, 2019, the plan is to sleep late, pack, and head up to Dunbar Harbor, Scotland for lunch and an afternoon gannet boat chumming trip: flight photography until you cannot lift your camera. The next morning, Tuesday July 9, we will enjoy our second gannet boat chumming trip (both weather permitting). On both trips we will enjoy great views of the huge gannetry at Bass Rock. Included will be two nights lodging at the Pine Martin by Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. Very early on the morning of Wednesday, July 10, we will drive up to Edinburgh Airport so that everyone can make their flights home. No moaning please. You will need a flight that leaves at 8:30am or later. Not too much later is generally best. Note: this trip needs a minimum of four photographers to run.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All images were created on the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The Details

This IPT is all-inclusive except for your airfare and alcoholic beverages. All ground transportation, lodging costs, meals, your National Trust membership, and all boat, entry, and landing fees are included. Weather permitting, we will enjoy three and one-half days (at least six sessions in all) at Bempton Cliffs, an afternoon with the Red Kites, six full days on the puffin boats, one amazing afternoon gannet chumming trip, and one spectacular morning gannet chumming trip. The trip cannot be finalized until I have at least six deposits as we will be renting a lovely 15-passenger bus with our private professional driver who happens to be my web-master, Peter Kes, who is also a skilled photographer and my co-leader 🙂

IPT Details

If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome, heck, we actually need two couples — please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on February 28, 2019. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.

Single Supplement Info

Single supplement rooms in Bridlington and Dunbar are available for those who register early. The cost of the single supplement for those six nights is $600.00. Single supplement rooms at the lodge may be available on a limited basis but only if the trip does not fill with ten photographers. The single supplement fee for those seven nights is $700. If you would like your own room in Bridlington and Dunbar, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement with your deposit: $2,600.00. The single supplement deposits are non-refundable as I will need to make the reservations well in advance.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check or running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance, be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

I truly hope that you can join me on this exciting venture.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

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Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

My younger daughter Alissa and her younger son Idris are visiting from Long Island. I had lunch with them and my granddaughter Maya on Friday afternoon and all of us will be at Jennifer’s for dinner with her husband Erik.

I was thrilled on Tuesday to learn that multiple IPT veteran Malcolm MacKenzie signed up to join Shonagh Adelman and me on the 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, and Red Kites IPT; Seahouses, Bempton Cliffs, and the Dunbar, Scotland Gannet boat to Bass Rock! That done, I committed to the trip and purchased my flights. See below to join us. If you are at all interested, or if you would like the IPT veteran and couple’s discount info, please contact me via e-mail or call my cell at 863-221-2372..

Lakeland In-the-Field Morning Sessions

If you would like to join me in Lakeland for a morning of great photography next week — I am free on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, March 12, 13, and 15 — please get in touch via e-mail or call my cell at 863-221-2372. Limit three photographers/session.

Morning Session — 7-10am: $250.00
Morning Session with a working lunch including image review and Photoshop: $350.00

IPT Updates

Despite lots of recent interest I still need three folks for the Galapagos trip. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 2. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Free morning session on WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 8. This trip is a go. Co-leader with more than 6 participants: Peter Kes.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 6 photographers/Openings: 5. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 13 photographers/Openings: 3. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

Image #1: Sandhill Crane chick vertical head and shoulders portrait

A Pleasant Surprise!

I start looking for crane nests down by the lake at my home in February. This year I had spotted only one nest — to the right of the pier — but last week that pair was no longer there. So I was quite surprised to find a pair of cranes with two small chicks to the left of the pair in an area where I had not seen a nest. I am hoping that there will be several more pairs with chicks in the next few weeks.

Image #2: Sandhill Crane chick stretching near-wing

SONY or Nikon?

Please leave a comment and answer the question, Sony or Nikon for Image #1 and for Image #2. Feel free to comment on the image quality, color, image design, and especially the sharpness and fine feather detail of each image. Note that I did some grass clean-up with Image #2 while Image #1 is right out of camera.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All of the images on this card were created on the 2018 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Seahouses, Bempton Cliffs, and the Dunbar, Scotland Gannet boat to Bass Rock! Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers. Co-leader: Peter Kes.

Join me in the UK in late June and early July 2019 to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet, Red Kite, and more both in flight and at close range. We will also have great chances with Arctic and Sandwich Terns, both with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many of those chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks; plus Grey Seal. There will be tons of great flight photography. As on all IPTs, if you pay attention, you will learn a ton, especially about sky conditions and the relationship between light angle and wind direction and their effects on flight photography.

Why go all the way to Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine, endure a two-hour boat ride, and have to photograph Atlantic Puffins from a cramped blind usually in bright sun (and well off sun angle) when you can hop a red-eye flight from Newark, NJ and be in Edinburgh, Scotland early the next morning. First we drive down to Bridlington for easy access to Bempton Cliffs where our primary targets will be Northern Gannet in flight. We will also get to photograph Razorbill, Northern Fulmar, Herring Gull, and Black-legged Kittiwake. While in Bridlington we will spend one afternoon visiting a Red Kite feeding station that should provide lots of flight photography action.

While in Bridlington we will staying at the Lobster Pot by Marston’s Inn, just fifteen minutes from Bempton Cliffs. After 3 1/2 days of photography at there, we drive down to Seahouses in Northumberland to the two lodges that will be our home base for a week. After a short boat ride each day we will have hundreds of puffins posing at close range all day, every day — usually in ideal cloudy-bright conditions. While we are in Seahouses we will do six puffin/seabird trips, all weather permitting of course; last year we did not miss a single landing. In five years we have averaged losing less than one half day per year to bad weather. We land at Staple Island in the mornings and then sail over to Inner Farnes for our afternoon sessions. In addition, we may enjoy a session or two photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level from a rocky beach in Seahouses.

In Seahouses, we stay 7 nights in gorgeous, modern, upscale lodges with Wi-fi. They are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The bedrooms are decent-sized. Each lodge has one double bedroom and two twin bedrooms. (See the single supplement info below.) At the lodges we cook our own breakfasts each morning and prepare our own lunches to be brought on the six puffin boat trips. For dinners we will alternate cooking in the lodges with fine dining at several excellent local restaurants. We stay two nights at the Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. We will enjoy a fine-dining Thank You dinner at the Dunbar Hotel on the Tuesday evening before we fly home.

On the morning of Monday, July 8, 2019, the plan is to sleep late, pack, and head up to Dunbar Harbor, Scotland for lunch and an afternoon gannet boat chumming trip: flight photography until you cannot lift your camera. The next morning, Tuesday July 9, we will enjoy our second gannet boat chumming trip (both weather permitting). On both trips we will enjoy great views of the huge gannetry at Bass Rock. Included will be two nights lodging at the Pine Martin by Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. Very early on the morning of Wednesday, July 10, we will drive up to Edinburgh Airport so that everyone can make their flights home. No moaning please. You will need a flight that leaves at 8:30am or later. Not too much later is generally best. Note: this trip needs a minimum of four photographers to run.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All images were created on the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The Details

This IPT is all-inclusive except for your airfare and alcoholic beverages. All ground transportation, lodging costs, meals, your National Trust membership, and all boat, entry, and landing fees are included. Weather permitting, we will enjoy three and one-half days (at least six sessions in all) at Bempton Cliffs, an afternoon with the Red Kites, six full days on the puffin boats, one amazing afternoon gannet chumming trip, and one spectacular morning gannet chumming trip. The trip cannot be finalized until I have at least six deposits as we will be renting a lovely 15-passenger bus with our private professional driver who happens to be my web-master, Peter Kes, who is also a skilled photographer and my co-leader 🙂

IPT Details

If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome, heck, we actually need two couples — please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on February 28, 2019. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.

Single Supplement Info

Single supplement rooms in Bridlington and Dunbar are available for those who register early. The cost of the single supplement for those six nights is $600.00. Single supplement rooms at the lodge may be available on a limited basis but only if the trip does not fill with ten photographers. The single supplement fee for those seven nights is $700. If you would like your own room in Bridlington and Dunbar, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement with your deposit: $2,600.00. The single supplement deposits are non-refundable as I will need to make the reservations well in advance.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check or running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance, be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

I truly hope that you can join me on this exciting venture.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

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Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

I got up early on Tuesday, have been working on this blog post for well more than four hours, and am still not done. It is cloudy here at ILE and I plan on doing some outdoor Focus Fine-tuning with my Nikon gear as soon as I am done.

I was thrilled to learn that multiple IPT veteran Malcolm MacKenzie signed up to join Shonagh Adelman and me on the 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, and Red Kites IPT. That done, I have committed to the trip. See below to join us. Write for IPT veteran and couple’s discount info.

This Just In

I walked out into my driveway to start setting up for a (now-abandoned for a while) micro-adjusting session despite the fact that it looked as if it was going to start pouring rain any second. I saw that the trees on my property were absolutely filled with small songbirds so I grabbed my Leica 8×32 Bins from the car. In short order I saw about 20 Cedar Waxwings, a male Northern Cardinal, several Tufted Titmice, a Chipping Sparrow, several Red-bellied and Downy woodpeckers, two White-eyed Vireos, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a few Blue-grey Gnatcatchers, and the following warbler species: Yellow-throated, Pine, and Northern Parula. Turkey Vultures and Tree Swallows flew overhead. It is now pouring as I type. A storm is coming and tomorrow morning will be more than 25 degrees colder than today.

Lakeland American White Pelican In-the-Field Morning Session

If you would like to join multiple IPT veteran Malcolm MacKenzie and me in Lakeland tomorrow morning, Wednesday, March 6, for an in-the-field session with the tame pelicans before they head north, please get in touch asap via e-mail or call my cell at 863-221-2372. Limit three photographers/session. I will be taking only my SONY gear tomorrow since I went exclusively with Nikon on my last visit Saturday past.

Morning Session — 7-10am: $250.00
Morning Session with a working lunch including image review and Photoshop: $350.00

This image was created on March 3 from Clemens Van der Werf’s small boat on Lake Kissimmee. I used the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens (at 400mm) and the beyond remarkable Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 400: 1/2000 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. AWB at 8:11am on a sunny day. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version. Boat-tailed Grackle, female braking to land

Songbirds in Flight???

I am not and have never been capable of focusing on songbirds in flight with my Nikon or old Canon gear — even large species. With the SONY gear and its amazingly fast initial focusing acquisition I have been trying and was thrilled to create today’s featured image as the bird was about to land on a channel marker. I have even created some sharp small-in-the-frame Tree Swallow images, or at least tried. 🙂

Capture One Screen Capture for today’s featured image.

SONY Image Workflow

First off, note that the grackle image held up nicely to a substantial crop …

I learned right off the bat that it is not possible to judge SONY image sharpness in my now-beloved Photo Mechanic. The beauty of Photo Mechanic is the blazing speed at which I do my editing. Unlike Canon and Nikon images, the SONY images embed only a small JPEG. You can actually see the full sized SONY images in Photo Mechanic if you go to Photo Mechanic > Preferences > RAW and, under For RAW only: choose the Render RAW for Preview if possible option. The problem with that is that the rendering takes forever and I simply cannot live with that.

So, I paid too much money for Capture One so that I could use the magnifier (as seen in the Capture One screen capture immediately above. Here is what I do: I edit a session folder in Photo Mechanic deleting the obvious unsharp, mis-framed, incorrectly exposed rejects — and yes, there are many of those every day. As always I tag the keepers and the View tagged images, hit Command A and then delete the rejects, empty the Trash, and the View all. Then I go into Capture One, open the same session folder — that now with only about 10% off the original images since I got rid of the garbage in Photo Mechanic. I view the images and can either use the Loupe (P) or hit Option/Command/0 (zero) to enlarge the image. You can easily adjust the size and the zoom of the Loupe and then simply place the Loupe on the bird’s eye and click to check the sharpness. Then I use my personalized keyboard shortcut A to mark the unsharp or unwanted images for deletion.

The best news is that I have begun processing all of my Nikon and SONY RAW files (NEF and ARW respectively) with Capture One and have noted that the converted TIFF files are better than the converted TIFFs from ACR (or from Lightroom). I will be sharing lots more on Capture One soon.

SONY A9 Getting Started Guide with Video

If you are just getting started with your SONY a9 body and would like to know how to set the menu items that are relevant to bird photography, please send a Paypal for $22.00 to e-mail with SONY Quick Start Guide in the Subject line or at least somewhere in the e-mail. The guide also includes the best Focus Areas to use for photographing birds both in flight and action and at rest. Along with my comments.

Get a Free Copy!

If you have used my B&H or Bedford affiliate link to purchase a SONY a9 or the Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens please shoot me your receipt via e-mail along with a request for your free copy of the SONY Quick Start Guide. Once I confirm that you have used the link correctly you will receive your guide with a link to the video via e-mail.

My Latest Thinking on the SONY Gear

In the Clean, Tight, Graphic, and SONY blog post here, Byron Prinzmetal commented as below. (Note: his comments have been edited for readability.)

Artie,

Bp

Good stuff Byron. I will address each issue one at a time.

Bp: It seems to me one cannot have everything.

am: Agree but only 100%. With regards to the amazing SONY a9: It seems that there is no way to assign exposure compensation to the big wheel in the back. That would make the camera 10 times more deadly on birds. In the same vein, it seems that these is no way to assign AE lock to the AF-On button. That would make the camera 10 times more deadly on birds. If those two could be fixed by a firmware update, that would make the already great camera 100 times better and easier to use. With Nikon lenses AF with TCs away from the center AF point is problematic at best and switching AF areas is almost impossible when hand holding a telephoto lens like the 500 PF. Canon was great but for the fact that AF accuracy with flying birds was totally inconsistent for me (and for many others).

Bp: With their 400mm lens and a 2x extender the rig is light and easy to handle. That is, one does not need to be a 20 year old to hand hold the camera and lens combination all day to capture sharp bif images. For mature people this might be a really big deal.

am: Ah, you are playing with a two-edged sword here as there are always prices to pay. Yes to light and easy to handle but working at 800mm presents many problems with framing and ISO, the latter as you are always working at f/11 … Even in decent late light with fast shutter speeds you will wind up with very high ISOs. I would not advise flight photography with the 2X TC but for experimenting as AF accuracy suffers a bit. Initial focusing acquisition is still very fast with the 2X but the necessary high ISOs will prove prohibitive to most folks. Much better to shoot flight with the prime lens alone or in good light with the 1.4X TC. That said for close work and head shots, the 100-400 OSS/2X TC/a9 is quite deadly.

Bp: For mature people this might be a really big deal.

Yes, us old guys and gals need all the help we can get. I do see the SONY 100-400 OSS/2X TC/a9 combo with both TCs as a great option for all folks — especially older folks — who are looking to reduce weight while enjoying very good results. Hand holding the SONY rig above at 800mm if fine for the close work but for more distant subjects I strongly advise that folks go with an Induro tripod and a Mongoose as framing at 800mm is a lot easier when on a tripod. 800mm is 16X magnification so any movement of the lens leads to lots of problems. Working hand held with the 1.4X TC at 560mm (and 11.2X magnification) should be relatively easy for most folks. At 400mm with 8X magnification nearly everyone will do well provided they are relatively stable and know how to set up their cameras …

Summing up: Hand holding at 800mm is simply not as easy as it might seem.

Bp: Sony’s AF for birds in flighty is great, and you say in some situations with birds flying straight toward you at full speed it is fantastic and perhaps as good as if not better than the competition.

am: Better than …

Bp: The file detail, color, et. al. is ok for a 24k file. Both Nikon and Canon files might show better detail, but Sony’s is more than acceptable.

am: Agree. You will of course lose some fine feather detail (FFD) at ISOs greater than 3200. As would be expected, the much larger files from the Nikon D850, the Canon 5D Mark IV, and the 5DS r are superior to the SONY files with regards to image quality and FFD.

Bp: First: Can I hold the Sony rig all day? (I am part of the over the hill gang with a bad back.)

am: Yes.

Bp:Does the AF work well?

am: The AF is amazing even with either TC all with AF coverage over 93% of the frame. In reality this works out to practically full frame AF coverage as the missing Af coverage consists of only a narrow strip around the frame edges. AF coverage kills both Nikon and Canon. Best of all, there is no need to micro-adjust your lenses with each camera body …

Bp: And lastly: are the files workable?

am: For all but the most demanding of standards, yes. I would ask those folks what they are doing with their images … There are very few uses around today that require huge image files.

Bp: I might be wrong about my interpretation of what you have been saying so if so please excuse me.

am: You were right on with most of your interpretation but for the ease of using the SONY rig at 800mm … See above. And thanks for your insightful comment and questions.

with love, artie

This image was created on the Spoonbill Boat IPT on February 16, 2019 at 5:47pm. Please get in the habit of clicking on all horizontal images to see a larger, inexplicably sharper version. Image #3: Brown Pelican banking

System/ISO/Focal Length Quiz Answer

I published the image above in the Ecstasy, SONY News, Answers, and a new system/focal length/ISO quiz … blog post here on February 23, 2019. I asked:

SONY or Nikon? What was the focal length? What ISO did I use? (Yes, it was Auto but don’t be a wise guy.)

The image was created from the boat on the February Spoonbill Boat IPT. I used the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter and the beyond remarkable Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless digital camera. AUTO ISO 5000: 1/2000 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. The correct exposure was fine-tuned using the Zebra feature and Highlight metering at a total of +1 1/3 stops. AWB at 5:47pm late on a sunny day in soft light.

I posted this image here on BPN and the image quality and fine feather detail was routinely trashed. I did not think that it was that bad for ISO 5000 and I wanted to show the amazing almost full frame AF coverage even with the 2X TC.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All of the images on this card were created on the 2018 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers. Co-leader: Peter Kes.

Join me in the UK in late June and early July 2019 to photograph Atlantic Puffin, Common Murre, Razorbill, Shag, and Northern Gannet, Red Kite, and more both in flight and at close range. We will also have great chances with Arctic and Sandwich Terns, both with chicks of all sizes; Black-headed, Lesser-Black-backed, and Herring Gulls, many of those chasing puffins with fish; Black-legged Kittiwake with chicks; plus Grey Seal. There will be tons of great flight photography. As on all IPTs, if you pay attention, you will learn a ton, especially about sky conditions and the relationship between light angle and wind direction and their effects on flight photography.

Why go all the way to Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine, endure a two-hour boat ride, and have to photograph Atlantic Puffins from a cramped blind usually in bright sun (and well off sun angle) when you can hop a red-eye flight from Newark, NJ and be in Edinburgh, Scotland early the next morning. First we drive down to Bridlington for easy access to Bempton Cliffs where our primary targets will be Northern Gannet in flight. We will also get to photograph Razorbill, Northern Fulmar, Herring Gull, and Black-legged Kittiwake. While in Bridlington we will spend one afternoon visiting a Red Kite feeding station that should provide lots of flight photography action.

While in Bridlington we will staying at the Lobster Pot by Marston’s Inn, just fifteen minutes from Bempton Cliffs. After 3 1/2 days of photography at there, we drive down to Seahouses in Northumberland to the two lodges that will be our home base for a week. After a short boat ride each day we will have hundreds of puffins posing at close range all day, every day — usually in ideal cloudy-bright conditions. While we are in Seahouses we will do six puffin/seabird trips, all weather permitting of course; last year we did not miss a single landing. In five years we have averaged losing less than one half day per year to bad weather. We land at Staple Island in the mornings and then sail over to Inner Farnes for our afternoon sessions. In addition, we may enjoy a session or two photographing nesting Black-legged Kittiwakes at eye level from a rocky beach in Seahouses.

In Seahouses, we stay 7 nights in gorgeous, modern, upscale lodges with Wi-fi. They are beyond lovely with large living areas and lots of open space for the informal image sharing and Photoshop sessions. The bedrooms are decent-sized. Each lodge has one double bedroom and two twin bedrooms. (See the single supplement info below.) At the lodges we cook our own breakfasts each morning and prepare our own lunches to be brought on the six puffin boat trips. For dinners we will alternate cooking in the lodges with fine dining at several excellent local restaurants. We stay two nights at the Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. We will enjoy a fine-dining Thank You dinner at the Dunbar Hotel on the Tuesday evening before we fly home.

On the morning of Monday, July 8, 2019, the plan is to sleep late, pack, and head up to Dunbar Harbor, Scotland for lunch and an afternoon gannet boat chumming trip: flight photography until you cannot lift your camera. The next morning, Tuesday July 9, we will enjoy our second gannet boat chumming trip (both weather permitting). On both trips we will enjoy great views of the huge gannetry at Bass Rock. Included will be two nights lodging at the Pine Martin by Marston’s Inn in Dunbar. Very early on the morning of Wednesday, July 10, we will drive up to Edinburgh Airport so that everyone can make their flights home. No moaning please. You will need a flight that leaves at 8:30am or later. Not too much later is generally best. Note: this trip needs a minimum of four photographers to run.

Images and card design copyright: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART. All images were created on the 2017 UK Puffins and Gannets IPT

The Details

This IPT is all-inclusive except for your airfare and alcoholic beverages. All ground transportation, lodging costs, meals, your National Trust membership, and all boat, entry, and landing fees are included. Weather permitting, we will enjoy three and one-half days (at least six sessions in all) at Bempton Cliffs, an afternoon with the Red Kites, six full days on the puffin boats, one amazing afternoon gannet chumming trip, and one spectacular morning gannet chumming trip. The trip cannot be finalized until I have at least six deposits as we will be renting a lovely 15-passenger bus with our private professional driver who happens to be my web-master, Peter Kes, who is also a skilled photographer and my co-leader 🙂

IPT Details

If you are good to go sharing a room–couples of course are more than welcome, heck, we actually need two couples — please send your non-refundable $2,000/person deposit check now to save a spot. Please be sure to check your schedule carefully before committing to the trip and see the travel insurance info below. Your balance will be due on February 28, 2019. Please make your check out to “Arthur Morris” and send it to Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART, PO Box 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL, 33855.

Please shoot me an e-mail if you are good to go or if you have any questions.

Single Supplement Info

Single supplement rooms in Bridlington and Dunbar are available for those who register early. The cost of the single supplement for those six nights is $600.00. Single supplement rooms at the lodge may be available on a limited basis but only if the trip does not fill with ten photographers. The single supplement fee for those seven nights is $700. If you would like your own room in Bridlington and Dunbar, please request it when making your deposit and include payment in full for the single supplement with your deposit: $2,600.00. The single supplement deposits are non-refundable as I will need to make the reservations well in advance.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance for big international trips is highly recommended as we never know what life has in store for us. I strongly recommend that you purchase quality insurance. Travel Insurance Services offers a variety of plans and options. Included with the Elite Option or available as an upgrade to the Basic & Plus Options you can also purchase Cancel for Any Reason Coverage that expands the list of reasons for your canceling to include things such as sudden work or family obligation and even a simple change of mind. My family and I use and depend on the great policies offered by TIS whenever we travel. You can learn more here: Travel Insurance Services. Do note that many plans require that you purchase your travel insurance within 14 days of our cashing your deposit check or running your credit card. Whenever purchasing travel insurance, be sure to read the fine print carefully even when dealing with reputable firms like TSI.

I truly hope that you can join me on this exciting venture.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

Robert Matyas, visiting from Ottawa, and I had a fabulous morning in Lakeland with the tame White Pelicans being the stars of the show. We saw an adult Bald Eagle and a Caspian Tern — both diving for fish. We also had a tame pair of Green-winged Teal including a gorgeous drake, a tame Limpkin, and a zillion tame White Ibises including many coming into full breeding plumage with bright red bills and an enlarged gular sacks. I wound up with 137 keepers after the first edit … I worked all day with the Nikon 500 PF and my back-up D850 (now with the grip), often with the TC-E14. We had a great working lunch at Fred’s Market in Lakeland; after our 6:45am start I did not get on the road until 1pm!

Lakeland White Pelicans In-the-Field Morning Sessions

If you would like to join me in Lakeland Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday morning this week before the pelicans head north, please get in touch via e-mail or call my cell at 863-221-2372. Limit three photographers.

Morning Session — 7-10am: $250.00
Morning Session with working lunch including image review and Photoshop: $350.00

IPT Updates

I still need three folks for the Galapagos trip, and the UK Puffins and Gannets trip is wide open with only a single registrant. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 2. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Free morning session on WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 13 photographers/Openings: 3. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Important Used Gear Note

All sales include insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only.

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Don Busby is offering Canon 500mm f/4L IS II USM (USA) in near-mint condition for a very low $6799.00. Just cleaned & checked by Canon Professional Services. The sale include both of the original lens feet, the front lens cover, the rear cap, the lens strap, the lens trunk, the original Canon box, and insured ground shipping via FedEx to the 48 contiguous states only. Photos available upon request.
The lens will ship when your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Don via e-mail.

The 500 f/4 super telephoto lenses have long been the world’s most popular for birds,nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. Canon’s Series II version is light, fast, super-sharp, and produces amazing images with both the 1.4X and 2X III TCs. The 500 II is relatively small, easily hand holdable for some folks, and is much easier travel with, focuses closer than, and costs a lot less than the 600 II. Lastly, and you might find this amazing, the magnification for the 500 II is the same as it is for the 600 II: .15X. How is that possible? Magnification is calculated at the minimum focusing distance of the lens — 12.14 feet (3.7 meters) for the 500 II and 14.77 feet (4.5 meters) for the 600 II. Simply put, the 500 II focuses more than two feet closer than the 600 II. The seller for the last one that sold here had five calls the first day; the first four folks quibbled on price. The fifth one jumped right on it … Please do not tarry if you are seriously interested in Don’s lens as it too should sell almost instantly. Or not 🙂 As the 500 II goes for $8999 new you will be getting a near-mint copy and saving $2200.00! I loved my 500 II 🙂 artie

Canon 100-400mm L IS II USM Zoom Lens & original 1.4X TC

Dick Bernard is offering a Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM zoom lens (the new 1-4) in excellent condition and an original 1.4X TC (in excellent condition with the lens pouch) for a BAA record-low-by-far $1,198.00. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the front lens cap, the lens hood, the lens foot, the lens case, the original product box, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Dick via e-mail.

Y’all know how much I have missed this amazingly versatile lens and its great close focusing ability. With Dick throwing in the original 1.4X TC this is an incredible buy. artie

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Body with extras!

Dick Bernard is also offering a Canon Canon EOS 5D Mark III body in near-mint condition but for a small whitish scrape mark on the bottom rear of the camera for the great low price of $998.00. The sale includes the front body cap, the original product box, the strap, the cables, the Canon EOS digital software instruction manual, three (3) 64 GB UDMA7 1000x Compact flash cards, three (3) third party batteries, the charger, and and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Dick via e-mail.

I owned and used this superb, full frame, 22mp digital body for several years. It was always my first choice for scenic, Urbex (urban exploration), and flower photography until I fell in love for a while with the 5DS R (for a lot more money!). Then I switched to the 5D IV body. In addition, I loved my 5D III body for birds with my big lenses and both TCs. I used mine to create many dozens of high quality images. Then I switched to Nikon. John’s body can be yours for a bargain price. artie

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/4D ED-IF Lens

Jamie Baker is offering a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 500mm f/4D ED-IF lens in excellent condition for $2750.00). The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the leather front element cover, the lens strap, the original foot, a Really Right Stuff LCF-16 foot, a Real Tree LensCoat, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only. Note, this lens is the version before VR. It is extremely sharp; detailed photos are available upon request. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Jamie Baker e-mail or by phone at (502) 403-9845 (Eastern time).

The 500 f/4 super telephoto lenses have long been the world’s most popular for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. artie

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Price Reduced $400.00 on March 1, 2019.

Brian Anderson is offering a Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens in like-new condition for only $7299.00 (was $7,699.00). There is not a single mark on the lens, the glass, or the paint. The sale includes the accessories that came with the lens: the lens trunk with keys, the hood, both feet, the front lens cover, the rear lens cap, the lens strap, the product box, an Aquatech silicone front lens cover, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Brian via e-mail or by phone at 1-715-278-3223 (Central time zone).

The 500 f/4 super telephoto lenses have long been the world’s most popular for birds,nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. Canon’s Series II version is light, fast, super-sharp, and produces amazing images with both the 1.4X and 2X III TCs. The 500 II is relatively small, easily hand holdable for some folks, and is much easier travel with, focuses closer than, and costs a lot less than the 600 II. Lastly, and you might find this amazing, the magnification for the 500 II is the same as it is for the 600 II: .15X. How is that possible? Magnification is calculated at the minimum focusing distance of the lens — 12.14 feet (3.7 meters) for the 500 II and 14.77 feet (4.5 meters) for the 600 II. Simply put, the 500 II focuses more than two feet closer than the 600 II. The seller for the last one that sold here had five calls the first day; the first four folks quibbled on price. The fifth one jumped right on it … Please do not tarry if you are seriously interested in Brian’s lens as it too should sell almost instantly. Or not 🙂 As the 500 II goes for $8999 new you will be getting a pretty much new lens while saving $1700.00. I loved my 500 II 🙂 artie

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This handheld image was created by yours truly on the Falklands Land-based IPT. Image #1: Black-browed Albatross nesting cliff, Rookery Cabin, Saunders Island, The Falklands

A Lesson I Will Not Soon Forget …

On our third morning at Volunteer Point on the Falklands Land-based IPT I was working a group of King Penguins at the bathing beach — theirs not ours. 🙂 It started to drizzle and moments later the sun came out. And guess what else came out? A huge double rainbow right over the birds. I was sick because my Nikon 24-120 was in my vest that was a in the shelter shack about 400 yards away. I did not even think about trying to get it. The rainbows at their brightest lasted about 5 full minutes before starting to fade. Big time bummer. It was not until I started the long walk home that I realized that I had the perfect rig in my pocket the whole time. My I-Phone 8+. It will be the last time that I make that mistake.

This handheld image was also created by yours truly on the Falklands Land-based IPT. Image #2: King Shags on rocky shelf, Sea Lion Island, The Falklands

The Answer to the Toughest Camera Body Quiz Ever

Yes Virginia, both images in the blog post here were created with my Apple iPhone 8+. Surprisingly, the 8+ handles high contrast scenes better than any camera body I have ever used. The shags on the shelf were in dark shade and the water was at least ten stops brighter yet the iPhone did a great job right out of camera … In the future I just need to remember that I always have it in my pocket. As I carry big lenses most of the time it is great to have a lightweight wide angle at hand.

Kudos to Phil Thatch the first to come up with iPhone 8+ as the answer!

Everything I know about using my iPhone I learned from my good friend, Dr. Cliff Oliver. You can learn more about the iPhone Photography guide below and more about the guide and Cliff in the blog post here.

The iPhone Photography e-Guide To order your copy of the The iPhone Photography e-Guide please click here. The PDF is sent link by e-mail for downloading: the file is relatively huge at 216 MB.

Hard to Believe

Yes, Cliff has a great eye and wonderfully creative vision. Yet it is still hard for me to believe that he can make so many great images with “just“ an i-phone. Almost more amazingly Cliff captures with his iPhone and does all of his post-processing on the phone! In this great new e-Guide written for BIRDS AS ART you will learn to use set up you iPhone quickly and efficiently and how to to use it. In addition, there are dozens and dozens of tips on Cliff’s favorite apps and his favorite gear. Scroll down to the bottom to see the Table of Contents.

The iPhone Photography e-Guide: $20.00.

To order your copy of the The iPhone Photography e-Guide please click here.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

I was in a bit of a funk on Wednesday and spent most of the day on the couch watching movies. The best was Training Day with a very evil Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. I was back in top form on Thursday morning after sleeping 10 hours, a record for me. I was glad to learn the IPT veteran Chuck Murphy signed uo for the DeSoto Spring IPT. That leaves just two spots open.

I am sure that Anita will be thrilled to see all of your comments on her work. Right now she is in northern Manitoba hoping to photograph baby polar bears coming out of their dens. At -50 below F. …

with love, artie

Cheap Gatorland Saturdays

You are invited to join me at Gatorland on SAT 2 MAR as below. I will be offering these sessions from here on until further notice. If you are interested in this or any upcoming Saturday, please get in touch via e-mail or call my cell at 863-221-2372. Limit three photographers.

Morning Session — 7-10am: $200
Morning Session with working lunch including image review and Photoshop: $300.
All of the above with a late afternoon session from 4pm till closing: $400.

IPT Updates

I still need three folks for the Galapagos trip, and the UK Puffins and Gannets trip is wide open with only a single registrant. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Important Used Gear Note

All sales include insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only.

Sony a7R III Mirrorless Camera Body

John Bowden is offering a Sony a7R III mirrorless camera in near-mint condition for $2298.00. The body was purchased from an authorized Sony dealer on 9/12/18. Included is the original box and everything that came in it (except the hot shoe cap): the front body cap, the neck strap, the manuals, the original battery, the battery charger and power cord, the USB Type C cable, the cable protector, the reference guide and insured ground shipping via UPS to the lower 48 after their check clears.

Please contact John via e-mail or by phone at 919-358-5717 (Eastern time zone).

With 10 fps and an excellent AF system the 42.4MP a7R III image files are spectacular. As it sells new for $2998.00 you can save a neat $700.00 by grabbing John’s lens now. artie

Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS Lens

John Bowden is also offering a Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS lens in like-new condition for $998.00. It was purchased from an authorized Sony dealer on 9/18/18. Included is the original box and everything that came in it, the the front and rear caps, the lens shade, the soft case, the instruction manual, and insured ground shipping via UPS to the lower 48 after their check clears.

Please contact John via e-mail or by phone at 919-358-5717 (Eastern time zone).

The versatile lenses in this focal length range are in the never-leave-home-without-them class. They are great for bird scapes, scenics, quasi-macro stuff, people, and just about anything else. As the lens sells new for $1398 you can save 400 of your hard-earned dollars. artie

Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS Lens

John Bowden is also offering a Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS lens in near-mint condition for $848.00. The sale includes the original box and everything that came in it: the front and rear caps, the lens shade, the soft case, the instruction manual and insured ground shipping via UPS to the lower 48 after their check clears.

Please contact John via e-mail or by phone at 919-358-5717 (Eastern time zone).

This outstandingly sharp versatile lens is a landscape and general photographers dream for fill frame Sony camera bodies. It sells new for $1248.00 so you can save $400.00 by getting in touch with John now. artie

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This image was created on the third afternoon of the Spoonbill Boat IPT. I used the hand held Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens, the Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III, and my souped up Nikon D850. ISO 800. Matrix metering plus 1/3 stop off the sky: 1/2500 sec. at f/8 was more than a stop under-exposed. (Even though the skies were clear, it was late in the day; the light was very soft and, in addition, it was a bit hazy.) NATURAL AUTO WB at 5:27pm on a clear afternoon. Nikon Focus Peaking fine-tune value: 0. See the Nikon AF Fine-tune e-Guide here. Center Group (grp)/Continuous (C in Nikon/AI Servo with Canon) AF was active at the moment of exposure. The array was centered on the bird’s face; good on me. This image is perfectly sharp on the eye. Brown Pelican — forward-facing/turning left flight pose

What am I, chopped liver?

The following comment came up for moderation last week on the Flight Poses and Wings Positions: Part I of Many. And a killer forward-facing/turning left flight image made with the 500 PF/TC-E14/D850 Rig blog post here.

Andrew Browne

Sorry Art. On my iMac the brown pelican looks very plastic and over processed. I have the PF 500mm lens on my D500, don’t use a teleconverter on it because the images just lose so much detail, and much more if you crop the images. I concentrate on trying to get closer to the birds or just don’t bother to keep the images. I definitely wouldn’t post such an image. Cheers AB

My initial response was to delete it rather than to defend and attack as the image in question (above) is one of the finest flight images I have made over the course of the past 35 years. It is sharp and well processed and the image quality is superb. (Don’t forget to ask yourself, what the heck does he know?) In any case I deleted it.

The question remains, How do you come up with a civil, self-realized response to off the wall comments?

On Crafting a self-realized response …

After some thought, I came up with this:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Andrew. I asked myself if your comments could in any way be accurate. To check on that, I posted the image in the Avian Forum on Bird Photographer’s where I participate daily. We specialize in honest critiques done gently, and trust me, the boys and girls do not hesitate to take shots at Mr. Famous Bird Photographer. You can see their comments on the image in question here.

Pretty much everyone thought that the image quality was excellent. Arash Hazeghi, the super-critical sharpness king of the world wrote, Sharpness and IQ look great from here. Krishna Prasad Kotti commented that the details on the bird looked over-sharpened to me on my monitor. Then Dorian Anderson countered that with I don’t see any sharpening issues. The lighting on the face is really nice, and I love how we can see every feather in the wings. The flight angle and diagonal position really work well. I cannot believe how long the wings appear. The detail looks good …

Therefore Andrew, I must respectfully disagree with your assessment of the image. As your opinion was somewhat vehement (I definitely wouldn’t post such an image) and might be considered insulting by some, I would offer several suggestions:

with love, artie

Thoughts?

So you post an image that you know based on 35 years of bird photography is pretty darned good and someone tells you that it is pretty much garbage …

Would you have deleted his comment?

If not, how would you have responded?

Please note that I wanted to post my response to Andrew’s comment but had already emptied the Spam folder … (When comments are deleted they are marked as Spam.)

Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, many in full breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull landing on head of Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull in flight, Reddish Egret sunrise silhouette, Great Blue Heron with needlefish, Yellow-crowned Night Heron with ghost crab, Roseate Spoonbill, Sanderling in breeding plumage, and white morph Reddish Egret in glorious breeding plumage.

The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for a great variety of migrant shorebirds, gulls, terns, and passerines in Spring. Many of the gulls and terns will be courting and copulating. There the migrants join hundreds of Florida resident egrets, herons, night-herons, and pelicans on the T-shaped peninsula. We should get to photograph one of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher almost guaranteed. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, and White Ibis are easy as well and many of those will be in their spectacular breeding plumages. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is a strong possibility. We may get to see and photograph the amazing heron/egret hybrid that has been present for three years. And we should enjoy some great Brown Pelican flight photography. In addition, Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork might well be expected. And we will be on the lookout for a migrant passerine fallout in the event of a thunderstorm or two. Yikes, I almost forgot to mention that nearly all of the birds are ridiculously tame!

Yes, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph Reddish Egret displaying, Laughing Gull vertical front-end portrait, Laughing Gull with prey item, landing on head of Brown Pelican, breeding plumage Royal Tern displaying, Royal Terns — pre-copulatory stance, Laughing Gulls copulating, Laughing Gull head portrait, breeding plumage Sandwich Tern with fish, and a rare treat, a breeding plumage White-rumped Sandpiper.

Just some of the stuff you will learn …

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. Most importantly you will surely learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

Again, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull in flight, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Sandwich Terns copulating, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Egret with reflection, breeding plumage Short-billed Dowitcher, American Oystercatcher, Royal Tern, white morph Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret in marsh.

What we do

There will be seven shooting sessions in all: four 3+ hours morning session and three 2 1/2 hour afternoon sessions. There will be a Photoshop/image review session during or after lunch (lunch is included) on each of the three full days. That will be followed by Instructor Nap Time.

The best airport is Tampa (TPA). Once you register, you will receive an e-mail with the hotel/lodging information.

You got it, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Roseate Spoonbill, immature Brown Pelican in flight, the heron/egret hybrid, American Oystercatcher feeding, immature Royal Tern on railing, Great Egret morning silhouette, Black Skimmer in surf, and underside head portrait of Great Blue Heron.

Signing Up

A $500 deposit is due when you sign up and is payable by credit card. Balances must be paid by check after you register. Your deposit is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight folks so please check your plans carefully before committing. You can register by calling Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand or by sending a check as follows: make the check out to: BIRDS AS ART and send it via US mail here: BIRDS AS ART, PO BOX 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, clothing, and gear advice. Please remember that the meet and greet will take place on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Please shoot me an e-mail if you plan to register or if you have any questions.

Early and Late

Getting up early and staying out late is pretty much a staple on all BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours; on this particular trip we will get lots of sleep as the days are short. Being in the field well before the sun comes up and staying out until sunset will often present unique photographic opportunities, opportunities that will be missed by those who need their beauty rest. I really love it when I am leaving the beach on a sunny morning after a great session just as a carful or two of well-rested photographers arrive.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

For the past few hours I’ve been putting the finishing touches on the Orlando Camera Club program — Lessons from the Field/BIRDS AS ART-Style. An MP4 video of the show will be available for purchase later in the week. Jim and I are on the way up to Orlando as I type this afternoon, Monday . Thanks again to Bedford Camera for sponsoring the program. As I have a few more slides to add I am not quite done yet …

I was glad that I sold my Nikon D5 and my Nikon 80-400 VR on Monday morning, just minutes after the third price drop on each. And I learned that Galapagos participant Randy Strickland is joining us for most of the DeSoto Spring IPT. As a relative beginner he wants to make sure that he knows what he is doing once we get down to the archipelago!

More SONY News

Dear friend, multiple IPT veteran, and BAA Technical Advisor Patrick Sparkman who has committed 100% to SONY had a chance to try out a Sony Alpha a7R III this past weekend. He states that if he were a landscape photographer he would keep the one he purchased as the files are fabulous. But loves bird photography so he will be returning it. This sums up what he told me: The A7R III is not very good at all for bird photography. It is hard to live with the viewfinder blackout after using the Sony a9. Autofocus performance and frame rate pale when compared to the a9 and a7R III AF is pretty much worthless with teleconverters, especially with the 2X.

IPT Updates

I still need three folks for the Galapagos trip, and the UK Puffins and Gannets trip is wide open with only a single registrant. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Important Used Gear Note

All sales include insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This handheld image was created by yours truly on the Falklands Land-based IPT. Image #1: Black-browed Albatross nesting cliff, Rookery Cabin, Saunders Island, The Falklands

Black-browed Albatross Nesting Cliff

If you are lucky and privileged, you will get to spend a few day photographing at Rookery Cabin, Saunders Island. I know of no other location where it is easier to photograph the adults, nests, and young of this species. Why? It is relatively easy to get to and the cliffs are flatter and easier to traverse than those at other locations. Having been there three times, I can speak from experience. And yes, I have been very lucky.

This handheld image was also created by yours truly on the Falklands Land-based IPT. Image #2: King Shags on rocky shelf, Sea Lion Island, The Falklands

King Shags

As to the best place on the planet to photograph King (Blue-eyed or Imperial) Shag (or cormorant) I would rate Sea Lion Island and Bleaker Island as a toss-up with Bleaker boasting a single huge colony that I believe is the world’s largest. Both are superb in the afternoons for incoming flight photography …

The Toughest Camera Body Quiz Ever

I would appreciate your thoughts as to which camera I used to make both of today’s featured images and welcome your comments on image quality as well. Lastly, which of the two is your favorite. And why? Tanks a stack.

Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, many in full breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull landing on head of Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull in flight, Reddish Egret sunrise silhouette, Great Blue Heron with needlefish, Yellow-crowned Night Heron with ghost crab, Roseate Spoonbill, Sanderling in breeding plumage, and white morph Reddish Egret in glorious breeding plumage.

The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for a great variety of migrant shorebirds, gulls, terns, and passerines in Spring. Many of the gulls and terns will be courting and copulating. There the migrants join hundreds of Florida resident egrets, herons, night-herons, and pelicans on the T-shaped peninsula. We should get to photograph one of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher almost guaranteed. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, and White Ibis are easy as well and many of those will be in their spectacular breeding plumages. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is a strong possibility. We may get to see and photograph the amazing heron/egret hybrid that has been present for three years. And we should enjoy some great Brown Pelican flight photography. In addition, Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork might well be expected. And we will be on the lookout for a migrant passerine fallout in the event of a thunderstorm or two. Yikes, I almost forgot to mention that nearly all of the birds are ridiculously tame!

Yes, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph Reddish Egret displaying, Laughing Gull vertical front-end portrait, Laughing Gull with prey item, landing on head of Brown Pelican, breeding plumage Royal Tern displaying, Royal Terns — pre-copulatory stance, Laughing Gulls copulating, Laughing Gull head portrait, breeding plumage Sandwich Tern with fish, and a rare treat, a breeding plumage White-rumped Sandpiper.

Just some of the stuff you will learn …

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. Most importantly you will surely learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

Again, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull in flight, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Sandwich Terns copulating, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Egret with reflection, breeding plumage Short-billed Dowitcher, American Oystercatcher, Royal Tern, white morph Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret in marsh.

What we do

There will be seven shooting sessions in all: four 3+ hours morning session and three 2 1/2 hour afternoon sessions. There will be a Photoshop/image review session during or after lunch (lunch is included) on each of the three full days. That will be followed by Instructor Nap Time.

The best airport is Tampa (TPA). Once you register, you will receive an e-mail with the hotel/lodging information.

You got it, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Roseate Spoonbill, immature Brown Pelican in flight, the heron/egret hybrid, American Oystercatcher feeding, immature Royal Tern on railing, Great Egret morning silhouette, Black Skimmer in surf, and underside head portrait of Great Blue Heron.

Signing Up

A $500 deposit is due when you sign up and is payable by credit card. Balances must be paid by check after you register. Your deposit is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight folks so please check your plans carefully before committing. You can register by calling Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand or by sending a check as follows: make the check out to: BIRDS AS ART and send it via US mail here: BIRDS AS ART, PO BOX 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, clothing, and gear advice. Please remember that the meet and greet will take place on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Please shoot me an e-mail if you plan to register or if you have any questions.

Early and Late

Getting up early and staying out late is pretty much a staple on all BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours; on this particular trip we will get lots of sleep as the days are short. Being in the field well before the sun comes up and staying out until sunset will often present unique photographic opportunities, opportunities that will be missed by those who need their beauty rest. I really love it when I am leaving the beach on a sunny morning after a great session just as a carful or two of well-rested photographers arrive.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

The new laptop is up and running. It is quite a bit faster than my old one. Photo Mechanic, Photoshop, and Capture One v.11 are all installed and running smoothly. Next on the schedule is to restore NeatImage …I am eating and feeling great and doing lots of swimming and lots of walking.

Ecstasy

At 2:55pm on Friday, UPS showed up with the new “correct” SSD enclosure, the one suggested by Chris at Cypress Computer Center in downtown Lake Wales, FL. I opened it with great excitement. The 12 pin/16 pin connection seemed to be the right one but I was unable to mount the drive. As I did not want to force (break!) anything, I called Chris and was glad that he had not gone home for the weekend. I packed everything up and in 30 minutes I was in the store. In five minutes he had mounted the drive and assembled the enclosure. One minute later I was copying the last copy of my Monday Orlando Camera Club Keynote program file to the new laptop. It opened and I was thrilled to have saved about four to six hours of additional work that I had already done. Next came the “lost” images from Lakeland and the Hooptie Deux Spoonbill Boat IPT. Those included many SONY images that had not been backed up … Ecstasy!

Investing in Solid State Hard Drives (SSDs) …

Barring a really bad computer disaster, investing in SSDs for all of your computers is the way to go. With no moving parts to malfunction, you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to access your “lost” data by pulling the hard drive (HD) and getting the right enclosure (bay). It was hard to find the right enclosure but the QNINE USB 3.0 PCIe SSD Enclosure for 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 MacBook Air Pro Retina, USB External Reader for A1465 A1466 A1398 A1502 SSD Adapter with Case (Support 12+16 pins) proved to be correct for my old HD. Thanks again Chris!

Big SONY News

Unlike me, dear friend, multiple IPT veteran, and BAA Technical Advisor Patrick Sparkman has committed 100% to SONY. He sold his Nikon 600 and the rest of his Nikon stuff in only a few days on the BAA Used Gear Page and yesterday purchased a Sony Alpha a7R III Mirrorless Digital camera body from Bedford’s. I am looking forward to learning how the A7RIII does with birds, especially with birds in flight. Patrick is planning on doing lots of photography this weekend!

Me-thinks that there is a Sony FE 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS lens in Patrick’s future …

IPT Updates

I still need three folks for the Galapagos trip, and the UK Puffins and Gannets trip is wide open with only a single registrant. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Orlando Camera Club Program Sponsored By Bedford Camera

On February 25, 2019, I will be presenting “Lessons from the Field – BIRDS AS ART Style” for the Orlando Camera Club. They told me that they did not want to see beautiful images as they would rather learn. I told them that I would need to show them lots of beautiful images during the course of the lessons. 🙂 I have been having a ton of fun for three weeks creating this brand new program. The meeting begins at 6:15; my program is scheduled for 6:15 – 8:00pm at the Marks Senior Center, 99 E Marks Street, Orlando, FL 32803. The meeting is free and open to the public. If you learned about the program through the blog be sure to come up for a hug.

Huge thanks to Steve Elkins at Bedford Camera for sponsoring my appearance and to Holly Manus for the invitation. Click on the logo-link above or check out the Money Saving Reminder feature immediately below to get acquainted with Bedford.

From the OCC website here:

Arthur Morris will present “Lessons from the Field – BIRDS AS ART Style”. This slide-illustrated lecture will feature hundred’s of Artie’s spectacular photographs. As he shares images from his favorite locations around the globe he will be telling us about the birds and other creatures that he photographs and about the equipment and techniques that he uses to create his images. Topics to be covered include getting close to free and wild birds, flight photography, getting the right exposure, and image design. A selection of books and CDs will be available.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Important Used Gear Note

All sales include insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only.

Recent Sales

I sold my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens with the the RRS Collar Foot Package (a $250 plus the shipping value) for only $1099.00 in mid-February.
John M Wright also sold his Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS lens in near mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $488.00 and his Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR body in near-mint condition with 28,567 shutter actuations for $1999.00 in mid-February 2019.
Multiple IPT veteran and good friend Paul Reinstein sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM in excellent plus condition for the BAA record-low price of $6,599.00 in mid-February.
Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman sold his Nikon D850 DSLR for $2699.00 just days after listing it in early February.
I sold my Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II in near-mint condition for a BAA record low price of $299.00 in mid-February.
Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman sold his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens in like-new condition for $10,996.95 his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens in like-new condition for $475.00, his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens in like-new condition for $910.00, and his Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III in excellent condition for $385.00 all within a day of listing them in early February.
John Svendsen sold a Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF ED lens (the original version) in near-mint condition for the BAA record low price by miles of $1499.00 in early January.

Canon 600mm f/4L IS II USM Lens

Multiple IPT veteran Morris Herstein is offering a Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II USM lens in like-new condition for the incredible BAA record-low price of $7,999.00. The sale includes the rear cap and the front lens cover, the lens trunk, a Kirk low foot, the original lens foot, a LensCoat, and insured ground shipping via Fed Ex to US lower 48 addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Morris via e-mail.

The 600 II has been the state of the art super-telephoto for birds, nature, wildlife, and sports for many years. When I was using Canon and needed the reach and could get it to my location, it was always my go-to weapon. It is the same now with my Nikon 600 VR. All are fast and sharp and deadly alone or a TC. With a new one going for $11,499, you’d better grab this one quickly and save a cool $3500.00 by grabbing Morris’s lens now. artie

Canon 100-400mm L IS II USM Zoom Lens

Karl Schneck is offering a Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM zoom lens (the new 1-4) in excellent condition for $1,299.00. The sale includes the rear lens cap, the front lens cap, the lens hood, the lens foot, the lens case, the original product box, a LensCoat Lens Cover in Digital Camo, and insured ground shipping via major courier to lower 48 US addresses only. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Karl via e-mail.

Y’all know how much I have missed this amazingly versatile lens and its great close focusing ability. With a new one going for $2,049.00 Karl’s lens is a steal! artie

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

Answers

In the Head-hunting Fun with Sony! And Guess the Focal Length blog post here, I posted the two images below and asked that folks try to guess the focal length used to capture each image. The answers are below each images along with my brief comments.

This image was created on February 15, 2019 with my SONY gear in Lakeland,FL. Sony A9. Image #1: Limpkin calling/head portrait

Limpkin calling/head portrait

This image was created with the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter and the beyond remarkable Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 500: 1/500 sec. at f/11 in Manual mode. The correct exposure was fine-tuned using the Zebra feature. AWB at 9:59am on a sunny day.

The focal length was 512mm. So yes, I would have been a bit better off with the 1.4X teleconverter …

This image was created on February 15, 2019 with my SONY gear in Lakeland,FL. Image #2: Female Anhinga in breeding plumage

Female Anhinga in breeding plumage

This image was also created with the hand held Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens, the Sony FE 2.0x Teleconverter and the beyond remarkable Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 3200: 1/2000 sec. at f/14 in Manual mode. The correct exposure was fine-tuned using the Zebra feature. AWB at 10:21am on a sunny day.

The focal length here was 800mm. I had been at 1/2000 sec. shooting flight and neglected to cut back to 1/500 second; that mistake cost me 2 stops of ISO. That said, the ISO 3200 images looked pretty good without any noise reduction.

This image was created on the Spoonbill Boat IPT on February 16, 2019 at 5:47pm. Please get in the habit of clicking on all horizontal images to see a larger inexplicably sharper version. Image #3: Brown Pelican banking

A New System/Focal Length/ISO Quiz

As I have not yet loaded NeatImage onto the new laptop, noise reduction to the background only was applied using Filter > Blur > Surface Blur.

Be sure to click on the image to see the larger version before getting into the water. Then, go ahead:

SONY or Nikon?

What was the focal length?

What ISO did I use? (Yes, it was Auto but don’t be a wise guy.)

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up

On Day 3 of the Spoonbill IPT we had our best morning with spoonies on the ground. And the afternoon of flying pelicans was not bad either. Late on Monday afternoon I learned that Captain Froggies customized pontoon boat, the Hoopetie Deux, had developed engine problems so on Tuesday morning we visited some of the quite amazing Lakeland lakes. And we did just great with White Pelicans and Limpkins (while ignoring all of the tame wild ducks).

Read on the learn why I have been less than responsive to e-mails for the past few days … Thanks for understanding; you should be hearing from me soon.

IPT Updates

I still need three folks for the Galapagos trip, and the UK Puffins and Gannets trip is wide open with only a single registrant. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Orlando Camera Club Program Sponsored By Bedford Camera

On February 25, 2019, I will be presenting “Lessons from the Field – BIRDS AS ART Style” for the Orlando Camera Club. They told me that they did not want to see beautiful images as they would rather learn. I told them that I would need to show them lots of beautiful images during the course of the lessons. 🙂 I have been having a ton of fun for three weeks creating this brand new program. The meeting begins at 6:15; my program is scheduled for 6:15 – 8:00pm at the Marks Senior Center, 99 E Marks Street, Orlando, FL 32803. The meeting is free and open to the public. If you learned about the program through the blog be sure to come up for a hug.

Huge thanks to Steve Elkins at Bedford Camera for sponsoring my appearance and to Holly Manus for the invitation. Click on the logo-link above or check out the Money Saving Reminder feature immediately below to get acquainted with Bedford.

From the OCC website here:

Arthur Morris will present “Lessons from the Field – BIRDS AS ART Style”. This slide-illustrated lecture will feature hundred’s of Artie’s spectacular photographs. As he shares images from his favorite locations around the globe he will be telling us about the birds and other creatures that he photographs and about the equipment and techniques that he uses to create his images. Topics to be covered include getting close to free and wild birds, flight photography, getting the right exposure, and image design. A selection of books and CDs will be available.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Recent Sales

I sold my Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E II in near-mint condition for a BAA record low price of $299.00 in mid-February.
Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman sold his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR lens in like-new condition for $10,996.95 his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR lens in like-new condition for $475.00, his Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens in like-new condition for $910.00, and his Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E III in excellent condition for $385.00 all within a day of listing them in early February.
John Svendsen sold a Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF ED lens (the original version) in near-mint condition for the BAA record low price by miles of $1499.00 in early January.
John M Wright sold his Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR body in excellent condition for the BAA record-low price of $949.00, a Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR body in excellent plus condition for $799.00, and a Canon Extender (teleconverter) EF 1.4X III in near-mint condition for $265.00 in mid-January.
Brooke Miller sold a Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM in excellent condition for $1,199.00 (was $1,449.00) in late January, 2019.
Charlie Curry exhibited great patience and finally sold his Canon EF 100-400mm L IS II lens in like-new condition for a very low $1445.00 in late January.
Judy Helderman sold her Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM lens in very good condition for $2,799.00 and her Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS USM lens (the original IS version) lens in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $799.00.
John Wright sold a Canon 500mm f/4 IS USM and a Canon EF Extender 1.4X II, both in very good plus condition for $3399.00 in mid-January.
IPT veteran Mark Overgaard sold hisCanon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM lens in near-mint condition for $1,299.00 in mid-January.
John M Wright sold his Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM lens in excellent to near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $6,950.00, his Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of 1,299.00, a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L lens in excellent condition for the BAA record-low price of $599.00, his Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS lens in near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $499.00,
and a Canon Extender (teleconverter) EF 2X III in near-mint condition for $265.00, all within days of their being listed.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

I gave myself a kein ayin hora …

In Tuesday’s blog post, I wrote: I am and have been quite happy with my MacBook Pro (Retina display, 15-inch, Mid 2014), so happy that I would love to purchase another brand new one exactly the same. My MacBook Pro had been the most reliable computer that I have ever owned. By far. I loved it. To death. This Yiddush phrase, kein ayin hora, is often mis-pronounced as “kina hora.” It translates as “without the evil eye.” When people relate their assets or blessings, they say “kein ayin hora” when realizing that they might be bringing some bad luck upon themselves. Or upon their laptop. Learn more here.

The Death of a Friend …

On Monday, February 19, 2019 I was working on my beloved laptop. It was showing 46% battery power left. Then it shut down instantly. When we got back to our AirBNB, I plugged it in. It tried to start up but quit. Twice. Miraculously, I was able to schedule an appointment for that vety afternoon at the Apple Store in Brandon, FL. The nice lady at the Genius Bar said that she had never seen a laptop so “well used.” She said that the battery was “swollen” and that there was so much sand and (salt) corrsion in, on, and around the components that she had no idea how the laptop had been working at all. The “a,” “s”, and “e” keys were worn smooth (from too many blog posts!) “Repairs would be about $1,300.00. Plus tax.”

I declined and she kindly removed the 1TB solid state drive. I had backed my stuff up less than a week ago. I ordered the new laptop below along with an ElecGear SATA m.2 SSD Gen 2 Enclosure and with luck — kein ayin hora — I should be able to restore all of my latest photos and other work.

The New Killer Laptop

Even before the death knell, I ordered a Apple 15.4″ MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (Mid 2018, Space Gray), two of the best-money-can-buy Samsung 2TB T5 Portable Solid-State Drives (Black), and four Apple USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C Male to USB Type-A Female Adapters (needed to connect my old drives and devices to the new laptop). All from B&H of course.

With 32 gb of ram, the new laptop will really smoke:

2.9 GHz Intel Core i9 Six-Core
32GB of 2400 MHz RAM | 2TB SSD
15.4″ 2880 x 1800 Retina Display
AMD Radeon Pro 560X GPU (4GB GDDR5)

Regularly priced at $4,699.00. I enjoyed an Instant Savings of $700.00. My lucky day!

The laptop arrived on Tuesday afternoon and we will be working very, very hard for a few days getting it up and running. Hint: be sure to have all of your codes, license keys, and passwords stored in several easily accessible locations. I will be doing that from now on … The ElecGear SATA m.2 SSD Gen 2 Enclosure arrives today.

Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, many in full breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull landing on head of Brown Pelican, Laughing Gull in flight, Reddish Egret sunrise silhouette, Great Blue Heron with needlefish, Yellow-crowned Night Heron with ghost crab, Roseate Spoonbill, Sanderling in breeding plumage, and white morph Reddish Egret in glorious breeding plumage.

The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.

Fort DeSoto, located just south of St. Petersburg, FL, is a mecca for a great variety of migrant shorebirds, gulls, terns, and passerines in Spring. Many of the gulls and terns will be courting and copulating. There the migrants join hundreds of Florida resident egrets, herons, night-herons, and pelicans on the T-shaped peninsula. We should get to photograph one of Florida’s most desirable shorebird species: Marbled Godwit. Black-bellied Plover and Willet are easy, American Oystercatcher almost guaranteed. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, and White Ibis are easy as well and many of those will be in their spectacular breeding plumages. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is a strong possibility. We may get to see and photograph the amazing heron/egret hybrid that has been present for three years. And we should enjoy some great Brown Pelican flight photography. In addition, Royal, Sandwich, Forster’s, and Caspian Terns will likely provide us with some good flight opportunities as well. Though not guaranteed, Roseate Spoonbill and Wood Stork might well be expected. And we will be on the lookout for a migrant passerine fallout in the event of a thunderstorm or two. Yikes, I almost forgot to mention that nearly all of the birds are ridiculously tame!

Yes, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: breeding plumage Dunlin, dark morph Reddish Egret displaying, Laughing Gull vertical front-end portrait, Laughing Gull with prey item, landing on head of Brown Pelican, breeding plumage Royal Tern displaying, Royal Terns — pre-copulatory stance, Laughing Gulls copulating, Laughing Gull head portrait, breeding plumage Sandwich Tern with fish, and a rare treat, a breeding plumage White-rumped Sandpiper.

Just some of the stuff you will learn …

On the IPT you will learn basics and fine points of digital exposure and to get the right exposure every time after making a single test exposure, how to approach free and wild birds without disturbing them, to understand and predict bird behavior, to identify many species of shorebirds, to spot the good situations, to choose the best perspective, to see and understand the light, and to design pleasing images by mastering your camera’s AF system. Most importantly you will surely learn to evaluate wind and sky conditions and understand how they affect bird photography. And you will learn how and why to work in Manual mode (even if you’re scared of it).

Again, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Laughing Gull in flight, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Sandwich Terns copulating, Roseate Spoonbill, Great Egret with reflection, breeding plumage Short-billed Dowitcher, American Oystercatcher, Royal Tern, white morph Reddish Egret, and Snowy Egret in marsh.

What we do

There will be seven shooting sessions in all: four 3+ hours morning session and three 2 1/2 hour afternoon sessions. There will be a Photoshop/image review session during or after lunch (lunch is included) on each of the three full days. That will be followed by Instructor Nap Time.

The best airport is Tampa (TPA). Once you register, you will receive an e-mail with the hotel/lodging information.

You got it, Fort DeSoto in spring is rife with tame birds, most in breeding plumage. Click on the composite to enjoy a larger version. Clockwise from upper left around to center: Roseate Spoonbill, immature Brown Pelican in flight, the heron/egret hybrid, American Oystercatcher feeding, immature Royal Tern on railing, Great Egret morning silhouette, Black Skimmer in surf, and underside head portrait of Great Blue Heron.

Signing Up

A $500 deposit is due when you sign up and is payable by credit card. Balances must be paid by check after you register. Your deposit is non-refundable unless the IPT sells out with eight folks so please check your plans carefully before committing. You can register by calling Jim or Jennifer during weekday business hours at 863-692-0906 with a credit card in hand or by sending a check as follows: make the check out to: BIRDS AS ART and send it via US mail here: BIRDS AS ART, PO BOX 7245, Indian Lake Estates, FL 33855. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with detailed instructions, clothing, and gear advice. Please remember that the meet and greet will take place on the evening of WED 17 APRIL. Please shoot me an e-mail if you plan to register or if you have any questions.

Early and Late

Getting up early and staying out late is pretty much a staple on all BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours; on this particular trip we will get lots of sleep as the days are short. Being in the field well before the sun comes up and staying out until sunset will often present unique photographic opportunities, opportunities that will be missed by those who need their beauty rest. I really love it when I am leaving the beach on a sunny morning after a great session just as a carful or two of well-rested photographers arrive.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).

What’s Up?

What’s up is that I have so, so much to share right now that I wish that I could do three blog posts every day for at least the next two weeks. But alas, the Spoonbill Boat IPT calls. We had a relatively slow start but had some great chances with breeding plumage Roseate Spoonbill, breeding plumage Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, and Turkey Vulture.

On Sunday I will reveal the answer to the SONY or Nikon? Can you judge the Image Quality? question from the blog post here.

And soon I will have lots to say about flight photography with the SONY 100-400 and the 2X TC; I was quite surprised by what I learned.

Canon & Nikon State of the Art Gear Price Reductions

Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens/with Extras!

$300.00 Price Drop! New BAA Record-low Price
$200.00 Price Drop! FEB 16, 2019 — New BAA Record-low Price

Multiple IPT veteran and good friend Paul Reinstein is offering a Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM in excellent plus condition — it would be near-mint but for a few small paint chips on the bottom of the lens foot — for the BAA record-low price of $6,599.00. (was $7099.00). The sale includes the rear lens cap, the lens trunk, the original tough front lens cover, the lens strap, the instruction manual, the original product box, a LensCoat,a LensCoat Hoodie that has been modified to make it easier to install over the LensCoat, and insured ground shipping via major courier to US addresses only. Photos are available upon request. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Paul e-mail or by phone or text message at 1-310-946-9031 (Pacific time zone).

The 500 f/4 super telephoto lenses have long been the world’s most popular for birds,nature, wildlife, and sports for many decades. Canon’s Series II version is light, fast, super-sharp, and produces amazing images with both the 1.4X and 2X III TCs. The 500 II is relatively small, easily hand holdable for some folks, and is much easier travel with, focuses closer than, and costs a lot less than the 600 II. Lastly, and you might find this amazing, the magnification for the 500 II is the same as it is for the 600 II: .15X. How is that possible? Magnification is calculated at the minimum focusing distance of the lens — 12.14 feet (3.7 meters) for the 500 II and 14.77 feet (4.5 meters) for the 600 II. Simply put, the 500 II focuses more than two feet closer than the 600 II. The seller for the last one that sold here had five calls the first day; the first four folks quibbled on price. The fifth one jumped right on it … Please do not tarry if you are seriously interested in Paul’s lens as it should sell almost instantly. Or not 🙂 As the 500 II goes for $8999 new you will be getting an almost new lens while saving an amazing $2400.00. I loved my 500 II 🙂 artie

Nikon Price Drops

Nikon D5 DSLR camera body with Dual XQD Slots

Price Reduced $500 on 7 FEB 2019

Price Reduced Another $300 on 7 FEB 2019

Arthur Morris is offering a barely used (shutter count 16,263) Nikon D5 in excellent to near-mint condition for the BAA record-low price of $4,696.95 (was $5,496.95). The sale includes the original box and everything in it including the front lens cap, and insured ground shipping via United Parcel Service.

Please contact artie via e-mail or on his cell at 863-221-2372 (please leave a message if no answer).

You can save a cool $1800.00 by grabbing Nikon’s blazingly fast, top of the line professional digital camera body right now. It was the D5 autofocus that switched me from Canon to Nikon in point three seconds … artie

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens

Price Reduced $100 on February 7, 2019.
Price Reduced another $100 on February 7, 2019.

Yours truly is offering a Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens in excellent plus condition for only $1,599.00 (was $1799.00). The sale includes the original product box and everything that came it including the front and rear caps along with insured ground shipping via United Parcel Service.

Please contact me via e-mail or on my cell at 863-221-2372.

The 80-400mm VR lens served as my main lens on both the Emperor Penguin and Falklands trip. Focus fine-tuned with both of my D850 bodies this body produced some of the sharpest images I have eve seen. artie

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens (with a great and necessary extra)

Price Reduced $100 on January 18, 2019.
Price Reduced another $100 on January 30, 2019.
Price Reduced another $100 on February 16, 2019.

Still loving and keeping my much more expensive Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR lens, I am offering my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 lens in pretty close to near-mint condition for only $1099.00 (was $1399.00). The sale includes the original product box and everything that came in it, the crappy original tripod collar, the RRS Collar Foot Package for Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens (a $250 plus the shipping value), and insured ground shipping via UPS.

Please contact me via e-mail or on my cell at 863-221-2372.

This is the lens that hooked me on Nikon and its great AF system. It is sharp and versatile and though AF is a bit sluggish away from the center AF point with a teleconverter, I made some great images with the TC-E14. This lens sells new right now for $1,396.95 with only the crappy original tripod collar … artie

Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III

Price Reduced $50 on January 18, 2019.

Arthur Morris is offering a rarely used Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E II in near-mint condition for a money saving of $299.00 (was $349.00). The sale includes the original product box and everything that came in it including the front and rear caps, and insured ground shipping via United Parcel Service.

Please contact artie via e-mail or on his cell at 863-221-2372 (please leave a message if no answer).

I successfully used this 2X TC with the 600 VR. It sells new for $ $ 496.95 artie

Nikon D-850 dSLR (with extras!)

Price Reduced $200 on February 16, 2019.

Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman is offering a one-year old Nikon D850 DSLR camera body in excellent to like-new condition for $2699.00 (was $2899.00). The sale includes the original battery, the original battery charger, the MB-D18 Battery Grip, a Sony 120GB G Series XQD Memory Card, the following off-brand items: battery chamber cover, lithium battery, and battery charger — these work like the Nikon versions and raise the frame rate to 9 fps, the original product box, the front body cover, and insured shipping via Fed Ex Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Patrick via e-mail.

The D850 is my favorite Nikon body by miles. With a slightly slower frame rate than the D5, the far superior D850 image quality and its superb AF system found me leaving my D5 on the shelf nearly all the time … With the D850 you can shoot wider and crop while still getting large, high quality image files. artie

Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art Lens for Nikon F

Price Reduced $100 on February 16, 2019.

Multiple IPT veteran, dear friend, and BAA technical advisor Patrick Sparkman is offering a Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 DG HSM Art Lens for Nikon F in like-new condition for $699.00 (was $799.00). The lens is 2 months old, and was barely used. The glass is perfect. The sale includes the lens hood, the original box, the soft case that came with the lens, the front cover, the rear lens cap, and insured shipping via Fed Ex Ground. Your item will not ship until your check clears unless other arrangements are made.

Please contact Patrick via e-mail.

The 14-24 Sigma Art lens is as sharp or sharper than similar Nikon lenses for a lot less money. It is a landscape photographer’s dream wide angle and a superb night sky lens. It sells new for $1,299.00. artie

What’s Up?

I am heading over to Circle Bar B Ranch in Lakeland for a morning photography session. Then I meet multiple IPT veterans Mike Gotthelf and Morris Herstein for a lunch session on setting up their SONY A9 bodies for bird photography. That will be followed by an afternoon shooting session at Fort DeSoto and a morning session on Friday. If you are an A9 shooter and would like to join us at the Neptune Grill in Gulfport today at 1pm please call me cell at 863-221-2372.

IPT Updates

I still need three or four folks for the Galapagos trip, and the UK Puffins and Gannets trip is wide open with only a single registrant. Please shoot me an e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount on the Galapagos trip.

• The 2019 Fort DeSoto Spring IPT/THURS 18 APRIL through the morning session on SUNDAY APRIL 21, 2019: 3 1/2 DAYS: $1549. Limit 8/Openings: 4. Meet and greet at 7PM on the evening of WED 17 APRIL.
• The New, Expanded 2019 UK Puffins, Gannets, & Red Kites IPT. Thursday June 27 (from EDI) through Tuesday, July 9, 2019 (on the ground; fly home on Wednesday July 10.): $9,999. Limit 10 photographers/Openings: 9. This trip needs four to run. Co-leader: Peter Kes.
• The GALAPAGOS Photo Cruise of a Lifetime IPT/The Complete Galapagos Photographic Experience. July 23 to August 6, 2019 on the boat. 13 FULL and two half-days of photography: $14,499. Limit: 12 photographers/Openings: 4. Please e-mail to learn about the huge late registration discount for this trip.

BIRDS AS ART

BIRDS AS ART is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Selling Your Used Photo Gear Through BIRDS AS ART

Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They went out of business. And e-Bay fees are now up to 13%. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please scroll down here or shoot us an e-mail with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly — I offer pricing advice to those who agree to the terms — usually sells in no time flat. Over the past year, we have sold many dozens of items. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 100-400, the old 500mm, the EOS-7D and 7D Mark II and the original 400mm DO lens have been dropping steadily. Most recently the price of used Canon 600mm f/L IS II lenses have been dropping like a rock with the introduction of the 600 III. You can always see the current listings by clicking here or on the Used Photo Gear tab on the orange-yellow menu bar near the top of each blog post page.

Money Saving Reminder

If you need a hot photo item that is out of stock at B&H, would enjoy free overnight shipping, and would like a $50 discount on your first purchase, click here to order and enter the coupon code BIRDSASART at checkout. If you are looking to strike a deal on Canon or Nikon gear (including the big telephotos) or on a multiple item order, contact Steve Elkins via e-mail or on his cell at (479) 381-2592 (Eastern time) and be sure to mention your BIRDSASART coupon code and use it for your online order. Steve currently has several D850s in stock along with a Nikon 600mm f/4 VR. He is taking pre-orders for the new Nikon 500 P and the Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera body.

Gear Questions and Advice

Too many folks attending BAA IPTs and dozens of photographers whom I see in the field and on BPN, are–out of ignorance–using the wrong gear especially when it comes to tripods and more especially, tripod heads… Please know that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail. Those questions might deal with systems, camera bodies, accessories, and/or lens choices and decisions.

This image was created after the conclusion of the 2019 San Diego IPT. ISO 400: 1/800 at f/6.3 was an underexposure. Image #1: Pacific race Brown Pelican on rock

The Playing Field

Both of today’s featured images were created within minutes of each other. One was made with my new Sony gear, one was made with my Nikon gear. Both were converted in Capture One. There was no selective sharpening, no NIK, and no sharpening at applied to the resulting JPEGs.

I have tried many times to create identical images with different camera bodies for comparative purposes. I have always failed miserably even when I photographed a sign with the gear on a tripod! With a bird, it is pretty much impossible. But I tried.

This image was created after the conclusion of the 2019 San Diego IPT. ISO 400: 1/500 at f/5.6 was perfect. Image #2: Pacific race Brown Pelican on rock

SONY or Nikon?

Please enlarge each image to view a larger, inexplicably sharper version. I ask that you judge only the fine feather detail on the breast, the folded wings, the back, and the head. Do note that when created Image #1 the sun was a bit brighter than when I created Image #2. Please therefore do not concern yourself with differences in color or contrast. Both of those in large part are more a function of the photographer’s personal tastes and their choices both during the RAW conversion and later in Photoshop. Similarly, do not choose the “best” image based on your favorite pose. As above, my only concern here is to see if anyone can note image quality differences in an unsharpened 1200 pixel wide JPEG.

If you need some help, you can check out my very similar BPN post here.

Help Support the Blog

Please help support my efforts here on the blog by remembering to click on the logo link above each time that you shop Amazon. That would be greatly appreciated. There is no problem using your Prime account; just click on the link and log into your Prime account. With love, artie

If In Doubt …

If in doubt about using the BAA B&H affiliate link correctly, you can always start your search by clicking here. Please note that the tracking is invisible. Web orders only. Please, however, remember to shoot me your receipt via e-mail.

Please Remember to use my Affiliate Links and to Visit the New BAA Online Store 🙂

To show your appreciation for my continuing efforts here, we ask, as always, that you get in the habit of using my B&H affiliate links on the right side of the blog for all of your photo and electronics purchases. Please check the availability of all photographic accessories in the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store, especially the Mongoose M3.6 tripod head, Wimberley lens plates, Delkin flash cards and accessories, and LensCoat stuff.

As always, we sell only what I have used, have tested, and can depend on. We will not sell you junk. We know what you need to make creating great images easy and fun. And please remember that I am always glad to answer your gear questions via e-mail.

I would of course appreciate your using our B&H affiliate links for all of your major gear, video, and electronic purchases. For the photographic stuff mentioned in the paragraph above, and for everything else in the new store, we, meaning BAA, would of course greatly appreciate your business. Here is a huge thank you to the many who have been using our links on a regular basis and those who will be visiting the New BIRDS AS ART Online Store as well.

Facebook

Be sure to like and follow BAA on Facebook by clicking on the logo link upper right. Tanks a stack.

Typos

In all blog posts and Bulletins, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors. Just be right :).