Loving my new Toy! (photos)

[Tom Wilson]

Well, Toy is an absolute understatement. In one horribly ugly, cloudy day I took more in focus flight shots than I shot in the last year. I love my new camera It is absolutely one mean machine. Here's a few of the first pics from today. It's not like I post a whole lot of duck photos, but I had to post these...

Tom W

[Steve Foss]

Tom, congrats on the new toy. And man, it ain't no toy — it's a TOOL! Good sharp shots.

[hobbydog]

So how much of the improvement do you attribute to the camera and how much to the lens? If you ghad to choose one or the other?

[Tom Wilson]

Bill,

Thats a little bit of a tough call and it depends on which area you're talking about. There is no question, absolutely no question whatsoever that the glass is a major improvement. The differences in the glass are mind boggling. The camera itself though is a major advancement. There are many different things that make this camera so much better, but I haven't even gotten over the improvements in the autofocus system yet. You truly cannot comprehend the speed of this camera if you've never shot with it, it is incredible. I just know that with all of the improvements, it is going to allow me to take my photography to a whole new level.

Tom W

[buzzsaw]

ABSOLUTELY

[hobbydog]

Ok....you owe me I get to try it. I have been trying hard to get the flying straight at you shots and I just can't pull the focus fast enough....close but just not as sharp as you know it can be. Would be nice to have something to compare to.....I think you know what I mean. That is a lot of clams to shell out on hopes the focusing is faster.

[Deitz Dittrich]

amazing stuff as always... here is a goofy thing I noticed.. and I look at your guys picts everynight.. TW, Buzz, STF, and MWK...the top pict in this group is one of the few duck shots flying from left to right?... anybody else notice that?

[buzzsaw]

I know where that picture was taken and they kinda go back and forth in both directions.

[Steve Foss]

Deitz:

Good eye. Reason is, with left hand cupping the underside of a lens and the right on the camera body, it's a lot easier to pan to the left with moving birds than to the right.

And that's because, for me at least, it's easier to keep the left arm rock steady that way; as you pan left, your flexed left elbow tucks into your ribcage, making it easier to steady the lens/camera. Panning to the right forces you to extend the elbow/arm somewhat, taking it away from the body. Also, in tucking in as one moves to the left, it's the left bicep that does some of that work. Moving to the right, it's the left tricep that pushes out, and the bicep is a strong muscle used for stability and power, while the tricep is for quickness and is not as stable.

Holding/panning a camera with a long heavy lens is quite similar to wingshooting. As a right-handed wingshooter with a shotgun, I hit more passing shots right-to-left than the other way, and I believe for the same reasons. I have even found myself unconsciously passing up camera shots of birds moving left to right, though I worked to overcome that bias as soon as I recognized it. You can never improve your technique quite enough!

[buzzsaw]

While what catfish said may make alot of sense, these ducks fly in a certain area and at certain times of the day it's better to get them flying to our right and downwards as we can get great shots and the light is working great for us as well. Of course it was a cloudy day for the above picture.... I personally like them going left to right alot of the time... man now I'm curious about my pics... thanks Dietz!

[Tom Wilson]

Deitz,

I took 400+ shots that morning. I have just as many from right to left, it was just that I posted these. I'll try to make it more even the next time. I don't want it to affect you're viewing eye

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, see, that's what a guy gets from overthinking things.

[Deitz Dittrich]

STF- I had never thought of that stuff...

Tom, I tried to look back at other picts and noticed that many of them were left to right picts as well... I dnd't want to overthink this.. just h=thought it ws odd...

You guys do amaze me... I have a had enough time taking pictures of people hlding fish and they are holding still.. I cant imagine trying to do it at 40+ mph... Fun fun stuff for sure.. Keep it up please!

[Tom Wilson]

Holy dump Steve--Now I'm gonna have to think about what I'm doing when I'm taking pictures. Thanks for the extra work