January 25, 2019 – 7:00 AM field trip to Merrit Island National
This year the number of Glossy Ibis in the reserve is exceptional. I have never seen so many flocks of 20 Ibis or more.
On the other hand, the Roseate Spoonbills are not as abundant as in past years.
Great Egret in Flight. Pansonic G9 with the Leica f/2.8 200mm lens and 1.4X teleconverter. Exposure triad: f/5.6, 1/2500 sec, ISO 320
Even though the copy of the Leica f/2.8 200mm lens is a pre-production unit I foun it performing exceptionally well. It focuses fast and the camera and lens combination have no problems following birds in flight.
The Learn to Swallow Large Fish. Lumix G9 with the Leica 100-400mm. Exposure triad: f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200.
This was a very active nest. The adult had brought 5 or 6 fish and regurgitated them multiple times.
Green Heron Sky-Pointing – Corkscrew Swamp. Lumix G9 with the Leica 100-400mm. Exposure triad: f/6.3, 1/500 sec, ISO 640.
This was the first time I witnessed a Green Heron Sky-Pointing which is a very common mating behavior with Great Blue Herons and various Egrets.
Three American White Pelican flying after the sun had set. Lumix G9 with the Leica 100-400mm. Exposure triad: f/6.3, 1/1000 sec, ISO 400.
Ding Darling NWR was a big disappointment. The birds were sparse with the exception of Pelicans, Willets, Dowitchers and Dunlins. As the sun set, these Pelicans started departing the sand-bar they were on, probably to roost elsewhere.
Really wanted to see the G9’s performance with dynamic range and the ability to capture good shadow detail. I was very pleased with the performance as you will see from these images.
Just Checking. Lumix G9 with the Leica 100-400. Exposure triad: f/6.3, 1/1600 sec, ISO 640
What’s Next. Lumix G9 with the Leica 100-400. Exposure triad: f/6.3, 1/640 sec, ISO 400
Anhinga in Flight. Lumix G9 with the Leica 100-400. Exposure triad: f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 200
Roseate Posing – Lumix G9 with the Leica 200 f/2.8 and 2X teleconverter. Exposure triad: f/5.6, 1/2500 sec, ISO 200.
This Roseate was in good light and I liked it as a square crop. The image of the Pin-tail pair was another digiscope image that has been cropped for composition.
Pintail Pair – Digiscoped with the GH5 and Swarovski spotting scope. Exposure 1/800 sec at ISO 800.
The Luna Moth – albeit not in a natural environment the moth stayed on the gymnasium wall at Eastern Florida State College for hours. Used the 30mm macro on the G9 handheld and I continue to be impressed with the IBIS. The 30mm macro is currently discounted and available for under $300.
Luna Moth Actias luna – Lumix G9, Lumix Vario 39mm macro. Exposure triad: f/4.5, 1/500 sec, ISO 200
Roseate Spoonbills Reflected – Lumix G9 with the Leica 200 f/2.8 and 2X. Exposure Triad f/5.6, 1/2500, ISO 200
It rained all morning and then we had a little break and the light got better, albeit not like the golden hour, the clouds helped diffuse it enough.
The next image of the Black-crowned Night Heron was a daily image. Always in the same mangrove by the road. In all the days there was no action from this bird.
Black-crowned Night Heron -Lumix G9 with the Leica 200 f/2.8 and 2X. Exposure Triad f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 4000.
The Glossy Ibis is another digiscoped capture – wish the light had been better for this one. It would have definitely brought out the iridescence.
Glossy Ibis – Lumix GH5 with the Swarovski Spotting Scope – Exposure 1/640 sec at ISO 800
Exposure triad: I had turned the aperture ring to f/10 by mistake so ended up with and ISO of 2000 and 1/1600 sec shutter.
Yesterday January 27, 2018 I had the opportunity to go with a group of 18 participants to the Kennedy Space Center to find and photograph the Florida Scrub Jays.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy sitting on Pad 39 awaiting its launch next week or soon thereafter. The pad is 3.6 miles from the Camera Pad where I captured this image. Image only cropped on either side. Hand held, exposure triad: f/5.6, 1/1250 sec at ISO 200 – lens at 800mm (35mm equivalent)
The Florida scrub jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) is one of the species of scrub jay native to North America. It is the only species of bird endemic to the U.S. state of Florida and one of only 15 species endemic to the continental United States. The Florida scrub-jay is the rarest of five species belonging to the genus Aphelocoma, which means ‘smooth-hair’ and refers to the absence of the head crest possessed by some of the more ubiquitous North American jays. The Florida scrub-jay has a co-operative lifestyle. Each Florida scrub-jay pair mates for life and builds a new nest each year between February and March.
G9 with the 200mm f/2.8. Exposure triad: f/5.6, 1/1250 sec at ISO 200 – lens at 800mm (35mm equivalent)
As there was a fair amount of hiking through the scrub I carried no tripod and hand-held the Panasonic Lumix G9 with the new Leica 200mm f/2.8 lens and the 2X teleconverter. This is an amazing combination with 6.5 stops of image stabilization the configuration was perfect for this excursion.
A sentinel Scrub Jay making an alarm call. Exposure triad: f/5.6, 1/640 sec at ISO 200 – lens at 800mm (35mm equivalent)
For this last image I used the pre burst feature to capture RAW files with the camera set to auto focus continuous. I selected this image for the truly awesome wing position as the jay too flight.
Pre-burst High Speed shooting. Exposure triad:f/5.6, 1/2000 sec at ISO 400 – lens at 800mm (35mm equivalent)
So impressed with the capability of the the Lumix G85 and Leica 100 – 400 mm combination. Here are a few images from Venice Rookery and Ding Darling NWR.
Great Egret with Nesting Material
Reddish Egret Hunting
Spoonbill Landing
A few more images from Ding Darling NWR. Wading birds in breeding plumage just look wonderful when they have their feathers ruffled.
Reddish Egret at Sunset – Lumix G85 with the Leica 100 – 400mm lens. Exposure triad: ISO 400; f/6.3; 1/250 sec.
Great Blue Heron – Lumix G85 with the Leica 100 – 400. Exposure triad: ISO 400, f/6.3; 1/1600 sec.
Roseate Spoonbill Preening. Exposure triad: ISO 400, f/6.3; 1/3200 sec.
Managed a little time at the Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island. The Reddish were very active but because of the water levels remained at a distance. These two images were captured using the Panasonic Lumix G85 and the Leica 100 – 400 mm lens. It is nice to have an 800 mm equivalence.
Reddish Egret Hunting – Lumix G85, Leica 100 – 400 mm at F/6.3; ISO 200; 1/1000 sec
Reddish Egret with Needle Fish – Lumix G85, Leica 100 – 400 mm at F/6.3; ISO 200; 1/1000 sec
On my visit to Ft. Myers I wanted to test the 4K Photo Mode capability of the Panasonic Lumix G85. The image shown was captured in 4K photo mode on March 14, 2017. The entire sequence was imported as a video file. I did not want to select and save a JPEG file in camera. Saving a JPEG is the suggested method for 4K Photos. The video frames were exported at individual TIFF files with a frame resolution of 3328 by 2496 pixels (an 8Mb file) this was processed in Capture One ver. 10 and exported as a JPEG for web display. The camera was mounted with the Leica 100 – 400 mm lens, hand-held using “Dual IS”. For reference purposes the scene’s exposure triad was ISO 800, f6.3, 1/250 sec.
DP review
