The featured photo for this post is a simple picture of a northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) that I made in South Texas, last month. I used an Olympus 300 f/4 IS Pro Lens on an Olympus OM-D E-M1 X camera body, mounted to a RC-5570 Tripod with Uniqball UBH 45XC Ball Head with X-Cross Clamp. Triggered with an Olympus RM-CB2 Release Cable.
Category Archive: Gear
If you’re looking for a well-designed, well-built, downright elegant solution to help you transport and find all your cables, memory cards, and other electronic/photographic doodads – the Peak Design Travel Tech Pouch is for you. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Olympus’ Pro Capture mode allows you to take pictures before you – take pictures. Pro Capture takes advantage of the camera’s electronic shutter. Once you half-press the shutter, the camera starts filling a buffer. When you finally press the shutter, a pre-determined number of images that occur BEFORE and AFTER the actual shutter press are recorded.
I am bombarded lately by pixel peepers quoting DxoMark numbers on this or that product. They tell me (proudly) that THIER lens scores better than mine or their pal’s or whatever.
The Uniqball UBH 45XC Ball Head with X-Cross Clamp is perhaps the most unusual ball head I have ever used. And I’ve used pretty much all of them.
I used to primarily rely on Canon or Nikon DSLRs for bird and wildlife photography but my health and my age have made both impractical. Thankfully, Micro Four Third (M43) cameras and lenses have improved over the last five years to the point where they have significantly closed the gap with many DSLRs. I now use M43 gear from Olympus as my only camera system.
What Photo Accessory Have I Owned The Longest? It may surprise you to find out that it is the Walkstool Comfort 65 XX-Large Folding Stool.
The Walkstool is the longest serving photo accessory I own. For decades, I have relied on the very same Walkstool – it stands the test of time. I own very few items that truly last, but this is one well-built product. You may benefit from adding one to your photo kit.
Olympus and I go way back. I got my first OM series film camera in the mid-1970s. While I started in 35mm with Nikon, I ended up using mostly Minolta and Olympus back in those days. I even carried my gear around in a silver Zero Halliburton camera case. (Those of you who are like me, on the wrong side of 60, will remember those cases fondly, I am sure.) Then, as it is now, the Olympus glass was both spectacular and reasonably affordable and the OM series had the first reliable in-camera light meter. It was a match-needle affair that I thought was the coolest thing ever. That pushed me into the Olympus gear for shooting motor sports.
The photos accompanying this post were all made from a photography blind. While not necessary for larger birds like eagles, herons, cranes, geese, etc., a photo blind is very much necessary for consistent work with smaller perching birds like warblers, sparrows, and songbirds.
