Breeding Birds of South Florida

[Second Hand Pat]

I did another workshop in South Florida this past four days which was targeted at learning the capabilities of my mirror-less camera but then of course you have to practice Here are some results I hope you enjoy!!
Pat

This great white egret was doing it's best to attach a mate.

Displaying Egret Hoping to Attach a Mate by Pat Husband, on Flickr

Fly by of a Black Crowned Night Heron

Black Crown Night Heron by Pat Husband, on Flickr

White Ibis in Breeding Color

White Ibis in Breeding Color by Pat Husband, on Flickr

[brady]

Pat
Really pro pictures. We spend some time each Jan.-Feb on Anna Marie Is. Some shore birds but not a lot.
Some egrets occasionally around property and some herons and a stork or two at a wildlife preserve in Bradenton.
So you are very lucky.
What is the advantage of a mirror less camera? Now I have a nikon d80 and while it's very good maybe I would
switch to mirror less.
Jay

[LizStreithorst]

I have the same question Jay, except that I don't even know what a mirror lens camera is?

[dagray]

Pat
Really pro pictures. We spend some time each Jan.-Feb on Anna Marie Is. Some shore birds but not a lot.
Some egrets occasionally around property and some herons and a stork or two at a wildlife preserve in Bradenton.
So you are very lucky.
What is the advantage of a mirror less camera? Now I have a nikon d80 and while it's very good maybe I would
switch to mirror less.
Jay

The advantage of a mirror lens is a shorter, lighter lens that gives you the focal length of the aspherical lens. The disadvantage to a mirror lens is they are sometimes slower (f8 is what my Sigma 600 manual focus mirror lens is).

Being shorter and lighter it is easier to handhold without image blur due to your shaking.

Cost is also a factor as mirror lenses tend to be less expensive.

Pat can correct me if I am wrong

Great photos Pat

[brady]

What is an aspherical lens? I have several Nikon lenes, 50 , 125 -250 and a 125- 400. How do I know if there aspherical?
Jay

[dagray]

What is an aspherical lens? I have several Nikon lenes, 50 , 125 -250 and a 125- 400. How do I know if there aspherical?
Jay

An aspheric lens or asphere (often labeled ASPH on eye pieces) is a lens whose surface profiles are not portions of a sphere or cylinder. In photography, a lens assembly that includes an aspheric element is often called an aspherical lens.

The asphere's more complex surface profile can reduce or eliminate spherical aberration and also reduce other optical aberrations such as astigmatism, compared to a simple lens. A single aspheric lens can often replace a much more complex multi-lens system. The resulting device is smaller and lighter, and sometimes cheaper than the multi-lens design.[1] Aspheric elements are used in the design of multi-element wide-angle and fast normal lenses to reduce aberrations. They are also used in combination with reflective elements (catadioptric systems) such as the aspherical Schmidt corrector plate used in the Schmidt cameras and the Schmidt–Cassegrain telescopes. Small molded aspheres are often used for collimating diode lasers.

Aspheric lenses are also sometimes used for eyeglasses. Aspheric eyeglass lenses allow for crisper vision than standard "best form" lenses, mostly when looking in other directions than the lens optical center. Moreover, the reduction of the magnification effect of a lens may help with prescriptions that have different powers in the 2 eyes (anisometropia). Not related to the optical quality, they may give a thinner lens, and also distort the viewer's eyes less as seen by other people, producing better aesthetic appearance.[2]

Many of your lenses (not zoom lenses) are aspherical lenses, and many are multi lens (many lenses in the lens itself) lenses.

Article describing a mirror lens (aka pocket telescope) https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora...are-affordable

My 600mm mirror lens was a few hundred dollars used, my 500mm autofocus prime lens was 3000.00 used. But the image quality is way better with the more expensive faster (lets in more light) lens.

[brewmaster15]

Dave, I think we have a miscommunication here... Mirror lens make use of mirrors as you mentioned.. See here for an example . You are correct in everything you posted on the mirror lens. They are cheap alternatives for good glass.

But I believe Jay is interested the differences between a DSLR ( his nikon d80) and the new digital MIRRORLESS digital cameras like the nikon z9 . Pats got both types so she would be better than I to explain it here. All of my cameras both Pentax and Nikon are DSLR.They basically use a mirror and prism viewfinder in the classic fashion used during the film days to allow you to see the image thats coming through your lens. Mirrorless cameras do not use this optical viewfinder. Its digital. The main difference between DSLR and mirrorless cameras is this optical viewfinder. Most camera brands.. nikon , canon etc have moved away from dslrs and their optical view finder (OVF) in favor of a digital camera with an Electronic View Finder(EVF) ..Pentax has dug its heals in and will probably be the only mainstream mfg offering the classic OVF viewfinder soon, which is for me a good thing, as I like using the optical viewfinder.

hth,
al

PS.. Beautiful Images Pat!

[brewmaster15]

What is an aspherical lens? I have several Nikon lenes, 50 , 125 -250 and a 125- 400. How do I know if there aspherical?
Jay

Jay, if you don't switch to mirrorless, I would suggest looking at the Nikon d7500 dslr. There has been a world of improvement since the D80 came out. d7500 is an all around excellent upgrade option if you stay with the Nikon Dslr line. And if you want to save money and don't mind used...


you can get a D200 nikon body for about $125 that will take beautiful images.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130140...57717978590846

or a used d300 for about $150
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130140...57717807477198

or a D7200 for about $500 used..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130140...57718245513597

all of these would be huge improvements over your d80

hth,
al

[Second Hand Pat]

Thank you Jay, Dave and Al

Since Al covered the differences between the DSLRs and the Mirror-less Cameras (Thank you Al) I have nothing to add. I know nothing about lens with mirrors (I didn't even know there was such a thing)

Also used Nikon D500 (crop body) is a great camera and only is available used.

I will tell you what I like about the mirror-less cameras. First I am a manual shooter where I change the camera settings (DLSR) based on the meter to suit the scene. With mirror-less cameras you can see the exposure while looking thru the viewfinder (optical viewfinder.). For me that was a game changer Now Nikon is a late comer to the mirror-less world and one thing I see lots of mirror-less camera owner do is bring lots of batteries for their mirror-less cameras. Apparently some mirror-less camera eat batteries (maybe based on usage etc ) so I resisted even looking at mirror-less cameras for a long time.

So rolling forward my husband asked me (for the third year lol) when I was switching to a mirror-less camera. So I did some research and decided to stay with Nikon for personal reasons BUT Nikon was still catching up with other mirror-less camera makers. Plus I wasn't going to switch until the a mirror-less camera was better then the Nikon D500/D850 I used. Then the Nikon Z9 happened and all heck broke lose.

[Second Hand Pat]

Beside taking frame filling bird images I also like to show the bird in it's environment like these....

See if you can find the little green heron

Little Green Heron by Pat Husband, on Flickr

Tri-colored Heron

Getting Ready for Early Morning Fishing by Pat Husband, on Flickr

Drying time.

Drying Time by Pat Husband, on Flickr

[dagray]

Makes perfect sense... a mirrorless body vs traditional DSLR.... Got it.


and Pat those are wonderful images.

[jeep]

That first one looks pretty proud of itself. Very nice!

[LizStreithorst]

I'm still waiting for more pics, Pat.

[brewmaster15]

I'm still waiting for more pics, Pat.

Slave driver!

Poor Pats probably still running on empty from her trip. It does take a bit of time to post process though so you need to give her more time Liz... at least give her a few more ....hours. No rush Pat.. we are waiting.

[Second Hand Pat]

Liz and Al, I am still running on fumes even thru I had a good nap today. More later I promise BUT I will leave this with Al. I think this little guy is a Snowy Egret x Little Blue Heron (hybrid). Same bird in both photos. Off to bed Good night all.
Pat

Snowy Egret x Little Blue Heron (hybrid) by Pat Husband, on Flickr

Snowy Egret x Little Blue Heron (hybrid) by Pat Husband, on Flickr