Well,I did go down to Red Rock this morning. Awesome! I
counted 72 eagles from one spot. From another vantage point I
counted another 20. The 72 eagles were all within 3-400 meters
of me. I gave the 600/6.5 a serious workout. Learned that
tracking eagles requires a slightly different focusing mechanism
than the rack/pinion method that the Zuiko 600/6.5 has. The
balance point of the lens meant that panning shots required a
lot of walking behind the camera. Still, once in a while when I
was able to actually locate a bird in the viewfinder it would
eventually make it's way to a frame-filling shot. I have no
great illusions of getting many sharp pictures. Film was too
slow. Best method of tracking these birds is to locate one way
down the river and just follow-focus him/her in. When they are
buzzing past you there is no way you can get em with a 600mm.
Dropped off the reprint order while I was in Pella. 600
wallets. Yikes! Anyway, the 100/2.8 continues to yield more
sales than any other of my lenses. One picture was taken with
the 24/2.8, another with the IS-3, but the rest were all 100/2.8
and 135/3.5 shots. I wouldn't argue with results.
In Des Moines I had to pick up some darkroom supplies and
enlarger bulbs. Almost picked up a mini-softbox for on-camera
flash. I'll see if I can make one or a reflector before
spending $32 on one. Sorry, the Vivitar Series 1 is sold. They
had just one well-worn OM-1.
While there, and boy was it busy today, I got to talk with
several pros. One is a forensics guy and shoots with a Nikon
F5. He was looking for a camera strap and I steered him towards
the Tamrac stretchy types. He wondered about longevity and I
told him that my 12 year old ones still look like new. Anyway,
he likes his F5 for every reason, but hates the size and weight.
In describing his style of shooting (lots of one-handed,
unframed shots), (instead of composed pictures, would that be
decomposed pictures?), I agree that the F5 or EOS-1 is the very
best possible choice for him. The OMs wouldn't work quite as
well.
Then up by the counter some guy had brought in his D30 because
it was no longer working. Hmmm. About 1/3 of his shots just
wouldn't take. He also groused about battery life...
Another pro was saying how he got one of these newfangled
storage units that let him take almost 1200 pictures before
filling up. I know this guy and am familiar with his work. He
shoots so many shots that he is bound to get a decent, sellable
shot once in a while. Law of averages. In his case, digital is
a perfect solution for his ineptness as a photographer.
I looked at the digital cameras but found myself thinking how
glad I am that I'm not in the market right now. More on that
next--
AG-Schnozz
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