The Rat's Nest

[NARSES2]

Flippin' heck Ratty, I hope all these wild birds appreciate how far you'll go to get a good shot of them 

Nice to have a passion and be able to indulge it 

[The Rat]

Flippin' heck Ratty, I hope all these wild birds appreciate how far you'll go to get a good shot of them 

Nice to have a passion and be able to indulge it 

This was taken with the same camera I destroyed, while in the same canoe that I flipped. Common loon, Gavia immer Over there I believe you call them the great northern diver.

[NARSES2]

This was taken with the same camera I destroyed, while in the same canoe that I flipped. Common loon, Gavia immer Over there I believe you call them the great northern diver.

I'd probably call it a duck   

No, seriously it's a great photo and I do like wildlife photos of all kinds    They had a lot of the photos that are up for "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" on the BBC Breakfast show the other day. Some amazing stuff 

[The Rat]

Not sure how long these will stay up before facebook decides that it won't host them any longer. Results of a test of my new camera system, nothing fancy. These are crops from much larger images, but the detail still holds up fairly well. The ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis, was auto-adjusted for colour using Irfanview, the wood duck, Aix sponsa, was just lightened a bit. The duck was way off in the distance, that explains why it isn't as clear as the gull, and my settings could have been better, live and learn!    So far, I am VERY pleased with this lens, and I'm gradually learning my way around the camera body.

[NARSES2]

Great shots, especially the gull 

[zenrat]

 

[The Rat]

More practise. The eye detection on this is great, it even picked up the dragonfly eye. All these are cropped from larger photos, and the detail still holds up.

[Captain Canada]

That's some nice kit ! Great shots Ratty. Now you need to hit an airshow lol

[NARSES2]

Great shots Ratty   

They would make great screen savers 

[zenrat]

They are all good.  But that dragon fly - wow.   

[The Rat]

They are all good.  But that dragon fly - wow.   

Thanks! Minimum focus distance when the lens is at 500mm is a little over 3 metres, and I was fairly close to that limit. But I still had to crop is a bit, so to see the detail hold up is very satisfying. 45 megapixels is a nice thing to have. My Samsung S24 phone will do 50mp, but a phone doesn't have anywhere near the versatility of a proper camera.

[PR19_Kit]

....... but a phone doesn't have anywhere near the versatility of a proper camera.

And SO many people don't get that when I'm taking pics with my big Pentax SLR.

I get them saying things like 'Oh, I don't use my camera any more, it's MUCH easier to take them with my phone' and they flash some latest tech mobile at me with a condescending look! 

[Rheged]

....... but a phone doesn't have anywhere near the versatility of a proper camera.

And SO many people don't get that when I'm taking pics with my big Pentax SLR.

I get them saying things like 'Oh, I don't use my camera any more, it's MUCH easier to take them with my phone' and they flash some latest tech mobile at me with a condescending look! 

I'll stick with my tatty old Nikon F1 and film for important photos.  Phones may do several jobs reasonably, but a camera does one job superbly

[Rick Lowe]

Phones may do several jobs reasonably, but a camera does one job superbly

As said. 
The right tool for the job, and one that does only what it's supposed to, and does it better than a "JOAT - MON"

[NARSES2]

My relatively new phone takes decent photos, but for anything important I use my trusty Nikon, mainly because it's so much more stable in my "wobbly" hands with it being quite heavy compared to the phone. Having said that my current phone is nowhere as prone to the problem as my old one. Shutter speed I suppose ?