Category Archives: Wild nature equipment

You can’t have them all

Dear all,

In my first post I mentioned to have invested in some new material. Last week, I talked about the 7D upgrade for the 350D. In terms of glass, I wanted a good general purpose lens, both for wildlife landscape shooting, yet also for other purposes (such as indoor shooting in low light conditions, see last week’s post), which I found in the Tamron 17-50 f2.8, a good price-quality ratio lens, saving me some money for the larger toys: a canon L series 70-200 f2.8 IS USM and while waiting for the 200-400 f4 to come (delayed due to the earthquake in Japan), a 300 mm f4 L IS USM. On top of that, we were lucky to receive a 100mm Canon macro lens from Sietske’s parents for our wedding, allowing us to go wild in the garden ;-).

In choosing those, once again, the information provided through The Digital Picture has been of an incredible support.

The 70-200 f/2.8 has been chosen for its overall sharpness, its general wildlife usefullnes, I stuck to the I series for the sake of saving some money.

Canon 7D, Canon 70-200 mm f/4 L IS USM @ 153 mm, f/4.5, 1/160, ISO 100

I opted for the 300 mm f/4 prime, because the 400 mm lenses and the f/2.8 are way out of my budget. It’s my first prime lens and is quickly developing into my favorite toy for the time being, scarily sharp and stimulating my photography by being stuck to one focal length.

Canon 7D, Canon 300mm f/4 L IS USM, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 640

We opted for the 100 mm macro as a compromise between the shorter focal length macro lenses (too short to have some insect fun in the garden) and the too bulky larger focal length ones.

Canon 7D, Canon EF 100mm, f/2.8 macro, 1/125, f/3.2, ISO 125

Choosing them is one thing, purchasing them is another thing, especially when you happen to be based in Kenya. Myself, I have great experiences with Fotoapparatuur.

This being said, for the followers of this blog in Kenya looking for photographic equipment to buy or to rent, please feel free to contact me and I will let you know whether I can help out or not.

Enough about equipment, time to talk photography again, … more next week.

All the best,

Guy

Means to an end

Dear all,

Before getting to the actual topic of this post, I’d want to point out that you are free to react to posts and/or to interact via the contact us page, or by clicking ‘leave a reply’ at the bottom of each post. I am looking forward to your feedback, tips, …

Now, without wanting to move into a material debate, I do feel it fair to share with you some information on the material I’m using, why I opted for it and what assisted me in making that choice.

In my first post I mentioned to have made the decision to invest in some new material. My 350D, although still good, has delivered its services and I felt that it was time to look for a replacement.

At first, I started checking out the web to inform my decision. A site that has been instrumental in doing so, has been The Digital Picture (as you may have noticed, links mentioned in my posts are also taken up in the side-bar for easy reference at any time). I decided to go for a new body and second hand glass (more about the glass in my next post). As far as a body was concerned I wanted a considerable upgrade from the 350D and this without having an unlimited budget to spend. This very quickly limited my choice to the 60D and the 7D. Proper weather sealing and my prime interest being wildlife photography (and not filming, meaning I wouldn’t be using the moving screen too often), the verdict fell for the 7D, a choice I haven’t regretted till now.

I will put my 350D up for sale soon and look for a 2nd body to be used with a wide lens for shooting landscapes and wildlife in their general environment, currently I’m hesitating between a 50D or 5D Mark I. I’m sure both of them will do a good job, yet once again, tips/opinions are welcome.

As per why I’m shooting Canon, well I happened to start off with a Canon and being used to the controls, … I stuck to Canon, debate closed, the material we use is a means to an end, a tool that needs the right vision and skills to create nice images.

Meanwhile I’ve been doing some work on the first PicsfromtheWild guest blogger as well, more about that soon.

For now, I will leave you with 2 pictures, shot last WE, something different this time, pictures from the urban jungle. The first one shot during a theet brushing session at St Paul’s orphanage, just outside Nairobi, the second one from an urban culture festival in Nairobi (had my camera with me, so might as well play around a bit ;-))

Canon 350D, Tamron 17-50 f2.8 @ 50mm, 1/13, f/5.6, ISO 400

 

Warm regards,

Guy

Canon 350D, Tamron 17-50 f2.8 @ 17mm, 0.6s, f/2.8, ISO 1600