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Permajet Course

I am doing a wildlife photography workshop for Permajet on August 13th 2011 in Stratford-Upon_Avon. 10:0 to 16:00 hours. Cost £75.

The details:

Digital has revolutionised wildlife photography. Photographers are now able to take pictures that were once impossible in the days of film. This course by wildlife photographer Mike Lane, FRPS looks at the equipment available today and the settings that are appropriate for the budding wildlife photographer. We will discuss cameras, lenses, convertors, tripods, flash, bag choice and accessories. The main premise of the course is to “keep it simple”. Once set, very few settings ever need to be changed again. The less you change modes the better. It is expected that those attending the course already have a basic understanding of shutter speeds and apertures etc. but would like to know which settings are the most appropriate for wildlife subjects. The most challenging part of wildlife photography is finding and getting close to the subject. We will demonstrate hides and their use, techniques for getting within range of our birds and mammals and other specialist equipment you may need. We will also look at digital workflow, covering downloading, editing and storage of large numbers of wildlife pictures that you will tend to take. If you want to know how to go about selling your pictures we will briefly discuss the business of wildlife photography and how to make a living from it – but don’t give up the day job just yet! An absolutely essential course if you want to photograph birds and mammals at home or on safari in Africa.

 
 
 

Seagull Right Angled Finder.

For someone who spends as much time as I do lying on the floor photographing it is surprising I do not own a right angled finder. I have done in the past, but not for a digital camera so far. I do have the Zig View device which is good, but not quite the same thing. http://www.zigview.co.uk/

I have now put this right, but gone for the cheaper Seagull finder rather than the Canon one. http://www.camerachina.com/productxx.asp?id=1472

It comes in a handy little pouch and numerous adaptors for many different cameras. There are two for Canon cameras, 18mm and 22mm. The larger of which fits my 1d mk1v. Importantly there is a prism so the image is the right way around, which was not the case with some of the early ones I owned in my Olympus days and trying to follow a moving subject when the image was back to front was near impossible.

The image is also very clear. It can magnify the image to 2.5x,  but I can’t imagine  I will ever want to do that. There is a built in dioptric correction ring. I bought it off Ebay for £27 including postage from China, which is a bargain. A Canon one would be closer to £200. I have not used it yet, but it looks well built and I expect it will get used a lot.

 
 
 

Hahnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control

I have never been that keen on remote control photography. It is often portrayed as the simple solution to a lot of wildlife photography problems, but the issues it creates and the high failure rate put me off. I prefer to suffer long hours in a hide and be hands on with the camera when my subject finally arrives.

However my latest gadget, The Hahnel Inspire Wireless LiveView Remote Control, might just change my mind. I was inspired to buy it when my 30 year old radio remote control gave up the ghost. It was always a bit quirky and unreliable, but when it worked would do so from half a mile away. It was also rather large and heavy by todays standards.

The Hahnel on the other hand is small and lightweight and so far mine is completely reliable. Its great advantage is that if your Canon or Nikon camera has the LiveView facility then the image you are taking can be viewed on the built-in, 3.5” colour LCD of the hand-held transmitter. And it does this wirelessly.

Now that is a great advantage. What really impressed me was how easily it worked first time. I like gadgets and modern technology. I spent half a day setting up my Blackberry mobile phone when I got one and enjoyed the challenge of getting all those wonderful features working. With the Hahnel there was no challenge. I just plugged the receiver into my Canon EOS 1d Mk1v, switched it on and there was the image I was taking on the transmitter device as clear as day with no wires connecting the two.

Hahnel claim it works up to 60 metres away, but I have not managed that. About  40 metres seems to be the limit that the Wireless signal between the transmitter and receiver can manage. That is an issue. I would prefer to be able to work from 100 metres at times, but it is so useful to be able to view the actual image at any reasonable distance that I am still excited about it.

The image on the LCD is very clear and sharp and in colour. It is possible to play back images you have taken remotely from the transmitter, but I have had no desire to do so. Also the transmitter will control up to 4 receivers on 4 different camera if you buy additional ones. That might be useful one day.

Both the transmitter and receiver run off AA batteries and in my first few test runs it has got through the rechargeables I am using rather fast. This could be because the batteries are past their best. Even so it runs for a couple of hours on one charge at least.

The same device also comes with a cable that will operate my Canon G11 compact camera and this is my camera of choice for this sort of photography. There is no SLR mirror to create any noise and the shutter is all but silent. For wide angled photography of birds with the camera just inches from the subject it is perfect. The small size of a compact makes it much easier hide too.

The G11 does not have LiveView, but the Hahnel receiver has a built in CMOS camera lens so place this next to the G11 or put on the hotshoe pointing at the subject and you still get to see the image you are taking on the transmitters LCD screen. Wonderful.

 
 
 
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