Sharing a personal moment with a killdeer.

Photography Comments Off
Jun 182009

Over the weekend I finally had my camera back in my hands and was ready to put it back to work. I wasn’t sure quite what to photograph yet, but I was determined. I decided to scout a location with my friend just in case spring wasn’t truly over. Low and behold we came right upon a killdeer nest. Almost quite literally! Thankfully not though. The nest was awfully close to the trail head and it worried us that it was too close for comfort.

Killdeer are a shorebird that feeds along the shore edge in search of any tasty insect or even a crustacean or berry it can find. The killdeer breeds from Alaska to South America. They summer north to British Columbia, Utah, the Ohio Valley and Massachusetts. Their winter range can be found in Central America and they also maintain a  year round range throughout the US in particularly coastal regions.

As soon as I saw the nest I was very excited. I’ve never photographed a killdeer nest before. Reading a little about popular locations for killdeer nests you often find how much they actually come in contact with humans. For example you can find them often in places such as lawns, golf courses, driveways, parking lots, and gravel-covered roofs, as well as pastures, fields, sandbars and mudflats. They don’t build any sort of complex nest with rocks, twigs, saliva, lawn clippings, shrubbery, shells, etc. They use a simple depression in the ground selected very carefully to avoid high tide. Hiding their nest amongst the dead reeds, algae, trash and other deceased sea life. Their choice of location is absolutely fundamental and crucial to the survival of the nest. You would think to yourself; how is some shallow depression in the sand amongst seashells and humans’ crap going to protect their future offspring? I can tell you it sure as heck does. So well in fact you could be standing right next to it!

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Can you find him? and this isn’t shot with as wide an angle that our eyes would be looking.

When I returned the next day with my tripod, D300 w/ Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro, and wireless remote it took me over 30min to find the nest! Throughout the day even using surrounding natural markers to remember the nest location was difficult. It really is impressive witnessing natures camouflage in action.

Once I located the nest I slowy and carefully approached the nest. Set up my gear as quickly as possible and went at least 30-40ft away. Using my binoculars and my wireless remote I was able to get my photographs without disturbing their nesting behavior. This type of photography is a huge game of patience. Be prepared to sit for hours on end. In case of killdeer they swap places for incubation periods. So the other mate is normally around to keep an eye out and lure predators away. A signal you may be close (know your settings going into the scenario so you can be in and out of their quick.)

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To give you an idea of how often they swap places during the 24-26 day incubation period I jotted down the times on this this day of monitoring that they switched places:

  • I arrive at 6am
  • 6:23am swap
  • 6:30am jumps off nest calling for mate
  • 6:32am returns to nest
  • 7:40am swap
  • 8:16am swap
  • 8:39am swap
  • 9:00am swap
  • 9:44am swap
  • 10:31am swap
  • 11:01am swap

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My first day was a tough one. Word of advice; bring anything and everything you need. From a book and notepad to an umbrella and foldable chair. As you can see at dawn the weather was awful. Downpours and wind. no fun at all. We push through it all to get what we need.

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Checking on his/her eggs. There were a clutch of three eggs. More commonly you find a clutch (a clutch is a group of eggs) of four.

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Stepping up and outward making sure no one will get close to her future generation.

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I wanted to leave you with this last one to help spread the word about what we all too often don’t see. Not only does it make our photography difficult, but more importantly it interferes and even leads to the death of many birds and aquatic animals. As you can tell from this picture; what I am talking about is trash. So please when disposing of your items recycle the recyclables and properly put your refuse in the proper receptacle.

To be continued…

Posted by Jarred at 12:47 am Tagged with: , , , ,

Update on the Phottix Plato N8 for Startrails.

Reviews, Updates 4 Responses »
May 292009

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I mentioned in the previous review that I found a solution using the Phottix Plato N8 remote for startrails. I finally had the chance when I traveled two hours north into New York from New York City. The photo you see above is the result of what the batteries in the remote would hold out too. I got off about 115 images at 30second intervals. Compiled them using startrails (for free) and wallah. It was not as long as I wanted, but based on a rough estimate fresh batteries would have gone much longer. I originally tested the remote with this process to see if it could get past the Nikon ~100 image limit in one release previously. I fired off at least 200+ images testing Nikon’s single release factor plus all the testing photos with it. I’d estimate it to be able to shoot at least 300+ images which wouldn’t be too shabby. Next time I will test over a longer period of time.

Okay, so as for what I was talking about with gaps. Here is a photo that I took in Baja California Mexico using the MC-36 interval timer wired remote which has a minimum of 1 second gaps. Zoomed out you can’t tell what I mean by the gaps it causes. Keep in mind the larger gaps are a few images I had to pull from the sequence due to a random unrepeatable digital camera anomaly (drives me nuts I can’t repeat it to get it repaired, but happy it doesn’t seem to occur often.)

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This is a 100% crop. What I mean by this is I zoomed in at 100% and then cropped out what I saw. See all those tiny little dash lines? I feel if you blow up a nice star trail this could be an issue (click image for full size.)

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Here is the photo taken from the New York scene at the beginning of this post. The lines are much more crisp and solid. Something I personally prefer. The sky isn’t as dark as a lonely Baja California isle, but it sure is enough to make a point. This is also  a 100% crop (click image for full size.)

This is just one more plus about the remote. Battery life will have to be something I will need to officially time, but I’ll be honest. I don’t want to stay up to 3-4 in the morning waiting for batteries to die :-p. I will probably just use the timer on my photos and check it beginning to end of the last frame taken. Leaving me with a margin of error of thirty seconds to a minute.

One other thing I wanted to address about the remote was based on a comment I received on my review of the unit. Due to the unit having the convenience of sliding into the hot shoe it will also block the pop up flash from fully rising. I wanted to note that you could let the transmitter hang over the lens barrel, just plain hang down, hold it to your tripod using a rubber band or even double stick velco tape. I wouldn’t let it dangle too unsupported as it may stress the headphone port. Not sure how well reinforced it is and it could deteriorate over time.

UPDATE: Check out Flipping Typical for a non software based font solution. Link was provided from Thomas Goodwin. Thanks!

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Last but not least I found a neat program I wanted to share. it is for those of us who want to find fonts for projects or in any other scenario. It is freeware and is designed to show you exactly all the fonts that are on your computer.  The program is called Free&Easy Font Viewer 2.0. You can get it at www.download.com and give it a try. It has helped me in a bind when working on a few projects of my own. There is an advanced version, but the freeware version does all that I need.

Posted by Jarred at 8:39 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

Phottix Plato N8 Review D200/D300/D700/D3x…

Reviews 3 Responses »
May 222009

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Inspired by Moose for photographing birds during nesting season I went in search of a solution. A solution to keep me over 10 feet away from my subject and still be able to trigger my camera. I have a Nikon D300 so this particular device might not work on every camera in the world, but by use of its interchangeable cable design it does for most. From Canon, to Nikon and Sony…etc.

My frustrations with finding a device began when I heard the price of Nikon’s 9.8 foot extension cord (something against an even 10 feet?) According to B&H Photo it’s 80$! There is no way in hell I’m paying 80$ for copper wire and a cable that may contain lead in the state of California. To be fair if you check B&H’s summer catalog it lists for 70$… (get a price quote from them if you really want to go that route) WOW what a bargain! Sarcasm aside I sought out a different solution. I did what most people in the 21st century do, search Google for other products. I found a few remotes, but they are old technology and still not within my price range. Taking the next logical step when no company in the US of A makes a product you want; I searched eBay.

Searching eBay I came across a few decent looking and well received products. Unfortunately a lot of them use CR 123 batteries; both expensive and impracticable. Finally after searching I found the Phottix Plato N8. It takes AAA batteries (convenience and I only use rechargeables which are better for the environment as well as recyclable) and looked light weight with simple operation. There are plenty of videos and at least one other review out there. What I wanted to do was add more views and a description of the product through use and application. All the snapshots I took will be in a gallery for all the angles I could thinking of taking a picture for.

When the unit arrived it came in a presentable package with an insert and a pamphlet of instructions (see gallery.) Everything was spelled out on the pamphlet on how to use the device. There is also an instructional video out there that explains its function in video form for those that prefer to not deal with written text :-p. The construction of the device appears to be well built. I dropped the main transmitter unit by accident and it fell flat and continues to work. The battery cover to both devices could be an issue for some. The covers are not attached and must be handled carefully as without them you can’t complete the circuit. They slide in and stay in just fine.

Experimenting with the device lead me to an issue that I later solved. I almost always have my D300 in continuous high mode. The trick was that 9 out of 10 times when you choose single shutter release and hit the button it fires off two frames. I am not to sure why it’s doing this, but a quick remedy is to just put it in regular shutter release mode on the camera body if you want to prevent this. Say if you have limited shooting capacity  or you don’t want too many duplicates. The remote works just like a shutter release cable. You can half press the button on the wireless remote allowing auto-focus operation. If you don’t want it to auto-focus every time just put the camera in manual auto-focus and pre-focus where you want. A huge factor for me is also the dual communication. What’s the point of walking 100+ feet (goes amazingly further, more on that in a moment) if you don’t know the camera is taking photographs?! The top of the remote will have two green lights that stay lit when half pressing to let you know it’s within range.

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Speaking of range; I wanted to test how far away it truly can fire that shutter. The unscientific way of testing was setting her up on a tripod and taking a walk. I had Dina stand by for confirmation and security of the gear. I set the Camera on a tripod with my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 and set the zoom to 35mm. When multiplied by a 1.5x crop factor it works out to almost 50mm. An angle of view equal to our own eyesight. I used my shoe counting off paces toe to heel tip. I was able to walk in front of the camera with the unit facing forward and get the camera to fire with little problem at 800 paces or unscientifically around 800ft! This sucker is only rated for 320ft. I couldn’t point the device right at it, I had to arch my shot just a tad to get a good shot from ~800ft.) These are in wide open scenarios with little to no RF interference. So results I’m sure will vary. To be fair I wanted to test the device facing the other way. Since normally we will be photographing in the direction behind the camera and not in front of it.

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Walking with the device turned around and the device facing in the opposite direction (fits in the hot shoe both ways) I was able to get to about 500 paces or approximately 500ft being able to get a shot off. In my tests these were near maximums. I had to do some fiddling of the remote direction to get it to shoot 500ft or so and in the other direction of 800ft it was shooting quite well. This device goes more then the 320ft stated and I would stay in that range to make sure that you get constant shooting without worry.

Keep in mind this remote has dual functionality as it can plug right into the attaching cable and can be used as a wired remote; however you do need batteries in the remote to work. Battery life appears to be quite good as I have run some tests and it is as fast as hitting a wired remote release. It also has a 2second timer mode that counts out 2 seconds on the remote (not the camera), a continuous shutter mode where it pumps out five shots in succession, and a bulb mode that operates just like locking the shutter release in. You will have to put your camera in continuous high, continuous low, or bulb in shutter priority to take advantage of this. In a single shutter release mode on your camera it will not keep sending the signal for repetitious shooting.

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(Pardon the ugly plastic. It comes pre-applied for protection. Has a glossy front that loves finger prints. Not really a concern though.)

Curious about all these modes I sought a solution for star trails! Star trails involves taking a series of images on a locked down tripod of the night sky over a period of time. Then compiling them on your PC. I have purchased the MC-36 remote and I detest its price and remedial superiority to the interval timer in camera. What I decided to do (after finding bulb mode on the remote didn’t work) I tried the continuous mode on the remote. I took a piece of rubber I had laying around and strapped it to the remote release on the wireless remote using a rubber band. Wallah! I had continuous shooting that did not stop after 100 continuous releases! Nikon puts a limit (somewhere around 100 shutter releases depending on which camera you have) on how many shots can be taken with one held press of the shutter; even with a remote cable (or in this case wireless) release. Why I have never gotten an answer. Why a professional grade camera can’t fire 100+ images in one session is beyond me. Especially when the CF card, buffer and 30″ or so exposure would allow for it. Please note I locked down the wireless remote in that 5 pulse continuous mode. For reasons why see here. Your only limitation of course is battery life. Living in NYC I can’t actively test its battery life, but it held up way past 100 shots so I am very happy. Will save me a ton on some big expensive remotes that are available. I checked the time stamp on my images and it fired off two seconds back to back and occasionally with a one second gap. A one second gap came standard with the MC-36 so to me it is a fine trade off.

All in all it appears to be the best product on the market. The dealer however makes me very upset. I had an on going dispute with them as it took a century to ship. I wanted this for spring and as spring was waning it came. It took them a week at least for the item for ship. That is because I inquired about what different cables would cost so I could use the device with different cameras. With that request they held my unit up for shipment. I never asked them to do so and it even said they do not combine shipping on their auction page. So what’s the deal?! It took three weeks to find out when it would ship or if it even had. Not until I said I won’t buy a cable until I know the unit even shipped did they tell me the status. 1.5 months later I got my item! Obviously my situation may have been a rarer case, but none the less I thought I should share ( and per encouragement of my friend and great photographer Thomas Goodwin.) The business is called HKSUPPLIES and the user is etefore. It’s a hard deal to pass up at 45$. Just don’t ask about extra cables until after you get your item to prevent a hold up. By the way the cables cost around 9$ in case you are curious. That took a while too, heh.

Pros -

  • Convenient AAA Batteries.
  • Compact & Light.
  • 300ft+ range in unobstructed space.
  • Two way communication to know if the device is still able to trigger the camera.
  • Wireless and attached modes.
  • Halfway depressing button allowing activation of auto-focus and vibration reduction from afar.
  • Interchangeable camera-to-unit cables purchasable via contact with Hong Kong supplier eBay account for ~9$.
  • Low price point of 45$ plus free regular shipping.
  • Came with four free AAA batteries, Toshiba. (Get rechargeables, Maha Imedion brand come pre-charged, can be charged over 500 times and hold 85% of their charge up to a year!)
  • Multi-Directional; not limited like an infrared beam would be.
  • Sturdy Build
  • Multi-function operation (2sec timer, single shutter release, continuous 5-burst mode, bulb)
  • Main wireless unit mounts in hot-shoe.
  • Built in security to prevent interference or cross triggering. They come pre-configured, but you can re-sync yourself.
  • Able to shoot star trails with solid lines and not dash lines (see more here.)

Cons -

  • Made in China (nothing better else where though)
  • Long shipping period so plan ahead. Anywhere from 1-3weeks. Aim longer then shorter.
  • Low re-sale
  • Out of country support (They definitely try to help and be attentive, but be very clear as to what you want and keep it simple!)
  • When connecting the remote directly to the camera via the cable it still requires batteries.
  • Battery covers are not attached, so be careful!
  • Top of remote loves fingerprints.

Update 3/19/2010: I have had a mixed experience with their customer service. Make sure to be clear, well documented, and precise with your complaints/concerns/exchanges/returns. I had a major issue with the 10-pin connector wire. I contacted them a total of 4x before getting a response out of them. Very upsetting. The problem with the cable was it just wouldn’t work unless it was hanging out of the socket. My other 10-pin devices were flawless so I knew the cable was the problem. I finally got my replacement cable. However they never told me when it was sent. So unfortunately this is discouraging to deal with them, they however offer the best/most convenient product on the market it seems. They also seem to have replaced the cable with a coiled spring like cable. Maybe they knew of the issues? Either way I thought I would share. All the best.

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Posted by Jarred at 2:44 am Tagged with: , , , , , ,
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