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I Went To Taronga Zoo Again Today


tdierikx
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I have a Canon 60D with a Tamron 18-270mm lens... although I'm also thinking of getting a 100-400mm lens - just to get that bit closer... *grin*

Any recommendations for a lens in the 100-400mm range? The Sigma's seem to be fairly cheap compared to the other brands... would there be any specific reason for that?

T.

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Fantastic, love them all especially the first ones.

What are you using for your editing and are you shooting in raw?

If its a toss up between the 50-500 and the 100-400 I've seen photos from both and the Canon wins every time.

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Just stunning, your photos have made my day especially the very first photo of the koala and the komoda dragons. I have a real fascination for komodo dragons.

I had lots of camera questions but they seem to have already been asked, especially do you shoot in raw and do you alter the photos? I have a very expensive camera and lens but never get shots anywhere near as good as these, :(

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All of the photos here have been shot on a Canon 60D with a Tamron 18-270mm lens. All shot in JPG and no editing apart from resizing and minor sharpening in Easy Thumbnails (does batch resizing very nicely). No individual attention has been paid to any of the pics here - they are essentially straight out of the camera. No cropping either - what you see is what the camera gave me.

I have the camera on the Sports setting and basically just line up and let it focus, then just hold the button down so it takes multiple shots - almost guaranteed to get some good ones that way... *grin* - I've also worked plenty on panning with the action, so that if the target is moving I can capture it in decent focus still. Good lighting helps, and getting a position where you don't get glare or slimy fingersmears on the glass helps a LOT! Sometimes patience pays too - wait until you can get the position you need to get the shots you want.

I took around 1200 pics on Saturday, and 1400 on Sunday - deleted around 300 completely crap ones from Saturday, and 500 from Sunday - leaving me with around 900 decent pics for each day... then I picked the ones I like the best to post here. As you will note, only 20-odd posted from each day... I only picked the best ones, and a couple that were not as good, but showed something interesting - like the koala jumping, and the turtles playing piggyback. Not much can be done about the fuzziness of the koala pic, but I've since fiddled around with the turtles one in DPP and reckon I could have made that better before posting by adjusting the brightness and contrast.

I liked the Lion pics from the Saturday better than the Sunday ones - better position, and the Lions were more curious and coming up to the glass more. I got much better Tiger pics on Sunday though, and more of them too. The Giraffes were more interesting on Sunday, as were the Chimps - and as for the male Gorilla... what I wouldn't have done for a longer lens to get some close-ups of his eyes... he was telling a story there...

I think I'll be going for the Canon 100-400mm lens after reading some reviews and seeing some photos shot with it on the same camera as mine... can't wait to get it and get back to the zoo... I have bought myself a Zoo Friends pass so I can now go as often as I like... *grin*

T.

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Thank you for all the camera and shooting information, I first tried a cannon on trial then a Pantax. A friend had a Sony at the time and talked me into going down that path which I regret now. I now have a Sony A850 full frame camera with a Carl Zeiss 24-70 lens and I am never really happy with the shots I take. It doesn't have all the different modes and even thou I have done a few courses I am never quite sure what settings to put it on. eg Aperture or S,P .

Its true an expensive camera doesn't make a great photographer. :cry:

Edited by mish13
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Mish, you should be able to take rocking shots with that combo. Snook recommended a great book called understanding exposure, to shoot on full manual you need to understand the exposure triangle and once you do it will all become clear, it's easy when you know how. You camera probly has a light meter read up on how to use that and understand what hyperfocal distance is and you will be set. Good luck.

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Mish, you should be able to take rocking shots with that combo. Snook recommended a great book called understanding exposure, to shoot on full manual you need to understand the exposure triangle and once you do it will all become clear, it's easy when you know how. You camera probly has a light meter read up on how to use that and understand what hyperfocal distance is and you will be set. Good luck.

I have done about three courses and they have shown us the exposure triangle but I just cant look at a situation and go ok this is the setting I need. Its either auto, shutter 1/60th or aperture of around 8. The I just get what comes out. Have no idea what hyperfocal distance is, will need to get the book out again. I just get frustrated and put the camera away because the photos are just blah blah blah

Have just watched a few videos on what hyper focal distance is and I just get lost when they throw in all the measurements, never was good at maths.

Thanks for your help

Mish, I just had a thought, could you start a thread with a few photos your not happy with I'm sure other would be happy to help you nut it out.

I think I would be to embarrassed to do that?

Edited by mish13
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Mish, I just had a thought, could you start a thread with a few photos your not happy with I'm sure other would be happy to help you nut it out.

I think I would be to embarrassed to do that?

Hi Mish - I am new to photography and I think it would be a great help not just to you but to me (and other beginners) cause we could see the result and have people comment on why it did such-n-such and how to fix it.

I dont think anyone here would be cruel in comments and i think that the feedback would be helpful. There are some awesome photographers on DOL and i have learnt alot from reading through the "photo challenges" threads as there is some great feedback on the photos in there.

I think that others that have questions and wanting to know why things aren't working as they expect will contribute and add their photos too.

Guess I am just saying that there is no need to be embarrassed :)

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Mish, I just had a thought, could you start a thread with a few photos your not happy with I'm sure other would be happy to help you nut it out.

I think I would be to embarrassed to do that?

Hi Mish - I am new to photography and I think it would be a great help not just to you but to me (and other beginners) cause we could see the result and have people comment on why it did such-n-such and how to fix it.

I dont think anyone here would be cruel in comments and i think that the feedback would be helpful. There are some awesome photographers on DOL and i have learnt alot from reading through the "photo challenges" threads as there is some great feedback on the photos in there.

I think that others that have questions and wanting to know why things aren't working as they expect will contribute and add their photos too.

Guess I am just saying that there is no need to be embarrassed :)

Thanks Nushie, I will go through some photos and see if there are any I want to put up

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I need an Idiot's Guide to shooting with a fixed length macro lens... zoom I have a handle on just fine, but I have a feeling I'll need to use a completely different technique for macro with the 90mm lens... errr!

We all have stuff we just can't seem to get to get to grips with... and it's really lovely to have some very helpful people here to point us in the right direction.

I love taking pics of animals doing their thing, so zoom is a no-brainer for me - gives me some distance so I'm not intruding too much on my subject matter. I also like natural light, so I've kinda restricted myself to a specific set of conditions for the type of photography I like doing. But when it all comes together... it's happy dance time when checking out the pics on the big computer screen... *grin*

T.

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