Bulletins and Notes Archive

Dear Friends and Bird Photographers

On Thursday, January 11, I will present "The Art of Bird Photography," a general interest program, for the Sierra Club's Photography group at the Otto Center at the San Diego Zoo at 7 p.m. All are invited to attend this free (I am pretty sure that it is free) program. A selection of books, prints, photo accessories, and the 2001 Beautiful Birds Calendar will be available for purchase. If you found out about this program from this e-mail and do attend, please come up and say "Hi."

COMMENTS ON CANON'S IS LENSES BY KEVIN KARLSON

Kevin Karlson (and his lovely wife, Dale Rosselet) have been friends for just about as long as I have looked at birds. Kevin is an accomplished bird photographer and birding tour leader. You can find out more information about his Jaeger Tours by e-mailing him at: karlson@bellatlantic.net Kevin's images have been featured just about everywhere. I used several of his photographs in my book, "Shorebirds; Beautiful Beachcombers." His coverage of displaying Buff-breasted Sandpipers, hooting Pectorals, and King Eiders is surely the best in the world. I turned Kevin on to the wonders of Canon's Image Stabilizer lenses and he has been kind enough to describe his experiences with IS. Here are his comments:

"In twenty-two years of wildlife photography, I have never seen an advancement with the impact of the new Canon IS system, especially as it relates to super telephoto lenses. With the old FD system, I could occasionally get a somewhat sharp image with a 2X tele-extender, but usually 1000mm focal length would result in slight camera shake, wind or shutter shake creating a soft image. With the new 600mm F4 IS lens and Gitzo 1548 CF tripod and Wimberley Head, I routinely shoot with the 2X tele-extender at 1200mm, with very sharp results. Even a strong wind does not always negatively affect the results. I have even gotten relatively sharp images using the 2x, a 25mm extension tube, and the 1.4 tele-extender, for a focal length of about 1700 mm, including an image Kestrel balancing on a branch with wings raised at 1/125th of a second shutter speed! This IS technology enables photographers to take images at distances never before possible, thus allowing more action and behavior to be captured on film. It also takes photographers further away from the subjects, which not only benefits the well-being of the wildlife but puts us in a better position with those who think all photographers are detrimental to the natural life cycles of wildlife, especially birds. A further benefit is the ability to take action photos of flying or moving subjects off a ballhead or Wimberley head, even with the 1.4 tele-extender at 840mm. Even times when I think that the shot will surely be soft due to fast panning motion, I have been surprised with a sharp image."

TECHNICAL E-MAIL DIFFICULTIES

We are aware that many Bulletin subscribers receive two copies of our Bulletins. We do apologize for this. It most likely occurs because some OUTLOOK EXPRESS files have been corrupted when we have been forced to turn the computer off when it freezes up. When we hit send for a Bulletin, the address book window pops up and asks us "which PHOTOGRAPHY" we wish to send the mail to. The PHOTOGRAPHY group appears twice on the screen.. We do of course, select only one, but as most of you know, two are often sent. We do thank you for understanding (and for simply pressing the delete key once). When time allows, we will try to contact ATT and rectify the problem.

NOTE ON SW FLA IPTs