A bird with a bad attitude

http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489187/original
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489188/original

This is a myna bird and to me they seem to always have bad attitude
look about them .

I put an order in to B&H for the 300mm f/4 lens before they close down
for the first part of April
The lens came Friday so I am out this weekend having a good time with
it. The bird shots are all 100% crops and were all taken hand held.

I must say so far I am delighted with this lens, although with the IS
on it does drain my battery pretty fast.
Here are a few shots from yesterday at the beach using the same lens
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/playing_in_waves_2


Scott

In article . com,
Scott W wrote:

http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489187/original
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489188/original

This is a myna bird and to me they seem to always have bad attitude
look about them .

I put an order in to B&H for the 300mm f/4 lens before they close down
for the first part of April
The lens came Friday so I am out this weekend having a good time with
it. The bird shots are all 100% crops and were all taken hand held.

I must say so far I am delighted with this lens, although with the IS
on it does drain my battery pretty fast.

You might consider getting the battery grip for the 350D - it holds two
batteries instead of one, and also gives you identical shutter/etc.
buttons on the grip for when you are shooting in portrait orientation.
It also (to me) stabilizes the camera a little better with a little
more weight, and gives you a bigger gripping surface.

Here are a few shots from yesterday at the beach using the same lens
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/playing_in_waves_2

--
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
independence.
-- Charles A. Beard

On Apr 1, 8:24 am, Ken Lucke wrote:
In article . com,

Scott W wrote:
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489187/original
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489188/original

This is a myna bird and to me they seem to always have bad attitude
look about them .

I put an order in to B&H for the 300mm f/4 lens before they close down
for the first part of April
The lens came Friday so I am out this weekend having a good time with
it. The bird shots are all 100% crops and were all taken hand held.

I must say so far I am delighted with this lens, although with the IS
on it does drain my battery pretty fast.

You might consider getting the battery grip for the 350D - it holds two
batteries instead of one, and also gives you identical shutter/etc.
buttons on the grip for when you are shooting in portrait orientation.
It also (to me) stabilizes the camera a little better with a little
more weight, and gives you a bigger gripping surface.

Yup, there are a few more toys needed to go with it. I will most
likely also pick up a
1.4X teleconverter for it at some time. And I will be getting a few
more batteries and possibly the grip as well.


Scott

Scott W wrote:
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489187/original
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489188/original

This is a myna bird and to me they seem to always have bad attitude
look about them .


There's a bill before congress that proscribes that any wild animal that
doesn't overtly smile when a human points a lens at it will be summarily
executed at sunrise. Eventually, all wild animals will be photographed
with a smile, despite their habitat continuing to be destroyed at an
alarming rate.


--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

In article . com,
Scott W wrote:

On Apr 1, 8:24 am, Ken Lucke wrote:
In article . com,

Scott W wrote:
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489187/original
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489188/original

This is a myna bird and to me they seem to always have bad attitude
look about them .

I put an order in to B&H for the 300mm f/4 lens before they close down
for the first part of April
The lens came Friday so I am out this weekend having a good time with
it. The bird shots are all 100% crops and were all taken hand held.

I must say so far I am delighted with this lens, although with the IS
on it does drain my battery pretty fast.

You might consider getting the battery grip for the 350D - it holds two
batteries instead of one, and also gives you identical shutter/etc.
buttons on the grip for when you are shooting in portrait orientation.
It also (to me) stabilizes the camera a little better with a little
more weight, and gives you a bigger gripping surface.

Yup, there are a few more toys needed to go with it.

There are ALWAYS toys you need :^). A boat is a hole in the water to
throw money into. A camera is a hole in the wallet for money to drain
out of. g

I will most
likely also pick up a
1.4X teleconverter for it at some time. And I will be getting a few
more batteries and possibly the grip as well.

Go with the less expensive batteries you find on eBay - they work fine,
if you don't expect their claims of almost double the mAh ratings of
the Canon batteries to be true... In reality, they are just about equal
(possibly slightly better) in life than the Canons, BUT they are less
than 1/3 the price, so you can afford more of them, and therefore shoot
longer for the same $$$. BTW, I've had no trouble mixing and matching
them in my battery grips with the true Canons, although at the
beginning I tried to keep them in distinct pairs, worrying about the
differeing mAh ratings. Now I don't worry abot that.

Get the batteries sold with a charger, preferably a combination
household/car charger - the charger is your bottleneck when you are
trying to get back to shooting with flat batteries, especially with a
baterry grip that takes a pair of batteries. If you have at least two
chargers, you can always keep your battery grip full of charged
batteries :^). And by getting one that works on 12v, you can charge on
the go.

I actually hve 4 chargers - two in the house, for charging after I come
in from a day shooting, and two (12v versions) hardwired and velcroed
on the inside wall of my truck canopy. If I come back to the truck
with low batteries, I can swap them into the chargers, put fresh in
from my bag, and never miss a beat - and the batteries are usually
charged back up in under an hour... I've never run out of batteries in
under an hour!

--
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
independence.
-- Charles A. Beard

Ken Lucke writes:
Go with the less expensive batteries you find on eBay - they work
fine, if you don't expect their claims of almost double the mAh
ratings of the Canon batteries to be true...BTW, I've had no trouble
mixing and matching them in my battery grips with the true Canons,

The Canon BG-E3 battery grip (or its clones) will hold six AA cells,
no need for any lithium ion cells whatsoever. Good quality AA NiMH
cells are cheaper than even the Ebay junk-brand lithium packs, and you
can get 15 minute NiMH chargers from Energizer or Duracell.

In article , Paul Rubin
wrote:

Ken Lucke writes:
Go with the less expensive batteries you find on eBay - they work
fine, if you don't expect their claims of almost double the mAh
ratings of the Canon batteries to be true...BTW, I've had no trouble
mixing and matching them in my battery grips with the true Canons,

The Canon BG-E3 battery grip (or its clones) will hold six AA cells,
no need for any lithium ion cells whatsoever. Good quality AA NiMH
cells are cheaper than even the Ebay junk-brand lithium packs, and you
can get 15 minute NiMH chargers from Energizer or Duracell.

Yes, it does come with a AA battery holder, but I never found that the
NiMHs lasted as long as the actual NL-2Bs (or whatever they are, that
number's off of the top of my memory). Which surprised me, as the
total mAh of the NiMHs was considerably more than the NL-2Bs.

I'll have to give it a try again. (I currently just keep a set of 6 AA
alkalines in the AA tray that comes with the BG as a true emergency
backup, shrink-wrapped to protect them from moisture and to keep them
from being knocked out, stuck in the bottom of my
not-too-frequently-used-stuff bag).

--
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
independence.
-- Charles A. Beard

On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:38:00 -0500, Jer wrote:
: Scott W wrote:
: http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489187/original
: http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489188/original
:
: This is a myna bird and to me they seem to always have bad attitude
: look about them .
:
:
: There's a bill before congress that proscribes that any wild animal that
: doesn't overtly smile when a human points a lens at it will be summarily
: executed at sunrise. Eventually, all wild animals will be photographed
: with a smile, despite their habitat continuing to be destroyed at an
: alarming rate.

I guess that ought to be proscribed by the bill, but I think you actually
meant to say "prescribes". ;^)

Anyway, if we're destroying the habitat of mynah birds, we continue to create
more of it for coyotes and racoons. (And increasingly here in Massachusetts,
for bears, another "wild" animal that rarely turns down a free meal.) So it
all evens out in the end.

Bob

On Sat, 07 Apr 2007 19:51:29 -0400, Robert Coe wrote:

: There's a bill before congress that proscribes that any wild animal that
: doesn't overtly smile when a human points a lens at it will be summarily
: executed at sunrise. Eventually, all wild animals will be photographed
: with a smile, despite their habitat continuing to be destroyed at an
: alarming rate.

. . .
Anyway, if we're destroying the habitat of mynah birds, we continue to create
more of it for coyotes and racoons. (And increasingly here in Massachusetts,
for bears, another "wild" animal that rarely turns down a free meal.) So it
all evens out in the end.

And kill coyotes and racoons who suffer the collateral damage of
the Forest Service's targeting of much more serious predators with
M-44 injectors. In a report I heard today, a man described how
while walking with his pet dog in a field, the dog suddenly made
noises as if it was strangling. Within two minutes it was dead. I
hadn't heard of this device before, but I'd guess that ranchers and
many other people are quite familiar with its use. According to the
report, M44s are also attached to collars placed around the necks of
livestock, and these presumably don't often kill unintended targets.


The M-44 works by ejecting sodium cyanide powder into the mouth
of the victim. The ejection is triggered when the victim pulls on the
baited M-44 unit. The sodium cyanide powder reacts with the
moisture in the victim's mouth, releasing sodium cyanide gas.

These lethal traps pose a serious danger to pets and people, as well as
wildlife — including animals that aren't target predators. Federal
agents with Animal Damage Control set the traps on publicly-owned
lands across the U.S. Predator Defense works to help families with pets
injured or killed by M-44 traps.

http://www.predatordefense.org/issues/m44.htm

Robert Coe wrote:
On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:38:00 -0500, Jer wrote:
Scott W wrote:
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489187/original
http://www.pbase.com/konascott/image/76489188/original

This is a myna bird and to me they seem to always have bad attitude
look about them .


There's a bill before congress that proscribes that any wild animal
that doesn't overtly smile when a human points a lens at it will be
summarily executed at sunrise. Eventually, all wild animals will be
photographed with a smile, despite their habitat continuing to be
destroyed at an alarming rate.

I guess that ought to be proscribed by the bill, but I think you
actually meant to say "prescribes". ;^)

Anyway, if we're destroying the habitat of mynah birds, we continue
to create more of it for coyotes and racoons. (And increasingly here
in Massachusetts, for bears, another "wild" animal that rarely turns
down a free meal.) So it all evens out in the end.

Seagulls are also extending their range--all the local malls have a
seagull contingent.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)