Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/12/19

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Subject: Re: [Leica] New M6 Titanium & suitability of M& for wildlife photography
From: "Skip Williams" <skipwilliamsleica@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 22:26:50 +0000

I agree with Doug.

Have you been there to see these parrots?  I have, many times on birding 
expeditions, and you get only a fleeting glimpse of most parrots.  (the only 
birds harder to see are hummingbirds, antbirds, and most ground birds)  
Parrots screech loudly as you disturb them from their perches.  Then they 
fly away from the top of the 150' tree that they were in very fast across 
the field, or across the top of the forest, or across the valley to another 
150' tall tree.  You barely have time to get binoculars on them to get a 
field mark or two and try to narrow down the identification possibilities 
before they're gone.

These birds usually feed and roost high up in the trees.  And they're green; 
good camoflouge in a rain forest.  Oh, and you're looking at the birds 
backlit most of the time.

Exceptions?  You're at the mineral cliffs in Manu, Peru.  This, and a few 
other secretive locations, are where many parrots come to scrape off and 
ingest mineral-rich clay to aide in digestion.  Fabulous opportunities 
there.  See Fritz Lansing's stuff.

The minimum decent bird lens is usually a 500mm unless you're shooting from 
a blind.  And the telephoto flash is a big help, as Doug mentions.

Good luck.

Skip


- ----Original Message Follows----
From: Doug Herr <telyt@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] New M6 Titanium & suitability of M& for wildlife    
photography
Date: 19 Dec 2001 09:17:19 -0800

On Wed, 19 December 2001, "fs" wrote:

 >
 > I_m interested in the M6 only because of my interest in
 > photographing parrots in the rainforests of South America.
 > I wonder if 135mm is enough telephoto - is there nothing more powerful 
from
 > a third party? - perhaps I would be better off with a Hassie, except for 
the
 > size and possibly the build quality of the Hassie body which is not, I've
 > heard, in the same league as the M6.
 >
 > frank
 >

Unless the birds are captive or habituated to humans, 135mm isn't going to 
be enough lens.  Rain forests are a particularly difficult environment for 
wildlife photography because the dense foliage keeps most natural light from 
reaching the forest floor, many of the critters are high in the trees, and 
the rain & humidity add their own unique problems.

TTL flash with a Better Beamer-like flash extender, with at least 300mm or 
so of lens will probably work better, and your chances of problems from the 
rain and humidity are reduced with mechanical cameras.  Among Leica 
equipment, the R6.2 & a fast APO-Telyt seems like the best bet.


Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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Replies: Reply from Feliciano di Giorgio <feli@d2.com> (Re: [Leica] New M6 Titanium & suitability of M& for wildlife photography)