Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/06/25

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Telephoto lenses for nature/wildlife
From: Douglas Herr<telyt@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:46:47 -0700

Lurking through older messages, I found that Don Dory
<dorysrus@mindspring.com> wrote:
 
> On a budget the telyts work well as Doug has 
> shown but he spends a lot of time 
> exploring/stalking using blinds 
 
I don't use blinds unless I absolutely have to, and my fav wildlife lenses are
those I can handle easily w/o a tripod at close range.  I had a marvlous time
in Yellowstone and I used the 560 a lot for wildlife but the most memorable
sessions were using the shorter lenses, like 250 and 280.  No blinds.
 
When the stuff is all processd and scanned I'll post a message - but the
Mountain Bluebird and Black Rosy Finch deserve special mention now.
 
In my wildlife photography I strive to stablish a personal connection with the
animal.  The Mountain Bluebird was a gem.  The male is a bright sky blue
color, and one I found was not what I'd call tolerant of me... I'd say he was
cooperative.  I spent 2+ hours within 10' of the bird, mostly at or below eye
level.  He offered a variety of poses, perches, backgrounds and lighting so if
I don't end up with a decent photo of the bird it's not the bluebird's fault. 
He was obviously not an injured bird, since he was flying out to catch
bugs,and back to the same or other nearby perch over a 2 acre region.  I used
a 2-camera setup, each on a 250mm or 280mm Telyt.  I'd use up the film in one
camera then switch to the other, re-loading the first when the bird was in bad
light or otherwise un-photogenic.

The Rosy Finch was fun too.  The Black Rosy Finch lives above timberline in
the central rocky mountains - a very harsh enviornment.  By learning enough
about the bird's behavior and feeding patterns I positioned myself so that
he'd come to me.  Again, using the 280mm (f/4.8 w/ televit) lens at close to
minimum focus distance.  The handling of this lens along with decent image
quality is what makes it so useful.  Sure, there are lenses with superior
image quality on a test bench but they're not as usable to me 'cus they're not
as responsive.
 
but my main point is that I HARDLY EVER use a blind.
 



Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com
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Replies: Reply from "Don Dory" <dorysrus@mindspring.com> (Re: [Leica] Re: Telephoto lenses for nature/wildlife)