Deeping Lakes Bird Photography With The Sony RX10 iv

Nat offered a morning out at Deeping Lakes; I hadn't heard of it but I googled it and was well up for the short drive to Deeping. It's really out in the middle of nowhere; perfect for the wildlife.

I've said it before I'm no wildlife expert in the slightest but I do enjoy the challenge; watching the animal and trying to get 'the shot'.

I had my trusty Sony R10 iv; it's got to be the best all round camera out there! That's what a lot of reviews said about it and I do have to agree. It's got it's shortcomings but what it does well, it does really well!

A 600mm zoom on a camera no bigger than a DSLR and (maybe) kit lens; it's a beast!

So when we were at the lakes we were on a mission to photograph the Marsh Harriers and what a sight these amazing birds were. Proper birds of prey soaring majestically through the air.

Yep I took a 'few' shots.

The next highlight was the Little Owl's that we had been told about when talking to other people enjoying the lakes. A little hard to spot because they're more than well camouflaged.

Did you spot it?

For a wildlife novice like me everything is fun to photograph.

I love this photo of a Blue Tit.

And yes; I'm still immature enough to find that funny!

The one that got away.

We were walking around the corner to an opening of the trees at the waters edge and Nathaniel said "HERON!" I quickly raised my camera and took this photo with what settings were already dialled in.

The shutter speed is too slow.

It's not focused perfectly.

And it was a tiny bit over exposed.

But considering I just raised my camera and snapped the photo in the split second I had the chance, it's not too bad.

And come on who doesn't like ducks?!

The versatility of the Sony RX10iv has excelled as an 'all in one' tool. It allows you to get the photos that otherwise you'd perhaps need that 'big camera' and that 'big lens'.

I'm sure we'll visit Deeping Lakes again.

Now where's my credit card for that big lens?!

Photographing Deer With The Sony RX10 IV

Wow the Sony RX10 IV is an absolute beast!

It's amazing to carry around on a walk for photographing wildlife.

I've only had it 1 day and used it once for a photowalk along the river and it performs as well as you'd expect the worlds best Bridge camera to. It goes from wide angle to super telephoto; 24mm to 600mm. 

As long as it's bright daylight the camera & images are fantastic. IS0 100 is clean and sharp. As the light levels begin to decrease and the ISO has to be increased to match, then the camera & image quality begins to degrade. It does alright for a 1" sensor but it will never match a full frame sensor 'in the dark'.

On board Steady Shot image stabilisation; I really can't decide if it works or doesn't on my camera? Sometimes at 600mm I feel like the image in the view finder is a bit shaky but then what can you expect? I'd imagine that the steady shot could be working and is probably doing a good job and maybe I'm not holding the camera still enough whilst I expect some kind of image stabilised magic?!

I do alright on my day job though!

I'll keep debating this one.

Is the Sony RX10 IV good for photographing wildlife? I'd say 100% yes!

I'm no wildlife photography expert; maybe I've photographed a few wild dance floors but photographing any animal apart from a dog is totally new to me. But I enjoyed this so much!

Trying to stalk and get as close to these Deer was a great experience. Nat and I kept saying "this is amazing".

Is focusing on the RX10 IV good? Apparently it's the same autofocus system as the Sony A9, which I own and so I'd say the autofocus system is superb!

Now it's time to see some images;

The next 2 images show just how much the RX10 IV can zoom in; it's incredible!

It was around 5.30pm and the sun was starting to go down and the storm clouds were coming in overhead, this was a test for RX10 IV in low light. IS0 2000 and above the images were much more noisy but with a little noise reduction in Lightroom they're still very usable.

We just beat the rain back to the car. The colour in the sky was epic!

Despite being a little bulky and a weight in my bag, I'm really looking forward to taking the RX10 IV out with me again and carrying on documenting what I see each time I go out for a walk.

I wonder what I'll see next time?

Walking in Sutton Bridge with the Canon SD30 Digital IXUS i Digicam

I'm really loving walking at the moment; It's a bit of peace & quiet and time to clear my head. It's good for the soul, body & mind.

I said peace & quiet but to be fair I've always got my headphones on!

Let's just call it meditative (is that a word?)

Post surgery, I've got a lot on my mid and also a reason to enjoy the little and simple things in life.

Simple things just like being able to go out for a walk!

I've bought a few cameras recently; expensive ones and cheap charity shops one's too. And guess what, I've actually been using the cheap ones more than the expensive one. 

The subject of today's blog is the Canon Digital IXUS i, also known as as the Canon SD30. It's a (something like) 2005 5 Mega Pixel point & shoot digicam. Wow things were simple 20 years ago! But hey the digital revolution had to start somewhere and from there; improve with every generation. And just look at where camera technology is at now! 

These days cameras are like little boxes of magic in your hand. This little bad boy is still pretty magic to me though; it's so much fun seeing what I can do with it and its limitations.

The focus isn't too bad though and I'm a stickler for focus!

The 5 mega pixel photos are absolutely tiny! When I upload them to Lightroom on my 27" iMac (let's call it the Big Mac) the images cover the smallest part of the center of the screen; a bit like a 6x4 photo in the middle of my 27" screen. It's kinda funny!

I'm trying to get used to not being able to shoot in RAW and only relying on JPEG's. For a start I thought they were a little lacklustre, so I switched to the VIVID picture style to give the images a little punch.

Out on a wet & grey Saturday afternoon through Sutton Bridge it felt so good to get out of my sick bed and get some fresh air whilst seeing what the Canon SD30 could do.

I'd previously spotted a lone flower over the King's Lynn side of the bridge whilst driving passed; so that was the day's mission to photograph.

Not bad ay!

Along the way I recorded what caught my eye such as the "Relentless" rubbish and the reflections in the rain soaked road.

And then I gave myself the little project of documenting different angles of the bridge.

Whilst using minus exposure compensation in order to try a keep little detail in sky and to show off the grey & moody weather in each image.

And then I carried on walking down the old A17; I'm always drawn to the old Pill boxes along there. It's a shame about the rubbish that other people leave; they're full of beer cans and so too are the areas surrounding.

So for an old timer like the Canon Digital IXUS i SD30. It's an absolute pleasure to use. 

The screen isn't the best; you have to be at the right angle to see it and the battery life isn't great; 

I'm sure mine has a battery error because out of nowhere it shuts off but then turns back on again!? 

To be fair it's an old box of tricks, so a little glitch can be kind of expected.

But for £2 (what I paid) would I recommend it?

YES!

Oh and here's a little photo with the other camera I was playing with that day; the Olympus IS-500; more on that one in the future when I get the film developed.

Thanks for reading

A grey day with the Ensinor 28mm and the dogs

Another walk with the dogs.

Another camera & lens combo to try out.

I'd used the Ensinor 28mm with the Pentax Q10 for the HDR images of the lighthouse and I didn't have high hopes about using it again but it was there on my desk and the dogs needed walking.

Winter dog walks in the mud, yuck!

Dodging the you know what that other people leave behind too. Well other peoples dogs! 

I think any lens can be sharp enough if you get the focus right.

28mm makes it easier too as you're never going to get wildly out of focus backgrounds.

The wider the lens the deeper the depth of field.

The longer the lens the shallower the depth of field; all that lovely creamy out of focus stuff!

Focus peaking and magnification on my Sony A9 makes it easy to focus too.

So what did I photograph? Not a lot!

HDR landscapes with the Pentax Q10 + Ensinor 28mm vintage lens

Is the Pentax Q10 worth it in 2023?

Probably not! It really is a crap camera; terrible autofocus, rubbish image quality, poor battery life.

What's the Pentax Q10 like to use?

I actually quite enjoy it.

So there's 2 very different takes on the same camera.

The image quality really is bad; mobiles have better sensors! 

And I don't really use the native lenses with autofocus; the Pentax 02 Standard Zoom is possibly the biggest bag of shit I've ever seen, its awful!

The camera is so small that I can put it in my pocket (with a native lens attached) and carry it around no problem. It's a lot more chunky with different lenses adapted though but it's a lot more fun.

I've got loads of old crap M42 mount lenses that I've picked up from charity shops and car boots for a couple of quid. I'm enjoying putting them on different cameras and seeing what I can make with them.

This time it was the Ensinor 28mm.

I really put the camera to test; a golden hour HDR.

I didn't get setup quite on time though (blame the kids) so time was running out fast; it was getting darker and darker by the minute.

The biggest stumbling block for a HDR with the Pentax Q10; there's no exposure bracketing with the self timer.

I only found this out when standing out on a bloody cold riverbank......in the dark!

So the HDR image was always going to be slightly flawed as the images were never going to be exactly the same composition; with each press of the shutter, after changing the shutter speed, the camera will have moved even if only by 1mm left or right on the tripod.

And then there were the muddy, noisy files. I never wanted to create an unrealistic image of perfect highlights and no shadow; the usually over edited kind of HDR. I wanted make a near time image with a little more detail; you could say a dark one.

Would I recommend the Pentax Q10 for HDR?

NO!!!