Catastrophe?! Why You Should Use a UV Filter, Fall Photography at Bigelow in Maine with the Nikon Z7
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- This week we are at the Bigelow Preserve in Maine making fall landscape photography when disaster strikes! Is it a catastrophe that ends the trip? Join me in the retelling of this ordeal. Also, I'm still shooting the trusty Nikon Z7 and its still running like a champion. Stay tuned for a future long long term review of this camera.
Wow, Tom, you sure did manage to get some fantastic photos despite the weather. I love that area. I've been going there for years with our canoe club, we camp at Cathedral Pines CG right on Flagstaf Lake. There are lots of great exploring and photo opportunities in that area. I don't have a high clearance vehicle, so I bring my mountain bike and camera pack to get deep into those logging roads. GPS works decent for the most part. I use komoot app to get around. I preset a route from camp before I head out in case I run into a no service area. A compass also for backup. That Bigelow mountain range is part of the Appalachian Trail. The Northern Forest Canoe Trail also runs the length of Flagstaff Lake. I believe I told you, or maybe Martin told you that I canoed the length of the trail a couple of years ago. 740 miles. Anyway, sorry to get off topic. I'm very much enjoying your photography exploits on YT and wish you much success in 2024. Keep the videos coming.
I will be taking the mountain bike out there this summer. I really do wish they would open that central road back up. I am not sure how recently they closed it to only allow snowmobiles but the drive around from one side of the preserve to the other is ridiculously long. Well over an hour and a half if I recall. That road would make it a mere 15 minutes. I suspect they closed it because people were getting stuck. You need an off road vehicle to do most of that track I believe. Even the section I walked up wasn’t for low clearance vehicles at all. Thanks for popping back by by the way. Good to see you and Martin dropping in.
Really enjoy your videos. I feel like I'm right there on the scene. Awsome shots as usual. Thanks.
Thank you so much! I like that that is how it is making you feel. That’s my intention so it’s good to know it’s working.
Beautiful photos! You certainly live in a fantastic location, state.
Thank you so much! Yes, I do love Maine. It really is quite wonderful.
My heart stopped when I heard that glass cracking! I imagine yours did too. Lesson learned on my end. So glad your lens is ok. I've been experimenting with the Zf with both the Nikon 24-120/4.5S and the AF-S Nikkon 500mm for my birding shots. I actually got a bif of a Turkey Vulture soaring above my land, my very first bif. Thank you for all the lessons and I look forward to what you can teach me in 2024. Merry Christmas, Thomas, to you and your family. So glad I found you on CZcams. Your work is stunningly beautiful and you have much to teach those of us who don't have a damn clue as to what we are doing!! Like me. LOL
I have been debating about getting the Zf. How do you like it for BIF?
Very new at photography and have only had the camera for about a week, so still learning, but I do hope the eye tracking will be included soon since that will be excellent for really honing in on their eyes. Will be so important in getting the clear aerial shots. @@LynneH-ej6rx
So the Zf isn’t trying to track eyes on birds? That’s interesting. I thought it did. Of course I shoot only a little wildlife so I haven’t had a chance to test that part of it yet. Interesting to note though.
@@ThomasPetzwinkler It will track birds when set in 'animal' or 'all' subject detect, but doesn't have the bird specific mode that the Z9 has, which does a better job.
My husband says the eye tracking for birds is only available on the Z9 but he thinks it might be available soon as an update. Not sure if this is true so check with others. He received his black Zf and I'm trying to get acquainted with his before I get mine, which is back ordered (a brown one). I don't feel comfortable adjusting settings on his camera, so will wait til mine comes and then I'll be at liberty to switch up things to suit me. All too new for us to tell so maybe someone else knows for sure if the Zf will eventually have the eye tracking or not. @@ThomasPetzwinkler
Beautiful area with some super shots, your shattered filter reminds me of a disaster from quite a few years ago on a mountain in Glencoe had my camera a Nikon D810 with 24-70 2.8 on my tripod. it was rather precariously perched at an angle and in slow motion watched it go over and down about twenty feet square on to a rock, not only was the lens destroyed but it had knocked the bayonet mount quite a bit into the camera body. Thank goodness for camera insurance.
Have a very merry Christmas, Thomas, hope 2024 goes really well for you. Ps, still cant get my eyes averted from the Nikon Zf, I may crack early 2024😜😜
That sounds horrifying! I’m glad you were insured. The importance of camera insurance cannot be overstated. Merry Christmas to you too and I look forward to making tons of new content in the new year!
I wonder if a lower composition would have been able to hide the culverts behind some of the rocks in front of them, although it may have messed up other parts of the composition.
I agree that having a sacrificial filter on the lens is good protection, but do I do it? Rarely. I should. But I get lazy and I don't. A lens hood is another way to help protect the front of the lens for that unintentional meeting of camera and ground. But that has its own issues if you tend to use the larger magnetic type that you can use on different size lenses, such as using an 82mm filter on lenses with 82mm, 77mm, 72mm, etc filter threads. Having a hood on would prevent you using the filters. I had a similar camera incident in Acadia a few years ago. Was shooting some astro and was going to change lenses. I had just moved my tripod and in the darkness I hadn't realized that I had set one leg on the edge of the parking lot, which was a few inches higher than the adjacent ground so it wasn't stable. I moved to go grab the other lens out of my bag and the whole thing fell over onto some small rocks. The top plate of the D810 was badly damaged. Top LCD screen was caved in and unusable. Camera still worked fine, and thankfully the lens wasn't damaged either. Finally sent it in to Nikon for repair last year and it's as good as new now. Was surprised at the cost being only around $350. Was expecting a lot worse.
Funny you mention the problems with hoods and filters. That’s exactly why I don’t use a hood as all my filters wont fit or if I have to rotate ones that do fit, they won’t allow that. In the end, the culverts kind of added to the photo in a way that I enjoyed. “The hand of man” and all of that. As for Nikon, I have had wonderful success with them repairing things very affordable. It’s why I am not running out to replace the Z7. If it fails in some way, they will fix it and for reasonable money. Thanks for dropping in and I appreciate the comments!
I've a uv filter on all of my lenses. The "experts" recommend using a lens hood but this doesn't always work,
especially if the offending object gets between the petals of the hood. As far as I can see, a uv filter has little effect on the image
Some nice captures there 📷👍
Yes, and truthfully, one piece of coated optically transparent glass isn’t going to hurt the image. The only place I have seen any sort of ghosting is at night shooting pinpoints of light. That doesn’t translate to softening by any stretch and it’s almost unnoticeable even under those conditions.
Who do you use to insure your gear? I just ordered the 24-120 for my Z6II 😎
I use USAA. There are many other companies though. The ones that insure camera gear specifically have been suspect from what I understand but there may even be some good ones out there. My experience with USAA has been as follows. Call, file the claim, get the check. No fuss no muss. They are an excellent company.