Birds Gear Landscapes Nikon D5100 Panasonic Lumix GX-85 Sightings Wildlife
July 23, 2020

July 23, 2020

A warmer day this morning – 63 degrees with humidity in the 50% range. If the sky had been cloud free it would have been a tough walk. Lucky for Whisper (my trusty canine buddy) and me the sky was a blanket of shapeless clouds that only allowed hints of sunlight to reach the ground. We started walking at 6:15 after waiting in the car for a while hoping that a little more light would pierce the gloom. I had some success getting pictures of the Summer’s bird population though I don’t think that National Geographic is going to be…

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Gear Panasonic Lumix GX-85

Lumix GX-85 Extended Tele Conversion

One of the “bonus features” available on the Panasonic Lumix GX-85 (and probably on many other Panasonic mirrorless cameras) is the ability to digitally “extend” the focal length of the lens in use to allow for greater magnification of your subject with out a huge loss of detail. The image below is taken from the GX-85 manual and lays out the options. It is important to note that this function is NOT available when you are shooting RAW format images. To demonstrate the effect this function has in an actual shooting situation I offer the three images below all taken…

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Birds Gear Panasonic Lumix GX-85 Sightings Wildlife
July 08, 2020

July 08, 2020

It’s going to be a hot one today. Weather forecast is for 100+ degrees. We got to our starting spot at 6:10 again and the temp had only reached 56 degrees. No clouds were there to offer even the slightest relief. You gotta start early or forget about it. I decided to give the heron’s a day off today and didn’t check out the nest this morning. I’m sure they are getting tired of me. Bird activity was quite low in the area of the park where I did walk. Today’s winner for most available bird would have to be…

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Birds Critters Gear Nikon D5100 Panasonic Lumix GX-85 Sightings Wildlife
July 07, 2020

July 07, 2020

More clouds reported for duty this morning bringing with them a 59 degree temperature. If there was a breeze it was not very noticeable. Since those recently mentioned clouds were mainly in the west the sun had no problem lighting our way as we headed out at 6:15. Since I have been splitting my daily walk into two parts, one with dog and one without, I have started taking both the Nikon D5100 with the 55/200mm zoom for chapter one of the outing and then switching to the Panasonic GX-85 fitted with the 100/300mm zoom for chapter two. With my…

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Landscapes Panasonic Lumix GX-85 Sightings
June 29, 2020

June 29, 2020

Another late start this AM – got going around 6:20 in a very pleasant 58 degrees. The sky had a strange haze to it that filtered the sun but didn’t kill the light. I don’t know if the haze is a result of a reported wildfire west of the park or if it a Saudi dust cloud that is currently encircling the earth. Whatever the source it rendered Pikes Peak unseeable today. Though I saw a number of birds and critters today I was not focusing (if you like this pun then it was intentional) on them. I elected to…

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Gear Panasonic Lumix GX-85 Process Software

Pushing the Limits of the GX-85

As I have stated before in this blog, I am not your normal nature photographer. When it comes to bird photography this is especially true. I don’t stake out areas or otherwise stalk birds to get my shots. Rather, I walk a set route as close to daily as circumstances allow and shoot what comes my way. Nor do I lug around a mammoth 500mm lens capable of seeing a given bird’s teeth. Since I am usually also walking my dog, thus giving me only one hand with which to shoot, I have to travel light. This need for portability…

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