Blog - Page 141 of 151 - Craig Rogers Photography

Thanks Nikon for Standardising Batteries

21st September 20156th October 2015Craig Rogers

MH-25a Charger (Photo from Nikon Europe's Website) — MH-25a Charger (Photo from Nikon Europe’s Website)

I’m booked on a triple hide day tomorrow with Nikon School and Chris Gomersall. I’m taking both the D810 (with the 300mm with 1.7x and 2x Teleconverters) and D7100 (with 80-400mm) as a backup. As I use battery grips on both cameras it means 4 batteries in total to charge.

So I get both chargers out and set them up to charge. I plugged the MH-25a (supplied with the D810) in and inserted a battery and although it charges, there is a loud sparking noise coming from it and a nice smell of burning electronics.

Luckily, the D810 and D7100 both use the same EN-EL15 Battery so the MH-25 charger that comes with the D7100 (notice the “a” missing, I’m led to believe it just has a slightly lower power output) can charge all 4 batteries.

So a big thanks to Nikon for standardising their batteries throughout their range. I’ll give Wex Photographic a call to get this charger sent off for repair/replacement.

Swimming in the Fog

19th September 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

These photos just goes to show how foggy it was at Aqualete Mere this morning. The issue with fog is that it’s not actually dark but a very diffused light (which is why your automatic headlights don’t turn when driving in fog), but the light is just so desaturated that it takes away all the colour (which is why I’ve processed them as Black and White). Also the tiny droplets of moisture suspended in the air between the lens and the subject takes any usable detail away.

I used to get really frustrated and annoyed, but unfortunately that’s the one thing about nature photography, you can’t control the environment. It’s what also makes it more challenging, so you just have to take it on the chin and move on.

{Click images for a higher resolution}

Canadian Geese - D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 with TC-20E III @ 600mm, f/4, ISO280, 1/1500sec — Canadian Geese – D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 with TC-20E III @ 600mm, f/4, ISO280, 1/1500sec

Wrong Choice Of Location This Morning

19th September 20156th October 2015Craig Rogers

Ducks Arse! - D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 with TC-20E III @ 600mm, f/8, ISO560, 1/500sec — Ducks Arse! – D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 with TC-20E III @ 600mm, f/8, ISO560, 1/500sec

This photo sums up my bad choice of location this morning (and there’s heavy editing just to remove the thick fog!). Last night I checked the weather forecast and it was showing as clear skies and sunny. So I packed my bag ready, got up at 5:45am and made the 40 minute trip to the hide at Aqualete Mere near Newport in Shropshire.

As soon as I got to Stafford, I hit a thick covering of Fog that just made bird photography impossible. Kingfishers, Warblers, Wrens and various Ducks and Geese were all in abundance, but no photos worthy of sharing. Still, it was good to sit there and watch the Kingfisher coming and going even if it did look black and white.

On the drive back, within 5 miles of leaving, glorious blue skies, certainly was the wrong location but the forecast (as it’s been for a while) was wrong.

Back At Llyn Tegid

14th September 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

I’ve recently come back from another few days at Llyn Tegid (AKA Lake Bala) and was lucky enough to have a clear night on Thursday night. As last time, the Milky Way was very visible to the naked eye which means a DSLR would have a great view!

Here’s a couple of shots I got. It’s a shame the cloud started to come back in on the shot over the lake but didn’t spoil it too much. Night photography is still very much a learning exercise for me and I’ve got a little more practice before I get these perfect.

The first shot, over the lake, you can almost make out the spiral shape of Andromeda, its the bright spot near the top right.

On the 2nd shot (the one above the tree) you can see a shooting star and 2 satellites. The shooting star and one of the satellites is easy to see. The 2nd satellite takes a little finding.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}

Milky Way Over Lake Tegid — Milky Way over Llyn Tegid – D810, AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, f/2.8, ISO3200, 15sec – {Flickr Link}

Aerial Footage of a local Fox

5th September 20159th March 2016Craig Rogers

I was out doing some test flights of my new DJI Phantom 3 Professional Drone this afternoon, flying over the fields behind the house when I noticed some movement on the ground. At first, I thought it was one of our Cats, but then I saw the big bushy tail so I descended to get a better view.

At first, the Fox was a bit scared but it was due to the drone flying at full speed so was quite noisy, so after slowing right down it didn’t seem that bothered that I was following it around.

As the video progresses, I get a bit closer with a great tracking shot near the end.

Early days and I’ve a lot to learn with both flying and capturing footage, but looking forward to more photos and videos from this great piece of equipment.

[youtube-HD]

Housemartin in Flight

30th August 20159th October 2017Craig Rogers

Anyone who has tried photographing Housemartins, Swallows and Swifts in flight will know how difficult they are to photograph. They change direction so quickly and are very hard to predict.

So you can imagine how chuffed I was to capture this one just about to return to the one of the nest on the back of the house.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}

Housemartin on final approach – D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ 300mm, f/5.6, ISO1000, 1/1250sec – {Flickr Link}