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The Importance Of Clean Equipment

As you may have read in previous posts, I have recently been having an issue with my Nikon AF-S 80-400mm lens. It was having trouble locking on focus and keeping locked on with Continuous Auto Focus. It would “hunt” making a terrible mechanical noise. I thought it was time to be sent off for a motor service.

I’m not actually sure what fixed the issue, but a full clean of both front and rear elements, a clean of the electrical contacts (which is what I believe to have been the problem) on the lens, a blow with my Giotto’s Rocket Blower and also a blow on the camera mirror itself and as you can see from yet another Wally action shot that everything is back as it should. Remember, for all the electronic wizardry such as Auto Focus and Metering, the camera needs a clear view of the reflected light.

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Super Dog!
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Geminid Meteor Show To Peak Tonight & Tomorrow Night

Every year in December we are treated to the Geminid Meteor Shower which is debris left over by the Asteroid 3200 Phaethon. The peak here in the GMT Timezone (Portugal, UK & Ireland) is over the next 2 nights (December 13th and 14th) although will be visible for a few nights later.  The best viewing starts after midnight and will last until dawn, but can be seen as soon as it goes dark. For a more detailed look at the times in your own timezone, take a look at Time and Date’s Web Page. Of course, any cloudy skies may hamper the viewing.

The Geminids take their name from the constellation Gemini where they originate, however, can be seen anywhere in the sky. Obviously the darker the sky the more chance of spotting them. They are very slow-moving and can shine multiple colours. It has been known to witness up to 160 an hour! After sunset if watch between North and East you can’t go wrong.

Here are some photos I took in 2017 with some photography tips following below

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Geminids 2017
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Introduction To Focus Stacking

I’m aware that I’ve not created any “How To” videos for a while and it’s something I hope to spend a little more time over the coming weeks and the first will be discussing Focus Stacking.

As a quick introduction, take a look at the two photos below and you maybe shocked to learn that they are both taken with identical exposure settings.

Aperture f/8 : Shutter 1 second : ISO 64 (Nikon with AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8E @ 44mm)

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Everything But The Birds…

It has been a while since my Reflection Pool was completed, certainly enough time for the local birds to get used to it. This morning, I decided to have a session in there. I was in there from 8:20am until 12:00pm and nothing, absolutely nothing visited. There were plenty of birds all around me but for some reason nothing came down to the water. Luckily my WiFi from the house reaches there so at least I could entertain myself whilst I waited.

It is such a shame because as you can see in the photo below, the scene is looking really nice. Even hidden down behind the wood there is a tray with live Mealworms to try and attract the birds but still I await a photo.

My DIY Reflection Pool

I have been wanting a permanent reflection pool for a long time, some of you may remember my Temporary Reflection Pool from 2015. I thought of a few locations, but in the end I decided to place it near the Oasis Hide. It has been constructed to have early morning sunrise light which is when birds often look for water, of course, this means there is a possibility of some nice back-lit photos towards sunset time too.

It had to be raised off the ground to bring it almost to the height of the lens hole in the hide to get eye level with any birds and I was going to build a wooden platform when I had a brain wave. Last year one of our Water Heater Solar Panels sprung a leak which meant they had to be replaced. Luckily, we still had the old panels so I decided to strip one down to use the chassis as body to hold the water.

Striped down Water Heating Solar Panel

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A New Bodge-Job Rogers Project

For those that have followed my exploits for a few years will know that I love the “behind the scenes” preparation of getting a great shot. Sometimes it’s like the TV show Scrapheap Challenge. I’ve been wanting to build this project for a while and this morning I found just the perfect prop for my new Bodge-Job Rogers Project. A broken water-heating solar panel, so I got to work to strip it down leaving just the aluminium casing.

Broken Solar Panel

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