Canon 1200 D DSLR (T5, T6)

More pictures from Radnor Lake this Sunday morning

I carried Rufus with me to the Lake this morning and he got in on some of the pictures. All pictures were taken with the 50mm ~ 300mm Lens. All pictures were taken in "Auto Mode" as I had my hands full with Rufus, I couldn't take the time to manage the camera.

Sunday (6/25/17) at Radnor Lake

Went back to the Lake this morning.

Picture 1 - The herd (I count 5 deer) came down to the water's edge for a drink and a splash in the water. I was on the opposite side of the lake and heard the splashing. I estimate I was about 1/4 mile away using the 300mm Lens. I had the camera set to auto focus and auto settings.

Picture 2 - This young female walked right out in front of me. I quickly snapped a picture and she wandered off. The animals are protected as it's a Wildlife Refuge and state park. By law you are not allowed to touch them, harass them, feed them...etc... You can't even pick a flower out here without serious consequences. So the animals "know" it's safe and they will just walk right up to you sometimes as if to rub your nose in it.

Picture 3 - A Blue Herron sunning itself on a partially submerged tree.

Thanks, Karl. Beautiful!

Tomorrow (Monday 8/21/17) at about 1:30 pm local time (Nashville Tn/ Central Time zone) we will experience a Total Eclipse of the Sun. I will be at work when this happens, but I will be carrying my camera with me as well as some mylar sheets for filtering. I will have various things at my disposal, including a makeshift solar projector. Hopefully if all goes well, I will have some projected images of the sun as well as actual images of the sun, before blackout, during blackout, and post blackout. We are only supposed to have about 2 minutes of Totality here in my location so I'll have to be set up ahead of time and work fast. If I'm lucky, I'll have some pictures to post here in a day or so.

I did some practice shots with the mylar sheeting over a lens, and 2 sheets worked really well. I was able to play with my settings and get some ideas of what I will need to do.

When in automatic mode, a digital camera "Wants to Expose" correctly, and of course you can't do that and get good pictures when aiming directly at the sun.

But when in Manual mode, with 2 sheets of Mylar, I was able to set my ISO to 200, my Focal to F22, and with a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second had some decent shots.

Of course this could vary tomorrow depending on sun angle, clouds or no clouds, and whether I continue to use 2 sheets of mylar or I may have to go to 3 if it's too bright.

And of course when doing this (I / You / Nobody), should ever look at the sun with their unprotected eyes, never aim a digital camera at the sun without some filtering media, and never look through a camera or telescope at the sun without proper filtering media.

Wishing you clear skies, Karl. I'm going to be a bit north of you in Gallatin. I'm just going to watch.

So interesting tread! There are so many professional photographers here!

Karl, your pictures are wonderful. Makes me want to invest in another high quality camera. I had a great camera with several lenses I brought back from Japan, but unfortunately I lent it to a friend and it disappeared, supposedly stolen. :>(

Twolunger said:

Karl, your pictures are wonderful. Makes me want to invest in another high quality camera. I had a great camera with several lenses I brought back from Japan, but unfortunately I lent it to a friend and it disappeared, supposedly stolen. :>(

Click to expand...

The Canon series T5, T6, and 1200D is actually a "Starter Camera" most photography experts would tell you. (They're all basically the same camera, owner's manual for all 3 were in my kit). Depending on where you live, one may be available and one may not be. For example, the 1200D is sold in Japan, but is the exact same camera as the T5 sold here in the states. The T6 is just a newer version of the T5, and has a few more "Touch Screen" options.

I got the complete kit, Camera, 2 lenses (an 18mm to 55mm and a 75mm to 300mm, a case to carry everything in, camera strap, and manual for less than 400 bucks. I have since bought a few lens filters and a flash unit. But I probably have no more than 600 bucks invested so far in everything.

If you buy the "Pro" series equipment, you can spend well over 1500 dollars just for the camera body.

The Cheaper "Starter" cameras like mine take pictures just as good, they just have fewer pixels and a smaller screen than the pro stuff. You'd never notice a difference unless you were wanting to "Blow Up" a picture to mural size. But for basic computer images and small framed images, the qualities are the same.

I used to take a lot of pictures "back in the day" with actual film cameras. I've had Pentax, Fuji, and Canon equipment before, and with a SLR type camera, the operation is basically the same. Just learning the "Digital" stuff is the only difference.

What I like is, instead of having to wait for the film to be developed and possibly having terrible pictures, with the digital cameras, I can instantly view them and I can tweek the color or exposure on my computer if I don't like the originals.

But the point is, you don't have to spend a lot of money to take good pictures these days.

Total Eclipse

Back last summer we had a Total Solar Eclipse in my area, (Nashville Tn.) and it occurred while I was working. I carried my camera with me to work, and I ran outside several times to get pictures. It rained off and on that day and was cloudy for the most part. Fortunately the clouds started to break up that afternoon right before the eclipse. There were times when I would look up and see nothing but clouds, but minutes later the Sun would be out again, so I had to grab the best pictures when I could.

I don't have a solar filter for my camera, and the only places that sold them were completely out of stock so I had to improvise. I placed a sheet of Mylar over my lens and secured it with rubber bands.

I posted many pictures of the event on my facebook page but never posted them here. Better late than never I guess.

The website here only lets you post up to 5 pictures at a time. I have well over 20, but I'm not going to try to post them all. Here are 5 that came out pretty good for a "Hand Held" Cheap DSLR with a piece of Mylar stretched over the lens.

The pictures are in order, 1 being full sun before the eclipse, 2 being partial about 30 minutes into the eclipse, 3 being partial nearing totality, 4 being Totality, and 5 the last picture coming out of Totality.

Turtles and Turkeys

Pictures 1 and 2, a "Red Ear Slider" swimming below the dam. I had one of these as a pet when I was kid. It was legal to buy them 50 years ago and mine was about the size of a silver dollar. This guy here was bigger than a frying pan. They are protected now and illegal to own.

Pictures 3 and 4 are of a "Cinnamon Colored Turkey Hen." All the locals here have nicknamed her, "Cinny." This is an unusual coloration as most of the wild turkeys here are a grayish color. She had 4 babies with her, but they stayed in the weeds and I never could get a pic of them.