Permagrin wrote in post #2274628
Sounds like fun Sari.
I think we're going to head out to Yellowstone next Sept. That's the vacation plan anyway...before the snow/hibernation hopefully. But your plan of traveling from NP to NP to photo them all sounds very fun!
We went out to a wildlife preserve tonight...saw 2 adult bald eagles, a juvenile, a harrior hawk and some other unknown hawks...and I took 350 photos...none of which yielded a quality shot...they were far enough away to be frustrating...we couldn't walk where they were because the area is closed off from Nov1 to Apr1....but they were so beautiful....and I have some nice memory shots but nothing good...sigh. I don't think I'll ever get the hang of bird photography...
Ah...I don't feel so bad all of a sudden.
I went out today to get some pics of birds at a wildlife reserve, didn't get any flight shots (though I tried - but sure none came out, haven't seen pix yet). I also respect birders who shoot in the mixed light of a forest floor.. the aviary had crisscrossing shadows everywhere, so much so that I overrode the meter and went straight to manual because it was metering everything wrong even on spot meter... ISO ranged wildly from 1600-400, bleah. Give me the 'large wildlife' that moves slower. I need to image stabilize the SUBJECT
Walked for 4 hours and emptied a 2GB CF. Around hour 3 of continuous carry and shooting as I walk from exhibit to exhibit, the 100-400 and 5D are beginning to get a leeeeeeetle bit heavy.
I came home and saw a spam ad for some gym in my mailbox. Now screw that, I swear my biceps are already bigger than this morning!! Weightlifting.. 4 hours of continous carry and panning of a 5 pound rig.. yes, that's weight.
The Great White also got LOTS of comments.. at least half a dozen people! Harmless comments really so I just nod and smile and say thanks for the compliment.
Saw lots of little SLRs, including an EOS 3 and various Rebels. Saw a 70-200 f/2.8 attached to a 5D on a pod. More interestingly: I saw a 70-200 f/4 *IS* today - I thought it was the plain 70-200 until the guy stood next to me and I glanced down to see the IS control panel on the lens. VERY surprised to see this lens in the field so soon! 70-200 is de rigeur telephoto and so one does actually expect a few to pop up here and there.
Really appreciated the 100-400's extra length though, the ability to frame TIGHT mattered a lot. As did the zoom. Sometimes a subject will get so close you have to back it off. I shot with this lens the whole day, basically.
Claire wrote in post #2274784I see you like my amendment to Al's sigline.
I asked a friend what lenses he has. Turns out he has bought a heap of new ones since we last spoke of lenses! Geesh, I talk him into taking up photography again & he ends up buying more & better gear than me, as well as selling his shots...
How's the macro dilemma going?
I and another friend got into SLR photography around the same time. He's continuously amazed by the amount of stuff I buy 
I think I would have ruined it.
