Using Micro adjustment for your Camera and Lenses is a must 2

If you are a Canon user and have been frustrated by not getting good crisp sharp pictures especially when using extenders you are not alone. I for one have had plenty of problems and was just about to give up when Canon came out with cameras with micro adjustment. Today I would not own a digital SLR that did not have this feature. I have adjusted each lens separately and when I put any lens on the camera automatically adjust for that lens.

In April of 2010 I blogged about the micro adjustment how wonderful it is. I also showed a chart that I created and used to help with my adjustments. Since that time I have bought a product created to help with the micro adjustments called lens align. I used it to calibrate all of my lenses again and wow what a difference. Now I can use my 2x extender on my smaller lenses hand held and get some spectacular pictures. I can still remember never being able to get a good picture with my 2x extender however now it has opened up a new world for me. If you go back and look at my first article my adjustment are still close to those numbers for my extenders. .



This picture of the blue dasher dragonfly was with my Mark III and my EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM and my 2.0 extender. Being able to get picture like this with a light lens and the extenders is quite exciting and I will be doing more insects in the future now that I can produce shots like this.


If you are a local photographer and you would like to adjust your lenses to your camera I would be happy to do it with your help and a small fee.

Beauty in the Yard

I am staying around the house this weekend and noticed some Damselflies landing on my plants in the front yard and grabbed my camera to capture some shots. They ended up being Familiar Bluet Damselfly male and female. At first glance they remind you of a dragonfly but the way the hold there wings helps distinguish them apart from the dragonfly. The male has striking blue color why the female is less colorful which is helps make her less noticeable. The nice thing about taking pictures of different creatures in nature is the learning process after the picture is taken.

Equipment Testing

I went out this morning Saturday July 9th to test my camera equipment to make sure all is working well and found that my 1.4 extender is broken and must be replaced or fixed. You see on the last leg of my trip in South Dakota I was trying to get a picture of a Mountain Bluebird and I let go of my tripod for just a short second and it fell over breaking my Wimberley Head. I thought that was all the damage but I had not been out with my big lens since I got the tripod head back from the welder. As it looks so far only the extender was broken not the camera or my 600mm lens. I finally found a cooperative test subject to test my equipment on and took this beautiful picture of this Halloween Pennant Male and Female.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park South

It rained all night and into the early afternoon on Tuesday May 31, 2011 and I finally started to see it clear up but it was quite windy, in fact they were calling for a wind warning for the rest of the day and evening. Around 3:00 pm the sun was shining so I grabbed my gear and headed toward the park. They had an alternate entrance area through their maintenance building because of flooding. I cannot seem to get away from rain and flooding, lucky for me they had an alternate way to enter the park or I might not have been able to go in. Since I had paid the day before at the north section my pass was good for the south as well so I showed them my receipt and went on my way. I first came to a prairie dog area where I sat for a while getting pictures and watching them make this funny little barking noise they do while throwing their whole body into the noise, It quite amusing and after about twenty minutes I was on my way again.
When I stopped on the northern part of the park it was cloudy and this time it was partly cloudy with sunshine which I really prefer. I like clouds in my pictures but not total cloud cover because I think blue skies really make the picture more striking. I went all around the park taking pictures and then went to get a bite to eat and came back as the clouds were becoming scarcer. I was hoping to find more types of wildlife in the evening but really did not see much more than the first trip around just more of them. As I was coming to the end of the loop through the floodplain area I noticed a lot of elk in the fields eating. I probably saw more elk in that one spot than I did in my entire trip to Yellowstone. I headed back to my room to download my pictures and to prepare for departure in the morning.

Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge to Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Sunday morning May 29, 2011, I got up and headed toward Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge to hopefully get some species that I have not seen or taken photos of. I stopped along the way just west of the little town of Niobe at an original prairie where the Chestnut-collared Longspur and Sprague’s Pipit’s were suppose to be but could not find them. I did find upland Sandpipers though but did not get any picture. It was dark and cloudy and breezy morning and walked around in the field looking for anything rare species to photograph. I decide to move on to Lostwood and found that a big section of that area was closed because a Piping Plover had nested in the road, probably because so much of the area is saturated with water. I was going to head on the one side that was still open and I noticed most of the road was under water, I could tell some people were still going through but I decided not to risk it and decided to moved on to another area called Zahl National Wildlife Refuge. This ended up being a bust because I no sooner got there and the rain started to come down very hard. I am starting to think the rain clouds are following me.
My plan was to get to Theodore Roosevelt for the evening so I decide to head in that direction. I got to the north section around 2:00 pm and drove through the park and got some pictures before the rain caught up with me. I left their and headed for my destination for the night, actually three nights. I am staying at Medora North Dakota near the south section of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Shortly after I arrived the rain started and as of Monday afternoon the rain is still falling. They are calling for a 30% chance of rain Tuesday and 10% on Wednesday and a high of 72. This will be the warmest day for a while it has been in the 50’s. The plan is to head toward South Dakota on Wednesday and of course that is suppose to be the nicest day.

Back to Upper Souris River National Wildlife Refuge

I went back to Upper Souris River National Wildlife Refuge Saturday morning May 28th to see try to find some new birds to photograph and to enjoy the different habitats. I went on the auto trail loop and it wasn’t long before I found and photographed a Vesper Sparrow which I found on a hillside prairie that was recently burned despite all the rain they have been having. This guy was really friendly and I was able get lots of photographs. I was just getting ready to try to look for something else in a field on the opposite side of the road and I saw the rain coming.
There were Bobolinks calling in the field and some Clay-colored sparrows but a light mist of rain started to come down and I knew it would not be long before the heavy rain would come so I picked up my gear and headed for the car. I hadn’t put my gear in the car just before the big rain started. I decide to just wait it out and finally after about an hour or so the rain finished and I was back looking for something to photograph. Although I did not find anything new to photograph I spent the whole day there which was great but not as successful as I had hoped. Before I left I did a landscape photograph of a wetland area with thick clouds. All in all it was a nice time with only a little rain but I know it would not be long before the rain starts up again.

Lot’s of water 2

Again excess water is making changes on my route. I went to Upper Souris River National Wildlife Refuge this morning and the main road to into the area was closed to flooding so I went to Des Lacs Nation Wildlife Area.
I talked to an employee at the visitor centre who gave me some information about the Upper Souris and Des Lacs. I was able to get out and walk some today at one of their trails and picked up a couple species of birds as well as a couple landscape pictures. I got the Clay-colored Sparrow and a Black-and White Warbler among a few others. It sure hasn’t been as productive as I would hope it would be. I still have plenty of time but ducks are very skittish and finding areas with the sparrows I want to photograph has been a challenge. Friday is supposed to be about 50% of rain and less on Saturday and Sunday. I will be hanging in this area until Sunday at this point and driving to several of the wildlife areas mentioned above as well as Lostwood National Wildlife Area and hope to pick up some good species in the next few days.