Gear Up: Vintage Manual Lenses on Mirrorless Digital Cameras
When I got my first dSLR, I started collecting vintage manual lenses to expand my lens collection. How do they hold up on today’s high-res mirrorless cameras?
Wander: Back to Dutch Gap with my New Canon R7!
Dutch Gap Conservation Area is my favorite place in the Richmond area for a nice wildlife hike–always lots to see and hear out there! This time, I headed out with my Canon EOS R7, which I picked up about a month ago. I love my R5, of course, but I found that for wildlife and macro especially, I often missed the 1.6x APS-C crop factor that I was used to from my previous dSLR cameras. So I did some shooting and made a video with my thoughts on the R7 after a month or so. Come along!
Gear Up: Canon RF 800mm + RF 1.4x TC
I wandered to a new-to-me location, the Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery in Charles City, Virginia. I thought it might make a good place to see what I could do with the combination of my 800mm f/11 IS STM and the Canon 1.4x RF teleconverter–would 1120mm and f/16 produce decent results? Come along and see!
Destination: Opening Night 2022 at Kings Dominion’s Halloween Haunt
Last year I only made it to the Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion once, very late in the run. This year I hit it on opening night, and will definitely be going back again. It was a busy night, of course, but I had a ball checking things out. Come along!
Destination: Kayaking Swift Creek Lake at Pocahontas State Park, VA
I enjoyed kayaking when we lived in Florida, but I haven’t done much of that since moving to Virginia. So recently I got myself a new kayak (more on that in a bit), and hope to use it a lot more in the near future! Today I loaded it up for a wander to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield VA, about 20 minutes from home. I hit the waters of Swift Creek Lake for a lovely morning paddle. Come along!
Wander: Pump House Park, ACL Railroad Bridge, and My New Mini 3 Pro!
A few months ago, I decided to sell my DJI Air 2S drone and pick up a new Mini 3 Pro when it came out. I loved how solid the Air 2S was, and I loved its features and image quality–but it was a bit too large and noisy for my taste, so I found …
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Gear Up: Canon RF Long Lens Shootout at Dutch Gap
I’m the lucky owner of both Canon’s RF 800mm f/11 and RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L lenses, so I thought it might be interesting to compare them out in the field, using the Canon RF 1.4x teleconverter to make the 100-500mm a 700mm f/10 lens at the long end. So I packed them up with my R5 …
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Shutterbuggery: Shooting Summer Fireflies
If you live in a place where they can be found, photographing summer fireflies is an interesting challenge. Like astrophotography, it takes a little more work and patience–but the results can be pretty awesome! Living in the Virginia piedmont region, we’ve got lots of fireflies this time of year. I’ve been practicing in my backyard …
Wander: James River Parks, 42nd Street Entrance
The weather’s warm as summer approaches, so yesterday I headed to the James River in Richmond for a short excursion. I visited the 42nd Street Entrance of the park system, which I was surprised to find I’d never been to. It was a nice little wander, and I ended up with some nice photos and …
Wander: Richmond’s Forest Hill Park
I went on an afternoon wander around Richmond VA to check out Forest Hill Park–my first visit to an amazing place!–and get some evening drone views of the Richmond skyline, illuminated for the holiday season. Come along! I was extremely impressed by Forest Hill Park, and frankly a little disappointed I hadn’t checked it out …