Jersey Digiscoping with Kowa Prominar

Old Blue

2012-01-28T15:27:00.000-05:00

This Winter has been extremly mild with temps being on the average 45 to 50 ,,and with the Ice non exist giving plenty of oops for Great Blue Herons to search for food .

This Heron had plenty of Fishing Room at a small pond with no other waders in sight he was the king and will have plenty of fuel for more cold days ahead in Febuary.

Song Sparrows and Goldfinches

2012-01-14T21:05:00.000-05:00

Here is some more Canon S100 captures at the Meadowlands ,,it seems like a good choice and I will be using this cam for a good deal of my work.

IMG_0689House Sparrow 2

2012-01-05T17:14:00.001-05:00

IMG_0689House Sparrow 2, a photo by kevinbolton56 on Flickr.

This guy looks like he has been around the block a few times.

More Test with the Canon S100

2012-01-02T14:32:00.002-05:00

Today I decided with better light to work with small Xmas decoration Birds about the Size of a Chickadee today I lowered the ISO to 80 and work at about a distance of 20 to 25 feet.

The first capture is RAW format so since I don't use CS5 I had to download the Adobe DNG converter which will do the trick on unsupported Camera models.

If you noticed a little motion blur that was from the High wind gust today, along with the perch I set up moving side to side.

The Canon Powershot S100

2012-01-01T12:51:00.003-05:00

Hello and Happy New Year,, I decided to go all out and Purchase the Canon S100 partially from seeing my friend Yoshiharu Ishimari postings and captures with this cam http://translate.google.co.jp/translate?hl=ja&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.digisco.jp%2F,, I was quite impressed with the low noise and image quality so I picked one up and took it out for a go with some common species ,,and what a day with the weather overcast with low light perfect for testing the higher ISO settings which I had set at 320.

The Last capture of the Female Mallard was full size with no Sharpening, so in summary I think we have a winner .
A different feature on this camera that had me really excited was a that you can manually move the focus area around the screen unlike the Canon S90/95 which is fixed in the center, there I was sold on it,and considering the5x optical zoom it only took me 2 clicks on the 30 wide eyepiece to clear the vignetting , I will try the 20/60 Zoom soon and see if it only takes around 3 to 4 clicks to achieve the same goal,which will open the door for Digiscopers that use the Zoom eyepieces.

New P.C better color managment

2011-12-29T14:30:00.001-05:00

Hello ,,
I just recieved my new H.P envy with High resolution Screen and what a difference it makes when editing with CS4 ,the colors are so much more true and I don't have to play the guessing game on my images. here are some new samples.

End of the year roundup

2011-12-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

I finally got out in the field again after getting over a sinus infection so to keep it safe I stayed local with spending some time at the NJAS along with the Meadowlands ,,, in the process of hitting my second location I stirred up some of my chasing instinct with a tip on the list serve about a Greater White Fronted Goose hanging at a park in Hackensack with some Canada"s ,, by the time I arrived it was nothing but Canada Geese so I ended up shooting to the Meadows.

I brought the CanonSD4000IS out with me this time and it still proves to be a good Digicam as you can see in this Northern Cardinal and White Throat Sparrows feather detail.

When I arrived at the Meadowlands the weather went down Hill very fast but did manage to get a Green Winged Teal distance was about 150 feet .

Along with Northern Shoveler s of various ages.

House Finch tight crop Nikon D7000

2011-12-08T06:42:00.001-05:00

Eagles on Thanksgiving day Jetty Hopping

2011-12-01T06:32:00.007-05:00

Hello all ,I had a great 2 days of Digiscoping plus Kowa Telephoto 500mm shooting too.

I always wanted to include this first location in my Photography jaunts but I never got around to it ,this first run of the Conowingo was a definite learning curve with Flight shots ,, and I did a few things correct and on the other side a few wrong but thats ok I had a blast.

It was a long three hour drive with Thanksgiving traffic at its worst on the way home which turned it into four hours ,, but as soon as I hit that stretch of 222 through Port Deposit Maryland a quaint little village and stated to see my target Bald Eagle perched along the River Bank the trip seemed well rewarded .

On Saturday I went to Barnegat Inlet and walked the Jetty and since the temps were in the upper Fifties , the Jetty was Loaded with pedestrians and spoilers of great shots of Harlequin Ducks"s but I did manage one capture along with Purple Sandpipers Dunlin"s and Ruddy Turnstones.

Some Kowa Telephoto LensScope 500mm/5.6 captures

2011-11-12T15:59:00.000-05:00

Today was a bit uneventful with my search for flight shots of Raptors so I had to settle for some Common Stuff with a cool dribbling shot of a Mallard enjoy.

Cape May Fall Weekend /Sandy Hook

2011-11-06T14:43:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the late blogging folks but I have been so busy ,, but I did have I great time at the Cape May Autumn weekend with only 1 bad day of weather .
As far as equipment I used the new Kowa Telephoto lens/scope about 50% of the time along with Point and Shoot Digiscoping, a Special thanks to Jim Danzenbaker and Ray Goeke for the great company and keeping the weekend interesting.

High points of the weekend was no doubt some great captures I got of the Rufous Hummingbird at the Goshen Audubon center.

This was a Bird I have not seen since the early 80"s late 70"s in Southern California ,,this Rufous was Digiscoped with the Kowa 884/30wide eyepiece / CanonS90.

There was plenty of Yellowrumps around to keep my Warbler Digiscoping juices going .

Also a good # of Blackpolls in the area this was my first Digiscoped capture of one.

Next I had a go with the Kowa 500/5.6 Lens with the NikonD7000 combo on some flight shots and sitting Gulls and Shorebirds. Like these Black Skimmers.

Sanderlings also provided some great captures as you can see the lighting was getting better I got some nice shutter speeds with the 500 5.6.

This Lesser Black Backed Gull was a first for me to Photo a fine adult Bird no mistaking this guy

Golden Crowned Kinglets along Blackpoll Warblers gave me some great views with the Kowa 500/5.6

The Hawk flight was great at the Cape but with the variety of Birds I had option anxiety but I did manage some Sharp Shinned Hawk flight shots with the Kowa Lens

Now onto Sandy Hook ,,my intentions for the trip was to find a Harris's Sparrow but my time consuming Eastern Bluebird captures I think spoiled that deal O well 1 lifer lost is not to bad I did manage some nice Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Bluebirds and White Throat Sparrows wit the Kowa 884 / 30wide Eyepiece S90 combo..

Cape May Autumn weekend

2011-10-27T05:18:00.002-04:00

Hello all I will be at the Cape May Fall Weekend with Kowa till Sunday , I should not be out in the field Digiscoping too much ,, but the Birding looks like it might be in favor,so if you are in the area stop by and give a shout, I should be doing some kind of demonstration with the Telephoto lens scope too, looking forward to seeing old and new friends .

http://www.birdcapemay.org/autumn.shtml

Kevin

Some new captures

2011-10-10T18:51:00.001-04:00

Hi sorry I have not been posting latlely ,, I have been very busy but I promise that will change soon.
Lately the Birding has not been so good as I have seen but I did manage some new Common Bird captures with the TSN-884/30WIDE/CanonS90

My time with the Kowa Telephoto lens 500mm 5.6

2011-09-18T05:18:00.001-04:00

I had this lens for about 2 weeks now and I am quite impressed with the contrast and Sharpness I am in the beginning stages of manual focusing but slowly getting the feel for it.

Of course 500mm is no comparason to 1000 to 4000mm in Digiscoping but this setup with the Nikon D7000 can be good for flight shots and close ups with a close focus of about 10 feet makes it ideal for that so I included Hawk watch shots and Audubon captures with this segment.

Black Crowned Night Heron JUV

2011-08-06T14:29:00.003-04:00

I ventured out on a overcast day to Mill Creek Marsh today expecting alot of Peeps and Shorebirds on migration ,, but I guess the Southerly winds hampered that action, but I did find a very trusting Juv Black Crowned Night Heron, the first shot was at about 50 feet and the second a jogger spooked him off, and the distance was at about 200 feet ahh the magic of Digiscoping.

Jerseydigiscoping 3 years /There on the move Fall migration.

2011-07-15T05:03:00.004-04:00

Wow it's that time again break out the noise makers and fan fair ,, all kidding aside folks thanks to all on supporting JerseyDigiscoping, I really appreciate the Questions and love helping Beginners to Experts alike,and you guys helped me in the past with some decisions on equipment or just life and that is just plain excellent.

On the Birding/Digscoping front I noticed Marsh Wrens are really singing up a storm and had this beauty.

Fall insn"t to far behind would you say I seen an increase of Yellow Warblers with nice amount of immature Birds flickering around.

Out with the Herons and Swallows

2011-07-05T19:54:00.003-04:00

I was at Mill Creek Marsh at the perfect tide with no Peeps around on there southbound journey I found a nice group of Snowy Egrets slashing through the local Killie population.

And to my Surprise I found a beautiful Yellow Crowned Night Heron Hunting Crabs this gave my a great chance to work on my manual focusing with the Nikon D7000 .

As my morning was coming to a end I did manage some Tree Swallow captures before the heat of the day took over.

Out in the field with the D300s

2011-06-25T16:21:00.002-04:00

I went to the Meadowlands to test the Nikon D300s , the lighting was sub-par but did manage a few decent captures.

Nikon D300s vs Nikon D7000

2011-06-23T06:41:00.000-04:00

I am at a crossroads on making a decision on a DSLR camera to use with the Kowa 883 , I did manage to make a few test shots the first is with the D300S of my trusty Sage Grouse.

The next s a Baltimore Oriole taken with the Nikon D7000 both captures were taken in RAW format and post processed.

In conclusion although the D7000 has 16mp compared to the D300s 12mp the D300s has better image quality and contrast hence my choice is the Nikon D300s.

More Sony-ALT-55 Captures

2011-06-11T19:44:00.003-04:00

Canon EOS7D overcast

2011-05-30T19:12:00.002-04:00

I went to the NJAS for some feeder Birds to fine toon my DSLR focusing technique, the neutral setting on the CanonEOS 7D sharpening is negative so you can add many levels of Unsharpen mask to a Raw file.

Sony ALT-55

2011-05-30T05:48:00.006-04:00

I recently have been using the Sony ALT-55 featuring translucent mirror technology.
I think this SLR has less mirror slap than the CanonEOS7D along with the Nikon D700S, giving less blurred shots at a Shutter Speed below 1/500th of a second , another great feature is being able to magnifies the image with the viewfinder which is great for tuning the focus in, here are some samples.

Kowa BD series Binoculars in Camo close out price.

2011-05-25T19:29:00.001-04:00

I recently asked Jim D of Kowa I need a pair compact Binoculars that are easy on my neck when carrying all of my scope plus backpack full of gear and he gave me a pair of the BD-series 10x32 in camo ,what a great choice for being lite weight not to mention the Crystal clear viewing all of Kowa's products provide.
The Standard BD series painted in camo same coating as the original are available at a close out price if interested contact Jim Danzenbaker jimd@kowa.com.

Vacation Warbler Roundup

2011-05-15T07:55:00.003-04:00

Now that my so called vacation is at the tail end , I think I a great Round up of Warblers to fit in my catalog,not to mention me and Jim Danzenbaker Sales Manager of Kowa Optics had a terrific outing along the powerline trail off Ironwood drive one of the only Golden Winged Warbler Hotspots that has not been molested by the Power authority with there clear cutting , here are some captures from Iron Wood.

Some of my best capture's were my Chestnut Sided Warblers , in which I did not have the Hood Loop on my LCD screen Jim was using hit to ward of the bright lite to obtain a Blue Winged Warbler capture.

Also there plenty of Blue Winged Warblers and Ruby Throated Humming birds for entertainment.

On Another outing I ventured Down to Robert Stahl Park in Bedminister a great location for breeding Prairie Warblers .

In a summary I think this years Migration was a bit week ,making me rely on the breeding Zones for about 75% of my captures.

Yellow Warblers

2011-05-08T19:55:00.004-04:00

A great compliment to my Blue Winged Warbler series would be some Yellow Warblers yes they are more common but certainly not lacking in the brilliance department .