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by OntPhoto on Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:29 pm
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Was using the 7D MK2 and a 400 5.6L lens in the dark.  Even with the aid of a small light, the lens kept hunting.  I do not photograph much at night (almost never).  Using 480EX flash.  Any tips?  Photographing birds at night. 
 

by kiwijohn on Fri Mar 11, 2016 11:26 pm
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I regularly photograph nocturnal kiwis and tuataras here in the New Zealand bush at night, using a D800/SB910 flash with a 300mm f2.8 prime.
I attach a 750 lumen LED torch to the lens hood, wired to a switch taped next to the shutter release so I can illuminate the bird, and a fraction of a second after the camera acquires focus, release the shutter.
The torch has a focusable beam, and I set it on the brightest, tightest focus setting. (Pre-align the beam with the telephoto lens field of view beforehand.)
I have tried less powerful torches and slower lenses but the combination above gives reliable results.
Image
Image
 

by Brian E. Small on Sat Mar 12, 2016 2:32 am
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I can highly recommend the small flashlights made by Fenix:

http://www.fenixoutfitters.com/?gclid=C ... fgodBKkL7A


You can either hand hold it on your subject, bring a friend along to do that for you or devise some way to attach it to your lens or flash bracket.
 

by hullyjr on Sat Mar 12, 2016 12:22 pm
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I've been using Fenix flashlights for many years. Here is a link to a set-up from a few years ago:

https://jimhully.smugmug.com/UniquePhot ... ing-night/

Their flashlights are smaller (TK35 is a good example) and I use a Velcro system for attachment to the lens foot. I use a red filter but they are poorly designed and keep dropping off/losing them.

Cheers,

Jim
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Images now at https://www.flickr.com/photos/138068378@N06/
 

by OntPhoto on Sat Mar 12, 2016 11:35 pm
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Thanks kiwijohn, Brian and Jim.  So, pretty much, more focused illumination.  Thanks for the tips and I will have to look into that flashlight.  I was thinking the -3 EV capability of the 7D MK2 would make it easier to autofocus in such dark conditions using only a small LED flashlight. 
 

by OntPhoto on Sun Mar 20, 2016 11:32 pm
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Found a great website on flashlight lighting.  I will be trying the Fenix E41 soon.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?393409

Very good review site.  When I am researching a subject, I go full bore.  .
http://flashlightreviews.ca/recommend.html

PS.  Those NiteCore flashlights look pretty good with a strong throw beam (good for putting a concentrated light on an object) and are cheaper than the Fenix models.  I am not sure yet why people prefer Fenix but more research will shed some light (yes, excuse the pun). 


Last edited by OntPhoto on Sat Mar 26, 2016 12:40 am, edited 4 times in total.
 

by OntPhoto on Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:19 pm
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Did some tests in the dark outdoors.  Compared the Stanley LEDLIS 10W FatBoy which I have owned for several years now, Fenix E41 and Fenix E12.  The Stanley was the brightest at 2000+ lumen.  The Fenix E41 gets the job done even at the 400 lumens setting but also has a turbo mode of 1000 lumens.  The Fenix E12 will help with auto-focus on subjects that have some clear edging to it (like a single branch with the right shape and colour).  I used tree trunks, brush, branches and foliage as test subjects. The Stanley has the whitest coloured light of the three.

The Fenix E41 uses 4 AA batteries which I prefer over some Fenix models that use the more powerful single lithium-ion AA sized battery. 

The Stanley FatBoy is the easiest to use in the dark due to its bright yellow colour, large handle and size.  The FatBoy saved my butt one cold evening a couple  winters ago when I got stuck on some isolated uphill one-way road in the middle of nowhere in the woods. That ordeal lasted about 10 hours. I know the Stanley is reliable, bright and easy to use in the dark. The two Fenix models are black.  Try and find it in the dark :-)  One very annoying thing about the Fenix E41 is trying to locate the ON button in the dark by feel.  But I found a way to reliably find the ON button. There is a groove built into the casing that leads right to the button. So even holding the flashlight in the dark without looking at it, find the groove and the button is just up from there. The smaller E12 has the ON button on the end of the flashlight, so it's easy to find where the button is in the dark. All 3 models have lower lumen settings.
 

by Yendis on Thu May 26, 2016 1:56 am
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OntPhoto wrote:One very annoying thing about the Fenix E41 is trying to locate the ON button in the dark by feel.  But I found a way to reliably find the ON button. There is a groove built into the casing that leads right to the button. So even holding the flashlight in the dark without looking at it, find the groove and the button is just up from there. 
Nice technique!  Same here, difficult to find the On button at first but then when you are so familiar with it, it just becomes natural, this goes for all my equipment, especially when I'm in that need to capture this moment, it's like my fingers already now where the buttons are.  
 

by OntPhoto on Tue May 31, 2016 6:19 pm
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Yendis wrote:
OntPhoto wrote:One very annoying thing about the Fenix E41 is trying to locate the ON button in the dark by feel.  But I found a way to reliably find the ON button. There is a groove built into the casing that leads right to the button. So even holding the flashlight in the dark without looking at it, find the groove and the button is just up from there. 
Nice technique!  Same here, difficult to find the On button at first but then when you are so familiar with it, it just becomes natural, this goes for all my equipment, especially when I'm in that need to capture this moment, it's like my fingers already now where the buttons are.  

Like everything you get used to it the more you use it.  I have a few GoPro cameras and use some as a dash cam.  The original GoPro Hero with the non-removable battery does not have a loop recording feature.  So after every xx hours I have to format the card to erase the data and make room.  I got it down to about 15 to 20 seconds to do the series of button pushes to format the card. 

I have since picked up the new Hero which does have a loop recording feature so I do not even need to format anymore.  I am sure they can enable the loop feature in the original Hero if they wanted with a firmware update.  I also have the Hero3+ model. 

In addition I have a Sony action camera and a number of GoPro knockoff models. The GoPro Hero was manufactured to give customers another option over the knockoffs. 
 

by Mike in O on Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:19 am
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Will your camera focus with a red filter? My older Sony cameras used a red cross pattern similar to distance encoders on flashes. The red is much more suitable for nocturnal creatures as they act more naturally than using a high powered white light.
 

by OntPhoto on Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:04 am
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Mike in O wrote:Will your camera focus with a red filter?  My older Sony cameras used a red cross pattern similar to distance encoders on flashes.  The red is much more suitable for nocturnal creatures as they act more naturally than using a high powered white light.

I am glad you brought that up Mike.  I had been doing some research awhile back and found articles about red light and how nocturnal creatures have a harder time seeing the wavelength.  I thought about getting some red cellophane or something and wrap it around the front of the light.  The Fenix lights have different brightness settings and I mostly choose the lower settings.  If I am just trying to observe their behaviour in the dark, I use a little green light.  You can see quite a lot with just a little illumination.

PS.  I watched a male eastern screech owl bringing food back to the nest over a two week period (off and on) in the dark and occasionally just using a diffused green light to get a better view. The nest hole is much smaller than their daytime roosting hole. The male sits in the roost hole all day long but once it becomes dark, they are very active at the nest bringing food back for the female and young, making 4 to 5 trips in about 20 minutes.

Unfortunately for me, the owls chose the weekend I was out of town for 4 days to fledge.  I did catch the tail end of it.  It was an educational experience for me. Observations made this spring will help me for next year.

A doable goal but extremely difficult is to find a northern saw-whet owl nest.  I want to see the juvenile birds because they have this unique and super cute look to them with the chocolate brown facial feathers.  One day, hopefully.

I enjoy reading old birding stories and how some people did things back then.  You learn a lot.  There was one story about how this one fella went about looking for northern saw-whet owl roosts and nests.  From that story I learned about the difference in behaviour between the eastern screech owl and the northern saw-whet owl.  Very useful knowledge.
 

by ChrisRoss on Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:19 pm
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I don't think red cellophane will cut it, unless it is specifically designed for it it will leak a lot of other wavelengths. Ideal would be a red LED torch, the wavelength is quite tight in the red. Leaking other wavelengths means it will still be visible. A lot of torches have red filter options which should be better, better still would be a red LED where all the light emitted is red in a tight wavelength range. AF systems are normlly very sensitive in the red.
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by OntPhoto on Wed Jun 15, 2016 11:23 pm
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ChrisRoss wrote:I don't think red cellophane will cut it, unless it is specifically designed for it it will leak a lot of other wavelengths.   Ideal would be a red LED torch, the wavelength is quite tight in the red.  Leaking other wavelengths means it will still be visible.  A lot of torches have red filter options which should be better,   better still would be a red LED where all the light emitted is red in a tight wavelength range.   AF systems are normlly very sensitive in the red.

Thanks Chris.  I will check this out.  Interesting that you mention AF systems being normally very sensitive in the red.  My Panasonic FZ200 is able to focus in very low light with the built-in pop-up flash enabled.  I always see this reddish colour being emitted when trying to AF.  I am not sure what is creating this reddish light from the FZ200 when using the built-in flash.

My old Sony tape camcorders had a Night Vision mode and one of them even has a Super Night Vision mode.  I can aid the strength of this Infrared(?) light by using IR flashlights (was planning to video-tape owls at night).  The new digital Sony camcorders also have a Night Shot mode.
 

by Mike in O on Thu Jun 16, 2016 4:21 pm
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I remember the Polaroid sx70 could focus by ultrasound (that should really get a reaction from owls)
 

by OntPhoto on Fri Jun 17, 2016 9:30 pm
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Mike in O wrote:I remember the Polaroid sx70 could focus by ultrasound (that should really get a reaction from owls)

I read your post and it got me thinking Mike.  That's always a good thing :-)

I confess to not knowing much about what owls can hear except for what I have read; that they have very sensitive hearing and can hear rodents running below snow or from far away.  So, this got me to Googling (learning) and I might be wrong but can owls hear ultra high frequency sounds?  Since I am into owls, I was curious too.

PS.  I had a Polaroid a long time ago (aging myself here).

Can birds hear ultrasonic frequencies?

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9244262.htm

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/publications/04pubs/beason041.pdf

https://www.herrmannultraschall.com/en/what-is-ultrasonic/
 

by Mike in O on Sat Jun 18, 2016 9:29 am
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Here is a graph I googled up
http://www.owlpages.com/owls/articles.php?a=6
 

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