High-end bridge cameras: Sony RX10, Panasonic FZ1000 etc

Clear Image Mode - have just discovered this at long last its amazing, shame cannot use RAW with it. Does anyone know what sort of focal length it produces as in the EXIF data it doesn't go above 600mm
I believe it goes up to 1200mm by adding digital zoom - from what I have read it’s basically the same as cropping a jpeg in post.
 
Gosh that seems quite a difference. Obviously handholding at that sort of length is harder, be interesting to do a test of basic 600mm handheld and cropped against the Clear Image Zoom

I've never used it and have to be honest I didn't even know it existed.

A comparison test with the basic lens shot at full bore and cropped and the Clear Image Shot at 1200mm I would imagine that the noise etc would be about the same if both shot in JPG of course. But unless a photographers technique is extremely good I would expect the 600mm image cropped to be sharper purely because I would expect there to be less camera shake in that shot if that makes sense. Just my theory.
 
I have a buddy back home in the States that used to be a lens designer for a very prominent company and now he produces specialist bespoke lenses to order. Needless to say they are expensive if you don't know him.:) Anyway a time or two back I approached him on knocking up a couple of auxiliary lenses for my RX10M4 which he did. One being a Macro attachment that can get me as close as 2-1 (twice life size) with the basic lens set at approximately 90mm, It will go closer than that but the working distance then becomes unacceptably close. With the basic lens set to at approximately 200mm it produces an image of 1-1 (life size) with no vignetting at either of those magnifications.

The other lens that I asked him to knock up for me is a Wide Angle attachment which can get me an equivalent angle of view down to approximately 15mm in FF terms with the basic lens set to approximately 50mm. It will go wider than that but distortions start to set in at about the 40mm setting which to me is unacceptable.

In both cases these screw on adapter lenses are extremely good optically and its very difficult to see any drop in sharpness quality from the basic lens. I had to make & machine the mounts for these lenses to screw them onto my camera but as there is no mechanical parts to worry about the task was pretty easy.

So what we have here is a Macro attachment that can be worked comfortably down to twice life size and a Wide Angle Attachment that can give me comfortably from 15mm FF equivalent right up to 600mm FF equivalent with one Bridge Camera and a couple of screw on attachments.

Results will eventually find their way on to this thread in the near future, but I've recently started to post some of them on to my Flickr stream if anyone wanted to take a look.
 
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I've never used it and have to be honest I didn't even know it existed.

A comparison test with the basic lens shot at full bore and cropped and the Clear Image Shot at 1200mm I would imagine that the noise etc would be about the same if both shot in JPG of course. But unless a photographers technique is extremely good I would expect the 600mm image cropped to be sharper purely because I would expect there to be less camera shake in that shot if that makes sense. Just my theory.

I agree with your theory totally - and for what its worth I did not pick up on it being available until I saw it somewhere online, just a shame it cannot be used with RAW
 
I've never used it and have to be honest I didn't even know it existed.

A comparison test with the basic lens shot at full bore and cropped and the Clear Image Shot at 1200mm I would imagine that the noise etc would be about the same if both shot in JPG of course. But unless a photographers technique is extremely good I would expect the 600mm image cropped to be sharper purely because I would expect there to be less camera shake in that shot if that makes sense. Just my theory.
Surely if you crop the 600mm image to give the same effective magnification, the camera shake will be identical?
 
Surely if you crop the 600mm image to give the same effective magnification, the camera shake will be identical?

You may well be correct, I honestly don't know, that is why I put (I would expect the cropped 600mm shot to be sharper).
 
You may well be correct, I honestly don't know, that is why I put (I would expect the cropped 600mm shot to be sharper).

I know with my main camera a Canon, the longer the lens the more likely I am to get camera shake unless supported on a tripod because of the weight. Although with the Sony the lens is at the 600mm maximum length, if you look at live view or through the viewfinder the slightest movement is definitely more noticeable in the 1200mm image when handheld
 
yep nice
 
Just a simple Snapograph taken at Dungeness Romney Marsh Kent UK of part of an old winching system that was used for hauling the boats or catch up the beach. This is just one of the many old things scattered about the beach that have just been left behind. I've deliberately gone for a higher contrast gritty look for this snap to emphasize the rot & decay etc.
I'm also working on a personal project called Things Left Behind and this will be one of the shots included.

RX10M4, 1/80th @ F5.6, ISO-100, Handheld.
Discarded (2)-03509ip by G.K.Jnr., on Flickr

:ty: for looking., (y)
 
Just a simple Snapograph taken at Kent UK of a Local Church Tower that should have had two bells, but apparently according to the info inside the church the construction was never completed due to lack of finance, so it ended up with only one bell.
I've deliberately gone for a higher contrast gritty look for this snap to emphasize the various textures.

RX10M4, 1/500th @ F5.6, ISO-200, Handheld.
Local Church Tower-03512 by G.K.Jnr., on Flickr

:ty: for looking., (y)
 
It's not something I know a huge amount about but there are definitely a few things you can try to make it easier. This article has some good tips: - http://cameraergonomics.blogspot.com/2018/10/photographing-birds-in-flight-with-sony.html

It is hard though - especially at longer focal lengths - so don't be surprised if your hit rate is low :)

Highlights from the above article:

* Lens focal length. I find 300-400mm (equivalent) often useful. 600mm is usable but requires a lot of practice just to keep the bird in the frame. Any longer will not be useful for most birds in flight.
* ISO (C1) Auto.
* ISO AUTO MIN SS (C2) Faster.
* P Mode.
* Focus Area (C3) for bird-against-sky I use Wide. This is to allow the camera to focus on the bird anywhere in the frame.
For bird-against-background I use Flexible Spot L in the center of the frame. This is because [Wide] will focus on background trees, foliage and similar.
* Function Button items: AWB, DRO Auto, Center Lock-on AF OFF, Shutter type Auto, Creative Style -2, 0, 0, Metering Mode Multi, Grid lines OFF.
* Steady shot (cross keys left) ON.
* Drive Mode (cross keys right) Continuous Mid (10fps). Why not continuous High (24 fps) ? This after all is the RX10Mk4’s party trick which no other camera can do.
There are two reasons I stay with the 10fps speed.
First, 24 fps generates so many frames so quickly they become a burden when time comes to review them in post.
Second, I get a slightly higher keeper rate at 10fps.
* Quality (cross keys down), I have tried both RAW and JPG X-Fine. JPG allows you to shoot more frames in a burst but RAW allows more control of highlight and shadow detail, sharpness…etc in post processing.
* Disp (cross keys up) Clear the screen. Level gauge off, on-screen data OFF, grid lines OFF.
* I activate AF with the shutter button. I do not use back button focus. Others like to use the AEL button to initiate focus. But I find that the process of capturing BIF is demanding enough without having to remember to press two buttons.
* Focus Mode rotary controller. That is the sneaky little dial bottom left on the front of the camera which I frequently forget to change because it is out of sight and therefore out of mind. Turn it to C.
 
It's not something I know a huge amount about but there are definitely a few things you can try to make it easier. This article has some good tips: - http://cameraergonomics.blogspot.com/2018/10/photographing-birds-in-flight-with-sony.html

It is hard though - especially at longer focal lengths - so don't be surprised if your hit rate is low :)

Highlights from the above article:

* Lens focal length. I find 300-400mm (equivalent) often useful. 600mm is usable but requires a lot of practice just to keep the bird in the frame. Any longer will not be useful for most birds in flight.
* ISO (C1) Auto.
* ISO AUTO MIN SS (C2) Faster.
* P Mode.
* Focus Area (C3) for bird-against-sky I use Wide. This is to allow the camera to focus on the bird anywhere in the frame.
For bird-against-background I use Flexible Spot L in the center of the frame. This is because [Wide] will focus on background trees, foliage and similar.
* Function Button items: AWB, DRO Auto, Center Lock-on AF OFF, Shutter type Auto, Creative Style -2, 0, 0, Metering Mode Multi, Grid lines OFF.
* Steady shot (cross keys left) ON.
* Drive Mode (cross keys right) Continuous Mid (10fps). Why not continuous High (24 fps) ? This after all is the RX10Mk4’s party trick which no other camera can do.
There are two reasons I stay with the 10fps speed.
First, 24 fps generates so many frames so quickly they become a burden when time comes to review them in post.
Second, I get a slightly higher keeper rate at 10fps.
* Quality (cross keys down), I have tried both RAW and JPG X-Fine. JPG allows you to shoot more frames in a burst but RAW allows more control of highlight and shadow detail, sharpness…etc in post processing.
* Disp (cross keys up) Clear the screen. Level gauge off, on-screen data OFF, grid lines OFF.
* I activate AF with the shutter button. I do not use back button focus. Others like to use the AEL button to initiate focus. But I find that the process of capturing BIF is demanding enough without having to remember to press two buttons.
* Focus Mode rotary controller. That is the sneaky little dial bottom left on the front of the camera which I frequently forget to change because it is out of sight and therefore out of mind. Turn it to C.


That's a very interesting read Mike and thank you for posting it together with the link. It's something that I am interested in getting into on a casual basis. The one other problem I have here is getting the birds towards a regular area for photography, I have plenty of my own land here with some of it being a small area of woodland so there's no shortage of birds & other wildlife. But it would make things easier if I could attract the birds to a regular area but that's something I don't know quite how to do, if I did I could maybe set up a hide of some sort to try and keep out of sight.
 
It's not something I know a huge amount about but there are definitely a few things you can try to make it easier. This article has some good tips: - http://cameraergonomics.blogspot.com/2018/10/photographing-birds-in-flight-with-sony.html

It is hard though - especially at longer focal lengths - so don't be surprised if your hit rate is low :)

Highlights from the above article:

* Lens focal length. I find 300-400mm (equivalent) often useful. 600mm is usable but requires a lot of practice just to keep the bird in the frame. Any longer will not be useful for most birds in flight.
* ISO (C1) Auto.
* ISO AUTO MIN SS (C2) Faster.
* P Mode.
* Focus Area (C3) for bird-against-sky I use Wide. This is to allow the camera to focus on the bird anywhere in the frame.
For bird-against-background I use Flexible Spot L in the center of the frame. This is because [Wide] will focus on background trees, foliage and similar.
* Function Button items: AWB, DRO Auto, Center Lock-on AF OFF, Shutter type Auto, Creative Style -2, 0, 0, Metering Mode Multi, Grid lines OFF.
* Steady shot (cross keys left) ON.
* Drive Mode (cross keys right) Continuous Mid (10fps). Why not continuous High (24 fps) ? This after all is the RX10Mk4’s party trick which no other camera can do.
There are two reasons I stay with the 10fps speed.
First, 24 fps generates so many frames so quickly they become a burden when time comes to review them in post.
Second, I get a slightly higher keeper rate at 10fps.
* Quality (cross keys down), I have tried both RAW and JPG X-Fine. JPG allows you to shoot more frames in a burst but RAW allows more control of highlight and shadow detail, sharpness…etc in post processing.
* Disp (cross keys up) Clear the screen. Level gauge off, on-screen data OFF, grid lines OFF.
* I activate AF with the shutter button. I do not use back button focus. Others like to use the AEL button to initiate focus. But I find that the process of capturing BIF is demanding enough without having to remember to press two buttons.
* Focus Mode rotary controller. That is the sneaky little dial bottom left on the front of the camera which I frequently forget to change because it is out of sight and therefore out of mind. Turn it to C.


Hiya

Many thanks for this will try all of these out. I think I already agree with your comment about RAW, as although one of my trial shots I used RAW for and was stull unacceptable, proved that I could edit it slightly better than the similar shot taken in JPEG fine

You will know when I get this right as the pictures will be posted here for sure :);)
 
That's a very interesting read Mike and thank you for posting it together with the link. It's something that I am interested in getting into on a casual basis. The one other problem I have here is getting the birds towards a regular area for photography, I have plenty of my own land here with some of it being a small area of woodland so there's no shortage of birds & other wildlife. But it would make things easier if I could attract the birds to a regular area but that's something I don't know quite how to do, if I did I could maybe set up a hide of some sort to try and keep out of sight.

This was one of the problems I was thinking about, as previously being restricted to walks for photographing birds. Mentioned this to my wife and she said well lets put some feeders up and a decent birdhouse in the garden, so we finally did this last week.

Got it all setup such that I can put my camera on a tripod and capture images through one of our windows with a decent degree of success once I got the exposure right (this was without using a polarising filter at this stage). We have been surprised how many different birds have visited the garden as a consequence which we had not noticed too much before in just a matter of days, its also interesting to see which ones are most confident and which are easily spooked by the slightest movement or noise.
 
This was one of the problems I was thinking about, as previously being restricted to walks for photographing birds. Mentioned this to my wife and she said well lets put some feeders up and a decent birdhouse in the garden, so we finally did this last week.

Got it all setup such that I can put my camera on a tripod and capture images through one of our windows with a decent degree of success once I got the exposure right (this was without using a polarising filter at this stage). We have been surprised how many different birds have visited the garden as a consequence which we had not noticed too much before in just a matter of days, its also interesting to see which ones are most confident and which are easily spooked by the slightest movement or noise.


That's very interesting Andrew, and thank you for posting.

I'd be interested to know what sort of feeds etc you have in the feeders. I'm not really interested in erecting a birdhouse etc as these can obviously shield the birds from photography. I might think about erecting a bird table though with with some sort of shield on the stand to stop things like squirrels from climbing it. The only problem I can envisage with that is although my place is quite a few miles inland from the sea I still get quite a few gulls visiting and once those things know there's food about they'll be regular visitors and be helping themselves to anything available.
 
Basically with bird food I would avoid normal seed as it will just attract pigeons .. use white hearts for small finches and just get the appropriate feeder or feeders for them .. no need for a table simply hang them from a nice branch . And separate to that get some fat balls again with the correct feeder and hang from a adjacent tree ..,starlings,long tailed tits ,blue tits etc,
Once set up for a day or two take along a chair ,wear camo or dark clothing and sit and wait once there hungry enough they will ignore you .. or do my trick and hang the feeders near a quiet stretch of road and use the car as a hide
 
That's very interesting Andrew, and thank you for posting.

I'd be interested to know what sort of feeds etc you have in the feeders. I'm not really interested in erecting a birdhouse etc as these can obviously shield the birds from photography. I might think about erecting a bird table though with with some sort of shield on the stand to stop things like squirrels from climbing it. The only problem I can envisage with that is although my place is quite a few miles inland from the sea I still get quite a few gulls visiting and once those things know there's food about they'll be regular visitors and be helping themselves to anything available.

A few years ago when we had a bird table with a little shelter on top, we had seagulls coming to it and pigeons, we stopped that by putting a strand of string around the shelter midway from its roof and floor, and it was enough to dissuade them. My wife took advice from the local pet shop and in the plastic feeders its a wild bird seed mix, in the wire feeders its a mix of nuts and similar they sold, and dried mealworms for putting anywhere.
 
Basically with bird food I would avoid normal seed as it will just attract pigeons .. use white hearts for small finches and just get the appropriate feeder or feeders for them .. no need for a table simply hang them from a nice branch . And separate to that get some fat balls again with the correct feeder and hang from a adjacent tree ..,starlings,long tailed tits ,blue tits etc,
Once set up for a day or two take along a chair ,wear camo or dark clothing and sit and wait once there hungry enough they will ignore you .. or do my trick and hang the feeders near a quiet stretch of road and use the car as a hide


Many thanks for that Jeff, that's very useful and much appreciated.
 
A few years ago when we had a bird table with a little shelter on top, we had seagulls coming to it and pigeons, we stopped that by putting a strand of string around the shelter midway from its roof and floor, and it was enough to dissuade them. My wife took advice from the local pet shop and in the plastic feeders its a wild bird seed mix, in the wire feeders its a mix of nuts and similar they sold, and dried mealworms for putting anywhere.

Many thanks for that Andrew, that's very useful and much appreciated.
 
Trouble with bird tables etc ,is there not natural if you get a feeder with say four ports ,leave it hanging on a branch for a few days ,then when there used to it ,and your ready for pics tape 3 of the ports up with gaffer tape and the birds will sit on branches to wait there turn
 
Just a simple candid street style Snapograph taken of a guy sitting on some steps at Trafalgar Square London UK and looking as if he's Just Sitting Thinking.

RX10M4, 1/400th @ F5, ISO-200, Handheld.
Just Sitting Thinking-03511 by G.K.Jnr., on Flickr

:ty: for looking., (y)
 
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