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Hunting trip photography advice.....


Linford

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In a couple of weeks I am going with friends on a bird hunting trip. I'm leaving the shotguns at home and taking my Leica SL. I will be taking the SL with the 24-90, 90-280 and the 50-lux(SL). Any advice would be appreciated as this will be a learning experience for me. Cheers--lt

 

 

 

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If you are not planning on shooting 4K video, 280 is way too short. You need at least 400 to comfortably position yourself close enough to produce anything meaningful. Also, if you have never took bird pics before, remember this fundamental principle: do not try to approach birds, have them come to you. Make a blind, hide, put some bait 20-30 feet away and wait. You may need a diaper depending on resilience of your bladder :)))

Birds have memory, but they cannot count. If you enter the blind, they will know that you are there and won’t come close. Have someone come with you and when he will come out, they will think that you aren’t there either. This is not a joke.

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What sort of birds? Will you have beaters driving the birds towards you? Or will you be in a hide, waiting for water fowl to fly within range (duck calling etc).

 

To be honest, I’d take my shotguns, and put a TL2 and 23 Summicron or similar in my pocket. Mixing activities in this way can be tricky. I know you said you’d leave your shotguns behind, but as you walk out the door, won’t you hear them calling?

 

The obvious stuff is thinking about shooting angles and light angles, time of day, the sorts of shots you want. If it’s early morning water fowl shooting, have your 24-90mm for preparation, atmospheric images, it will also be useful if you want a shooter in the foreground. An easy solution to having a wide range available would be to put the 24-90 on the SL and get a TL2 for the 90-280. You then get an excellent combination 24-90mm and 135-420mm

 

Sounds like fun.

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If you are going waterfowl hunting your best bet is shots (in this case...photos) of the birds coming in to your decoy spread.  For that I think your kit will work well as long as you can keep it dry.  If you are going upland hunting (grouse, woodcock or even pheasant) I think that a kit as heavy as yours will feel like a boat anchor after about 1/2 hour!  Besides that, as fast as the action is in upland bird hunting, you would be lucky to get 2-3 keepers out of an entire day.

Mark

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If you are not planning on shooting 4K video, 280 is way too short. You need at least 400 to comfortably position yourself close enough to produce anything meaningful. Also, if you have never took bird pics before, remember this fundamental principle: do not try to approach birds, have them come to you. Make a blind, hide, put some bait 20-30 feet away and wait. You may need a diaper depending on resilience of your bladder :)))

Birds have memory, but they cannot count. If you enter the blind, they will know that you are there and won’t come close. Have someone come with you and when he will come out, they will think that you aren’t there either. This is not a joke.

Therefore you get the term 'bird brains'.

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What sort of birds? Will you have beaters driving the birds towards you? Or will you be in a hide, waiting for water fowl to fly within range (duck calling etc).

 

To be honest, I’d take my shotguns, and put a TL2 and 23 Summicron or similar in my pocket. Mixing activities in this way can be tricky. I know you said you’d leave your shotguns behind, but as you walk out the door, won’t you hear them calling?

 

The obvious stuff is thinking about shooting angles and light angles, time of day, the sorts of shots you want. If it’s early morning water fowl shooting, have your 24-90mm for preparation, atmospheric images, it will also be useful if you want a shooter in the foreground. An easy solution to having a wide range available would be to put the 24-90 on the SL and get a TL2 for the 90-280. You then get an excellent combination 24-90mm and 135-420mm

 

Sounds like fun.

 

Cropping the sensor area is not the same thing as using a longer lens (sorry for being the Captain Obvious here). Like I said, when shooting 4K video you have no choice, as the camera goes into the Super35 mode. For stills, however, I'd rather get a catadioptric 8/500 than use a cropped sensor. If for some nebulous reason the crop is preferred, SL has APS-C mode among other things, so there is no need to take the TL, which is, unlike theSL, not weather sealed.

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I agree on cropping. That’s why I would take 24MP APS-C sensor on the TL2 over the 10MP crop on the SL.

 

The SL would be my preferred option, no question. Most of the shots shouldn’t need more than 280, I’d guess. But if you need more, the TL2 is small and effective, and certainly better than cropping.

Edited by IkarusJohn
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I agree on cropping. That’s why I would take 24MP APS-C sensor on the TL2 over the 10MP crop on the SL.

 

The SL would be my preferred option, no question. Most of the shots shouldn’t need more than 280, I’d guess. But if you need more, the TL2 is small and effective, and certainly better than cropping.

 

Maybe it sounds a bit counterintuitive, but the size of the sensor matters more than a difference between 10 and 24 megapixels for anything smaller than 11x14". If you do not believe me, shoot the same thing with 24-90 using SL and TL bodies, both at 24mpix, using the same angle of view, print and compare. As great as TL is, the picture taken with it will have less 3D feel, and this will happen only because of its smaller sensor size. Then take the same picture with SL and TL, both in APS-C mode, bring 11x14 and compare. You won't see a difference.

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Cropping the sensor area is not the same thing as using a longer lens (sorry for being the Captain Obvious here). Like I said, when shooting 4K video you have no choice, as the camera goes into the Super35 mode. For stills, however, I'd rather get a catadioptric 8/500 than use a cropped sensor. If for some nebulous reason the crop is preferred, SL has APS-C mode among other things, so there is no need to take the TL, which is, unlike theSL, not weather sealed.

Getting the 500 8.0 is a  step too far really. I own the lens and I can only say that it is really not that good and a crop will normally outperform it.  If you had said one of the old 560 mm Telyts I would agree.

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Maybe it sounds a bit counterintuitive, but the size of the sensor matters more than a difference between 10 and 24 megapixels for anything smaller than 11x14". If you do not believe me, shoot the same thing with 24-90 using SL and TL bodies, both at 24mpix, using the same angle of view, print and compare. As great as TL is, the picture taken with it will have less 3D feel, and this will happen only because of its smaller sensor size. Then take the same picture with SL and TL, both in APS-C mode, bring 11x14 and compare. You won't see a difference.

Actually, no.

 

Same field of view with SL full frame, but taken further back (so, both 24MP), but one with a relatively standard lens, the other slightly telephoto, all other things being equal, same image. The larger sensor, and the longer lens, cancel each other out.

 

Same field of view, one sensor full frame cropped to 10MP the other APS-C 24MP, all other things being equal, you get more resolution with the APS-C, and the same depth of field. Try it in practice, try it with a depth of field calculator, the result is the same.

Edited by IkarusJohn
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