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View Full Version : 'Hogs...and not from Harley



Jim Becker
05-20-2004, 6:14 PM
Spring is here, it appears. A litter of three "Hogletts" (Ground Hog) are out and about. Amazing that they don't exhibit a lot of fear now, but will get more skitish as they get older. This is one of the three on the deck outside our back door. (They are living under the deck with "mom") Good opportunity to play with the new camera.

Chuck Wintle
05-20-2004, 6:47 PM
they are interesting little critters. What will happen when they get older?

Jim Becker
05-20-2004, 6:54 PM
they are interesting little critters. What will happen when they get older?
Groundhogs are territorial, so they will just wander off to find their own space. Besides "mom", we have a male that lives up on the hill under the wane pile. They avoid each other...most of the time but not all, apparently...:rolleyes:

Chris Padilla
05-20-2004, 6:59 PM
Nature calls to all of us...eventually.... :D

jim barter
05-20-2004, 7:56 PM
Jim / There are hogs in our back field as well no babies yet. We do however await the ritual of the mom and pa feeding the youyng birds at the feeders.We get quite a few wood peckers,pilated downt,hairy as well as red breasted groos beaks.There are many other birds as well. Its great inthe spring when the whole yard comes alive
Jim :

Jim Becker
05-20-2004, 8:32 PM
Yes, we have five Chickadee "chickletts" that are about a week from fledging, based on my peek into the box this afternoon. I'll take the last picture tomorrow as it's not good to disturb them once they are so far along.

This year was the first for us to get the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and the males are incredibly beautiful. (Pic below taken outside my office window) We also have mated pairs of cardinals, bluejays; red-belly, hairy and downy 'peckers, two varieties of nuthatches, catbirds, ruby-throat hummingbirds, various finches, etc. Being bird people, we enjoy them a lot.

Julie Wright
05-20-2004, 9:55 PM
Isn't he Cute :) :D

The groundhog that is.
The birdie is Pretty :D

Peter Stahl
05-20-2004, 10:11 PM
Jim,

Camera takes great pics, what brand/model is it? Amazing definition even after you resized it to aprox. 50kb. Do the ground hogs tear up your garden? We have some really big ones at work. One building I used to work at you had to watch for them because they would run from one bush to the other which were on either side of the steps. They would scare the heck out of ya.

Pete

Dan Smith
05-21-2004, 7:45 AM
Jim,

We have Grossbeaks for the first time near us this year as well. Also my in-laws have them up the hill from us. Wonder if it has something to do with weather patterns, or just that we noticed them this year?



-dan

Jim Becker
05-21-2004, 8:36 AM
We have Grossbeaks for the first time near us this year as well. Also my in-laws have them up the hill from us. Wonder if it has something to do with weather patterns, or just that we noticed them this year?
I suspect "ours" were just passing through as they hung out for a week or so, ate well in the feeders and generally hung out. Two males, one female and a juvinal. But I haven't seen them in over a week now...perhaps they moved up to your house! I know that some of Dr SWMBO's online friends in New England say they have them for the season.

Jim Becker
05-21-2004, 8:43 AM
Camera takes great pics, what brand/model is it? Amazing definition even after you resized it to aprox. 50kb. It's a Nikon D70 Digital SLR. It solves two problems that I've had with my other digital camera...the big delay from when you press the button and when the picture gets taken and the abilty to "see" what the camera "sees" before taking the shot. It's great to be back to an SLR again. I haven't used my film-based Nikon in years...literally. My lenses are compatible with the new body and I will be keeping them in addition to the two I bought with the new camera.

The detail that is captured is pretty amazing, but that's to be expected with something like 6 megapixels. After cropping and resizing with Photoshop Elements, the detail is still better than what I was getting before, although my older CoolPix does an excellent job. The smaller camera will still be hanging around (after I get the battery door fixed) as it's easier to throw into my computer bag when I travel on business for quick shots when I visit other woodworkers and their shops along the way.


Do the ground hogs tear up your garden? We have some really big ones at work. One building I used to work at you had to watch for them because they would run from one bush to the other which were on either side of the steps. They would scare the heck out of ya.No. Our garden is fenced in such a way that it even prevents tunneling in to a certain extent. The 'hogs generally eat the grass and clover in the lawn. If they would pay attention more, I wouldn't have to mow. :D

Jason Tuinstra
05-21-2004, 10:46 AM
Jim, you're right about the quality of picture, even at a reduced size. For my Shaker Tall Cabinet I've been taking most of my pictures with my old (yea, go figure 3 years is old) Canon s110 which is a great little camera. I've taken a couple with the dRebel and the difference between the two is stunning as far as detail is concerned.

I usually print out my photo's at Costco because they have all their equipment profiled and downloadable so that what you see on your computer is what you'll see when you get the photos. I've come to know the lady there and she always takes good care of me. She showed me around the lab and how everything works. Pretty cool.

I stepped up to the 512 card. When we take photo's of the kids, it's usually on burst mode and so we burn through the bandwidth. The burst mode on the dRebel only allows four shots and they you have to repress the button. I think your Nikon is limitless to a degree isn't it? I thought I read a side by side comparison between the two and this was one of the differences.

Anyway, you'll have a lot of fun. I find that I spend less time dabbling with Photoshop and more time setting up good shots - or at least what I think is good. The only problem is that I can really only afford one expensive hobby at a time. :D

Here are a couple dRebel pics reduced down to a managable web size.

Jim Becker
05-21-2004, 10:52 AM
3 FPS in continuous shot mode...and yes you can take a bunch really fast! The 256mb memory card can hold 144 shots in "default" mode (large size 3008x2000) & high quality and 252 in "medium" size which is about 2048 pixels wide. Max on the CoolPix 880 is about 1150 wide, so twice the detail can be recorded with the D70. One of the things I really like about digital is the fact that "learning" doesn't require consumables. Yes, the digital cameras are more expensive than film units, but there is no film and processing cost other than any software choices you make. You can shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and then throw out the crap as a learning exercise!

You can see the specs and a review of the D70 at:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond70/

Here's a couple more pics off the new camera; one of our birds (Spike the Cocketiel) and a "flower portrait". These are saved from Photoshop Elements at "low" quality to keep file size down, but are still remarkably crisp, particularly in the forground.

Jim Becker
05-21-2004, 11:50 AM
Jason, here's another one with less compression...Tosca, our Senegal parrot. Her foot is raised as that is how she communicates that she wants to go somewhere...even pointing in that direction. This is in addition to occasionally sayin, "Up"...which originally was our command to her to get up on our hand, but has morphed into HER command to us to do her bidding. Kids! :D

Lee Schierer
05-21-2004, 11:59 AM
Around here we use them for target practice. They are mostly considered a pest and a real hazard for horse owners. They are quite edible. No they don't taste like chicken :D

We also have had a lot of birds through the winter and now in the spring. We have at least three pairs of Orioles, 6 Rose Breasted grossbeaks, countless goldfinshes, chickadees, titmice, 2-3 pairs of cardinals, blackbirds and numerous hummingbirds coming to our feeder. We also have tree swallows and bluebirds in the nesting boxes out back. A couple of wrens have been make a racket outside the bedroom window too so I suspect we will soon find a wren house occupied.

Jim Becker
05-21-2004, 12:02 PM
Lee, have you had the grosbeaks "normally" or just recently? This was the first time in the four springs we've been here to see them. 'Just curious...

You pretty much have what we get, although we haven't seen any tree swallows or Orioles. Got one of the latter the first year for one day, but it "moved on"...

Lee Schierer
05-21-2004, 12:22 PM
We get a couple of grossbeaks each year, but this is the most we've had at one time. We sometimes get the evening grossbeaks in the winter.

Jason Tuinstra
05-21-2004, 12:31 PM
Jim, great detail!!! I'm really impressed with Spike's "spike." You won't get that from 3 mega pix's. I love the fact that your bird is ordering you guys around now. That's a hoot. :D

I've been to dpreview any number of times. Very informative site. The forum for the drebel was very helpful. A lot of people with a lot of advice about lenses and all the rest. I'll have to check out their review of your new digs.

Thanks for the pic's. They look great!

Peter Stahl
05-28-2004, 10:58 AM
Jason,

Jim said He uses Photoshop Elements to resize/crop his pics. What do you use with your Canon? That would be the camera I would get if I get some extra bucks. What lenses do you have? Did you have a SLR rebel before this. I have a old canon slr that I like but like Jim said no consumables. Also knowing what it looks like instantly. Do you need lots of extra batteries with Dig SLR's?

thanks, Pete

Jim Becker
05-28-2004, 11:07 AM
Peter, I can't speak specifically about the Cannon and lense compatibilty, although that might be covered in the DP Reviews site, but Adobe PhotoShop Elements is suitable for editing from any D-Camera. The only thing it will not bring in is most RAW formats which for some reason has been limited to the $700 version of PhotoShop. Not a problem as for the vast group of the unwashed non-pro poplulation...JPG is just peachy.

Battery life? I will say one thing about that. It's AWESOME on the D-SLR I bought. I've been using it for a week and have shot hundreds of pictures, including flash shots. It still reads "full". The batteries on my older digital camera (also Nikon) last for a few dozen shots, especially when flash is involved. Big difference.

Gary Whitt
05-28-2004, 11:29 AM
they are interesting little critters. What will happen when they get older?
They'll end up on the wrong end of a rifle if they wander into farmer's fields!! :D

Great pictures, Jim.
This is the first year that I have had Grosbeaks. They are pretty.
Here is one of my Iris'.

Jim Becker
05-28-2004, 11:33 AM
This is the first year that I have had Grosbeaks. They are pretty. Here is one of my Iris'.Yes, the Grosbeaks are very beautiful. Ours disappeared for a week or so, but the male has been back chomping on safflower seeds just outside my office window the past few days...stuffing his little, err...gros-beak!

Here's your iris shot retouched a little to brighten it up and restore the background colors:

Gary Whitt
05-28-2004, 11:36 AM
KEEEEWEL!

I've got a shade of blue Iris photo I'll send ya when I get home.
I've never seen that color blue on an Iris before.
Maybe you can spin-doctor it as well!

The Grosbeaks have left our area for your area for the summer.
Maybe I'll see them again in the fall.

Jim Becker
05-28-2004, 11:54 AM
I've got a shade of blue Iris photo I'll send ya when I get home. I've never seen that color blue on an Iris before. Maybe you can spin-doctor it as well!
No spinning necessary...this was actually a "one button" fix in Elements for the brightness and color. I then changed the size to 500 pixels wide so it wouldn't distort the forum display and restored detail with another one button sharpness fix. Save and post.

Jim Becker
05-28-2004, 9:55 PM
A few more interesting wildlife pictures...

Glenn Clabo
05-29-2004, 6:30 AM
I'm a Canon guy...
Our favorite little lady has been real busy lately...so this was a tough shot.

Jim Becker
05-29-2004, 8:27 AM
Maud is VERY cute, Glenn. Great shot!!

Jason Tuinstra
05-29-2004, 5:23 PM
Glen and Jim, great shots!!! Jim I especially like that shot of the squirrel.

Pete, I have the kit lens and a Sigma 70mm-300mm. The battery life is excellent. I do have a spare though. Haven't had any complaints so far. Glen's the real expert in this area, so I yeild to whatever he has to say. The 300d came with Photoshop Elements 2.0 and that's what I know. A great little powerhouse program.

Jason

Jim Becker
05-29-2004, 7:00 PM
Yes, that is a young squirrel that was quite bold...he was standing about 6 feet from my feet as Dr SWMBO and I sat in our Adirondack chairs on the deck just outside the kitchen. Using that 70-300mm lense hand-held is a challenge, though, and this was the only one of about five shots that was without "shake". Same squirrel was just outside the powder room window this morning hanging on a bird feeder and pawing at the window to say, "hi" while I "stood there". No more than two feet and two panes of glass separated us.

Peter Stahl
05-30-2004, 10:02 AM
Thanks for the info Jim & Jason. Glenn and Gary, which camera do you have?

thanks, Pete

Glenn Clabo
05-31-2004, 6:20 AM
Thanks for the info Jim & Jason. Glenn and Gary, which camera do you have?
thanks, Pete
Peter,
I have the Canon D60...which you can't buy new anymore. I've been a Canon guy for a long time so I have a collection of "L" lenses. Those big gray ones you see at all the sporting events. They are VERY costly and are the reason I waited until the digitals became good enough. The D60 is 6+ megapixel camera that has become my primary camera. The film bodies I have are collecting dust(and the 50 rolls of film are taking up space in the fidge) .

If you have Canon lenses...and you want to spend less than 1K...take a look at the 300D...the digital Rebel. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos300d/
I also have a friend who shoots a 10D and loves it. It will cost ya ~1.5K though.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos10d/

And finally...Digital photography is a whole new world...you need to know something about computer developing...but it's possibilities are endless. I'm having a ton of fun shooting...and learning new things.

Jim Becker
05-31-2004, 2:49 PM
Glen's mention of lense compatibility is one of the primary factors to look at a particular brand if you've been using an AF film SLR. But do check for the specific compatibility as the latest digital "pro" or "pro-sumer" SLRs will not use every lense ever made for the particular brand you are fond of. A friend of mine who is a pro photographer ran into that when he was considering the Nikon D100 and now, D70...most of his older, specialized lenses, cannot be used. I was fortunate, like Glen, both of my existing lenses are compatible. (And one of the new lenses is not backward compatible as it was designed specifically for digital...)

Jim Becker
06-06-2004, 3:43 PM
Another installment for this little critter...getting bigger.