Techniques for finding subjects using long telephotos?
May 12, 2019 13:00:33 #
halraiser wrote:
Actually, according to Herrero's book about bear a... (show quote)
Yes, black bears are generally not overly aggressive. I have them in my back yard from time to time. Any wild animal, especially when their young are involved, can be totally unpredictable. A bear, with it's ability to outrun any human and kill any human with a single swipe of it's paw, is not something to get complacent about for the sake of a photo.
May 12, 2019 13:01:59 #
olemikey
Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida
LFingar wrote:
Nice shots, but I hope you are fully aware of the danger of getting near a mother bear and her cubs. They are notoriously unpredictable and violent if they sense a threat. You can't outrun one so don't be tempted to get closer for a better shot.
2nd that one (use care OP).......500mm is still pretty close to a momma bear. When a younger version of myself, I startled a momma wild pig and her little piglets in my backyard, she chased me and nearly was on me, if it hadn't been for my faithful friend and yard dog Xena (the warrior princess) she would have been all over me, Xena saved my bacon (pun intended) that evening!!!
May 12, 2019 13:30:35 #
Floyd wrote:
Like your pictures. Recommend an inexpensive red dot gunsight (about $35.00). After adjusting for parallex(sight sits in hot shoe)this takes your face from behind the camera whereby you do not lose sight of your object/critter. Works great for BIF and will fix your problem.
Yup, works like a charm!
May 12, 2019 13:34:58 #
Gatorcoach wrote:
Wow, a scenario just popped into my head. Out in a field shooting BIF using a laser. A low flying plane or helicopter goes overhead, I go home to find the FBI or other authorities waiting on my doorstep. Hmmm. 
The unit only projects the aiming point on the internal glass, not like the laser pointers for lectures or driving cats crazy.
May 12, 2019 13:58:38 #
May 12, 2019 13:59:27 #
OK, the Nikon and Olympus dot sights made for cameras are expensive ($150 to $200 last I checked) but they have their own built in hot shoe adapter and fold for weather protection and taking up less space.
The ones made for use on guns can be found on Amazon and E-bay for about $18 and up with a hot shoe adapter costing anywhere from $20 to about $50 or so.
The sights are $18 up to hundreds of dollars for a Mil-Spec one. The cheap ones work fine since cameras don't have recoil to rattle them apart.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Red+dot+sight&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Mt Shooter here on UHH sells a good precision adapter for about $30. https://www.cameracottage.com/apps/webstore/ Look under "web store" and scroll down.
One advantage for me of a separate sight and adapter, besides being cheaper, is I can use the sight on a gun at the range.
As I said, I own two sights, two adapters - my older sight is red only but the new one you can pick red or green and both have 4 different styles of "dot". My older adapter was $10 and not all that sturdy but the one I got from MT Shooter is really good. They use common "button" style batteries and because they are so low powered the battery lasts a long time. Both of mine use CR2025 lithium batteries.
They do get knocked out of alignment if I am not careful but I can do a quick field adjustment by setting the camera to center point AF take a picture, check where the AF spot is on the rear screen and do rough adjustments (they come with a small allen wrench) with the wrench or just move the rig by hand. Unless you are using a very long lens and center point AF it just has to get you close, not precision. If the AF point is just knocked off a little - say 6" left at 100 feet I often don't bother to realign, just remember to put the dot a bit to one side.
The ones made for use on guns can be found on Amazon and E-bay for about $18 and up with a hot shoe adapter costing anywhere from $20 to about $50 or so.
The sights are $18 up to hundreds of dollars for a Mil-Spec one. The cheap ones work fine since cameras don't have recoil to rattle them apart.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Red+dot+sight&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Mt Shooter here on UHH sells a good precision adapter for about $30. https://www.cameracottage.com/apps/webstore/ Look under "web store" and scroll down.
One advantage for me of a separate sight and adapter, besides being cheaper, is I can use the sight on a gun at the range.
As I said, I own two sights, two adapters - my older sight is red only but the new one you can pick red or green and both have 4 different styles of "dot". My older adapter was $10 and not all that sturdy but the one I got from MT Shooter is really good. They use common "button" style batteries and because they are so low powered the battery lasts a long time. Both of mine use CR2025 lithium batteries.
They do get knocked out of alignment if I am not careful but I can do a quick field adjustment by setting the camera to center point AF take a picture, check where the AF spot is on the rear screen and do rough adjustments (they come with a small allen wrench) with the wrench or just move the rig by hand. Unless you are using a very long lens and center point AF it just has to get you close, not precision. If the AF point is just knocked off a little - say 6" left at 100 feet I often don't bother to realign, just remember to put the dot a bit to one side.
May 12, 2019 14:01:39 #
https://youtu.be/JlzoU7KhZro
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00STR9K1G/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Olympus Dot Sight EE-1
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00STR9K1G/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Olympus Dot Sight EE-1
May 12, 2019 14:02:22 #
Al K wrote:
For those who use a red dot sight, why does the red dot not show in the photo?
It is only on the glass inside the sight.
May 12, 2019 14:47:00 #
carl hervol
Loc: jacksonville florida
I use a green laser mounted to my flash mound that what I did similar to what I did with my telescope.
May 12, 2019 15:33:30 #
carl hervol wrote:
I use a green laser mounted to my flash mound that what I did similar to what I did with my telescope.
Not the best idea! Wildlife has eyes also... :(
bwa
May 12, 2019 15:49:49 #
May 12, 2019 18:29:57 #
Gatorcoach wrote:
Wow, a scenario just popped into my head. Out in a field shooting BIF using a laser. A low flying plane or helicopter goes overhead, I go home to find the FBI or other authorities waiting on my doorstep. Hmmm.
Mine is not a laser. It's a holographic site and doesn't emit light of any kind.
May 12, 2019 18:50:24 #
Yes, we should respect wild animals. Even a deer can cause serious injury or even death. However, a black bear is not much more dangerous than that deer. Leave the bear alone and it will almost certainly leave us alone. And your story of the wild hog fits, hogs can be very dangerous if they feel threatened or otherwise take a dislike to us. There is a reason that the medieval boar hunts were so dangerous.
May 12, 2019 20:18:38 #
I like the way you think... bigly! good lord who would want to wake up to 500 law enforcement officials hulking over you watching while you sleep … nightmare type stuff going to try it regardless of the danger.
May 13, 2019 03:42:44 #
Hello everyone ,as the other posters said, the red dot laser sight is a good option indeed. Useful in telescopes as in telephoto the red dot sight does NOT project a dot on the target, instead it projects it into the user's eyes :) on a reflecting plate and overlaps it on an image of the target (don't worry, it is low power, and military ones especially are made very carefully such that to not..blind the shooter). Therefore, the aircraft/wildlife/intended target is not even aware of being sighted in such a way as there is no light emitted towards the target wih a red dot sight. Just using a laser pointing at the target directly like in the old movies/ ancient military design from the 90's -that is the problem, as the method projects the said dot/beam on the target and bothers/allerts it. That is why it has been largely discontinued, even in..airsoft/toy guns and that is why telescope finders nowadays use either holographic or red dot sights.
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