Dear Friends,
Recently I bought new lens for my Canon 7D as a replacement of Canon kit lens. TAMRON 17-50 F/2.8 non-VC. After going through lot of reviews for replacement of kit lens, there were few options Canon 17-55 F/2.8 IS, Canon 17-40 F/4 IS, Canon 16-35 F/2.8 IS and Tamron 17-50 F/2.8. Two canon lenses were currently beyond my budget so I left with two choices Caanon 17-40 F/4 or Tamron 17-50 F/2.8. I though its better to have F/2.8 as many times we struggle with low light situations with wide angle, this is maily true for indoor shots... Also in some reviews i have read Tammy is better in sharpness than Canon 17-40. So despite having dis-advantage of APS-C format lens I decided to get Tammy.
Being always felt bad about low quality of Canon Kit Lens, Canon 70-200 F/4 use to live on my Canon 7D all time. Once I receive Tammy the things changed and even in situation where i would / should have used 70-200 (like in Zoom & Aquarium) I kept shooting with Tamron 17-50.
There are some down sides to this lens..
- The Auto-Focus is slow compared to Canon Kit lens
- It noisy lens
- Zoom ring rotates in opposite directions
But above disadvantages are made to forget by the image quality it delivers !! And the build of the lens is Solid !!!
The images are Sharp, Color Contrast is almost same as Canon 70-200, once on beach when shooting with both lenses it was hard to tell which shot was taken by which lens unless it is obvious by wide angle !!! The Bokeh is Good though not best.
I am quite happy with the lens, and have high expectations in landscape photography.
Following are some of the photos taken with This lens...
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Living upto expectations - Tamron 17-50 F/2.8
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Mill Creek Marsh Birding
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Karnala Bird Sanctury - 6 Feb 2011
Hi Friends,
I have been to Karnala BS on Sunday morning. In my last visit I did missed some prominent birds of Karnala. This time I spend more time sitting near Forest Department Guest House, and had one round on Haryali Trail. Saw more birds and more flycatcher this time. Following is the list of Birds I have seen and few photographs.
1. Red Whiskered Bulbul (शिपाई बुलबुल)
2. Red Vented Bulbul
3. Pompadour Green Pigeon
4. Brown Cheeked Fulvetta
5. Black Drongo (कोतवाल)
6. Ashy Drongo
7. Purple Rumped Sunbird (सूर्यपक्षी)
8. Purple Sunbird (जांभळा शिंजीर)
9. Crimson Backed Sunbird
10. White-rumped Shama
11. Golden Fronted Leaf bird
12. Rufous tailed Shrike
13. Reed Warbler
14. Chestnut Shouldered Patronia (रानचिमणी)
15. Green Barbet
16. Puff Throated Babbler
17. Erasian Golden Oriole (हळद्या)
18. Black Hooded Oriole
19. Common Iora (सुभग)
20. Booted Eagle
21. Tickell's Blue Flycatcher (नीलिमा)
22. Rufous Paradise Flycatcher (शाही बुलबुल)
23. Verditer Flycatcher
24. Black Napped Monarch
25. Green Bea Eater (वेडा राघू)
26. Spotted Dove (ठिपकेदार होला)
27. Common Shrike (खाटीक)
Many photos are not good but posted just for record of observation
Verditer Flycatcher
Verditer Flycatcher
Black Drongo
Black Drongo
Ashy Drongo
Black Napped Monarch
Black Napped Monarch
Puff Throated Babbler
Rufous Paradise Flycatcher
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Brown Cheeked Fulvetta
Purple Sunbird - Male : This is amazing behavior I saw for the first time, Male was making noises and flashing Yellow-Orange Feathers on ( or below) shoulder. I never saw this in any photograph of Purple Sunbird. Not sure if this behavior was to indicate his teretory or to impress female, who was buzy collecting material for nest. Experts may shade more light on this...
Purple Sunbird
Golden Fronted Leaf bird
Pompadour Green Pigeon - Male
Pompadour Green Pigeon - Male
Pompadour Green Pigeon - Female
White Rumped Shama
White Rumped Shama
Common Iora
Booted Eagle
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Comments and Critiques Welcome
Have a Nice day
Sameer
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Visit to Bird Photographer's Fair - Sinhgad Valley - 23rd Jan 2011
Hi Friends,
After half night session of Astrophotography on 22nd Night, Next Morning we (me, Nilesh and Priyanka) went to Sinhgad Valley for Birding. Sinhgad Valley is the area at the base of Sinhgad Fort in Pune and is very Famous for birding. High number of birders go there, as lot of birds are easily seen and photographed here, so many birders are there that I call this place as "Bird Photographer's Fair".
This was my first visit to place and as expected saw many prominent birds.
Following is the List of Birds i saw
1 Red Vented Bulbul (लालबुड्या बुलबुल)
2 Red Whiskered Bulbul (शिपाई बुलबुल)
3 Plum Headed Parakeets
4 Jungle Bablers (रानभाई)
5 Plain Prinia (वटवट्या)
6 Ashy Prinia -(राखाडी वटवट्या) (First time i got acceptable photo of this beauty )
7 Tailor Bird (शिंपी)
8 Rofous Treepie - (टकाचोर) First Time for me
9 Asian Paradise Flycatcher (शाही बुलबुल)
10 Rofous Asian Paradise Flycatcher
11 Verditer Flycatcher
12 Green Bea Eater (वेडा राघू)
13 Purple Sunbirds (जांभळा शिंजीर)
14 Oriental White Eye (चश्मेवाला)
15 Oriental Magpie Robin - Male & Female (दयाळ)
16 Pied Bushchat (कवडा गप्पीदास)
17 Chestnut Shouldered Petronia (रानचिमणी)
18 Spotted Dove (ठिपकेदार होला)
19 Red Throated Flycatcher Female
20 Indian Robin (चीरक)
21 Pond Heron
22 Booted Eagle Pale Morph
23 Blyth's Reed Warbler
24 White Throated Fantail (नर्तक, नाचण)
25 Drongo (कोतवाल)
26 Yellow Wagtail
27 Common Shrike (खाटीक)
28 Small Minivet (निखार)
Following are some of the photos from the Session :
Red Throated Flycatcher Female -
This photo is taken with Canon 70-200 F/4 + Kenko 2x Teleconvetor - with 2x the autofocus dose not work so have to manually focus. This is the first time i have tried 2x also it was first time I tried Monopod (Nilesh's). Its works great. The Quality of 2x teleconvetor is much much better than I expected ! Monopod increased my shake-less photos !!!
: Click on Photos to see Larger Version :
All other photos are with Canon 70-200 F/4 + Kenko 1.5x Teleconvertor + Canon 7D
Oriental Magpie Robin Female (दयाळ)
Pied Bushchat Male (कवडा गप्पीदास)
Oriental White Eye (चश्मेवाला)
Ashy Prinia ( राखाडी वटवट्या )
Green Bea-Eater (वेडा राघू)
Comments and Critiques welcome,
Regards,
Sameer
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Astrophotography - Orion Nebula Core Details...
Dear Friends,
On the Night of 22nd Jan me and Nilesh Desai tried to capture Beautiful Core of Orion Nebula in the Constellation of Orion.
The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across.
The Nebula is in fact part of a much larger nebula that is known as the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex extends throughout the constellation of Orion and includes Barnard's Loop, the Horsehead Nebula, M43, M78 and the Flame Nebula. Stars are forming throughout the Orion Nebula, and due to this heat-intensive process the region is particularly prominent in the infrared.
The Orion Nebula contains a very young open cluster, known as the Trapezium due to the asterism of its primary four stars. Two of these can be resolved into their component binary systems on nights with good seeing, giving a total of six stars. The stars of the Trapezium, along with many other stars, are still in their early years. The Trapezium may be a component of the much-larger Orion Nebula Cluster, an association of about 2,000 stars within a diameter of 20 light years. Two million years ago this cluster may have been the home of the runaway stars AE Aurigae, 53 Arietis, and Mu Columbae, which are currently moving away from the nebula at velocities greater than 100 km/s.
Observers have long noted a distinctive greenish tint to the nebula, in addition to regions of red and areas of blue-violet. The red hue is well-understood to be caused by Hα recombination line radiation at a wavelength of 656.3 nm. The blue-violet coloration is the reflected radiation from the massive O-class stars at the core of the nebula.
The green hue was a puzzle for astronomers in the early part of the 20th century because none of the known spectral lines at that time could explain it. There was some speculation that the lines were caused by a new element, and the name "nebulium" was coined for this mysterious material. With better understanding of atomic physics, however, it was later determined that the green spectra was caused by a low-probability electron transition in doubly ionized oxygen, a so-called "forbidden transition". This radiation was all but impossible to reproduce in the laboratory because it depended on the quiescent and nearly collision-free environment found in deep space.
Orion Nebula is the most observed and photographed object in the Sky. As a matter of fact on September 30, 1880, M42 was the first nebula to be successfully photographed, by Henry Draper. Consequently, on March 14, 1882, Henry Draper obtained a second, better, deeper, and more detailed photograph of the Orion Nebula, a 137-minutes exposure, which also clearly shows M43. Todays advancement in photography allows anyone to get better photos of Orion Nebula than what Henry got in 1882.
Its the object of Beginner Astrophotographers, I bate every astrophotographer starts with M42 as first deepsky object, so do we :D
This is our attempt to show beautiful details of the Core of Orion Nebula, which are normally lost in photos as its get overexposed but visible nicely when observed with Large Telescopes.
Here is the result of our attempt...
Comments and Critiques welcome..
Have a Nice Day
Sameer
