Bird Photography with LF

[interneg]

Here's the Hosking 1/4 plate & serious strobe setup.

Hasselblad made a lot of kit for full-scale remote operation of their cameras (for more profitable purposes than deep-pocketed birders - despite Victor Hasselblad's own ornithological interests) too.

[Drew Wiley]

Well, Eliot did it with comparatively slow film and far more antiquated equipment, and did it especially well; so it must be feasible today too.

[xkaes]

Not impossible but ridiculously difficult.

That's what they tried to tell Shackleton.

[Tin Can]

PDM

just go Big Bertha

https://graflexcamera.tumblr.com/pos...640/big-bertha

[r.e.]

In early 2000 I reached out to Nikon to discuss use of T Lenses to photograph birds at the nest using a blind in upper Canada (Ellesmere Island).

It would be quite something to photograph at Ellesmere. For those who haven't heard of it, it's an island in northern Canada that's about the size of Great Britain. I have a photograph of Ellesmere's Grise Fiord that's been beckoning for years.

I suspect that the difficulty of what people are talking about in this thread depends on the species. Leaving aside the pandemic, I'm about 25km (15mi) from a large colony of Atlantic Puffins during their breeding season. While it would take patience, I don't think that photographing individual Puffins, more likely a pair given their behaviour, with a 4x5 camera would be terribly difficult. I'd want a long cable release. It's possible to get quite close to them (they're a lot more concerned about gulls and eagles than about people), but a pair of binoculars might be handy. That said, it would be a lot easier with a 100MP medium format digital camera.

If you want to try it, Ellesmere is one of the places that Puffins go to breed in the summer

[pdmoylan]

R e, perhaps you could experiment with the puffins? a new frontier! I would be interested in your experience

Ellesmere has been a dream since my mid 20s. I am not sure I would have the “endurance” now to complete the objective.
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez kindled it.

The choice of camera (technikardan?), lens (a real issue) and putting together an appropriate blind would have to be considered. We’re talking color film, maybe Portra 400? Maybe nikkor 600T, 800 Schneider?, maybe an APO Ronar 600mm or 800 f9? Focal lengths any shorter would likely stress the birds.

[Drew Wiley]

I got invited to go to Ellesmere on one of my nephew's expeditions, but the conditions with routine strong winds sounded like a non-starter LF wise. He and a friend did the first ascent direct of the NW tower of Aasgard - the highest and most technically difficult wall climb in the arctic ever. But there were literally weeks involved just getting there, since climbing season has to avoid both the depths of winter and the summer thaw with its falling rocks. In other words, the normal speedy way over frozen sea ice via snowmobile, or via boat after full thaw, was not an option in that case, only steadily slogging over snow with backpacks over 100 lbs apiece. Spending three months in the same pair of boots, unable to remove them even sleeping didn't appeal to me much either, nor going that long without bathing. But that was to a location a hundred miles or so inland, and not a coastal bird spot. Expensive to get to, regardless. I'd rather spend that kind of money on a more realistic trip to Iceland, if the opportunity arose.

[domaz]

LF does a lot of things well. Bird photography is not really one of them. You might be able to do it with a telephoto style lens, but it's just an exercise in "can I do this" without a good reason for "why should I do this".

[r.e.]

R e, perhaps you could experiment with the puffins? a new frontier! I would be interested in your experience

Ellesmere has been a dream since my mid 20s. I am not sure I would have the “endurance” now to complete the objective.
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez kindled it.

The choice of camera (technikardan?), lens (a real issue) and putting together an appropriate blind would have to be considered. We’re talking color film, maybe Portra 400? Maybe nikkor 600T, 800 Schneider?, maybe an APO Ronar 600mm or 800 f9? Focal lengths any shorter would likely stress the birds.

Puffins aren't very worried about people. If you're patient, it's possible to get, say, 6m (20') or so from one. A blind might help, but I don't think that it's essential. I don't think that there's any need for a long lens. I'd start by setting up the camera with a fairly short lens and zone focus.* You could set up the camera by a burrow where a pair is breeding, but there are other possibilities. During breeding season, there are a lot of Puffins in a small area. The colonies are on rocky promontories right on the Atlantic Ocean, so there's no vegetation in the way. Then I'd move back with a long cable release or electronic trigger (I'll defer to others on the latter) and maybe a pair of binoculars.

I hope to be in the area this summer, and now you've got me thinking about trying it As the photo in post #15 shows (credit: Wikipedia, Charles Sharp), Puffins are very cool looking birds.

If you're interested in visiting Newfoundland, there's quite a lot of information available about the province's Puffin colonies. The one that I'm talking about is in Trinity Bay.

* I have a 600mm lens that I could try this with, but I don't think that it would be necessary to use it. I'd try something much shorter. A lens in the 90mm to 110mm range might work just fine.

[Alan Gales]

Penguins stay still for periods of time. I shot some at the zoo with a 35mm camera. You could use a Crown or Speed Graphic so you don't have to use a tripod.