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Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II + TC-20E III

4Aug/10
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NOTE: I have recently posted the detailed Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR II Review.

I have been super busy performing tests on over 12 lenses (more on that later), including the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and the new Nikon TC-20E III. It was very painful to find the TC-20E III, but I got one on my hands and I have been extensively testing it with the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II. I have also been comparing the results with my Nikon 200-400mm f/4.0G VR, so I will soon publish some very interesting findings for those, who are interested in high performance telephoto gear for sports and wildlife photography.

For now, here is a sample of the Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II with the TC-20E III at 600mm:

Coyote

And here is a 100% crop:

100% Crop

Amazing sharpness and contrast, I am truly impressed. Here is the same coyote caught in action with the same lens combo:

Coyote eating Vole

More to come!

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Nikon D3s – Coyote Hunting

27Apr/10
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I have been trying the Nikon D3s in different environments with a variety of lenses and so far I am very impressed by its performance and quality of the images and video. The below coyote images were shot at ISO 3200 after sunset:

Coyote Hunting #1

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Birding with Nikon D3s

24Mar/10
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I took Omar and Ozzy on a quick road trip today for some nearby birding at Barr Lake State Park after work. On the way to the park, I spotted this Ferruginous Hawk on a pole and took a picture of it:

Ferruginous Hawk

The focus was dead on and all sequential images came out tack sharp, as expected.

As we arrived to the park right at sunset, we found a deer, along with a killdeer roaming around the park :)

Male Deer

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Best of 2009 – Animals

16Jan/10
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This is a part three to the “Best of 2009″ pictures for “Animals” category. To be honest, I haven’t done much wildlife photography this year, because I was busy photographing birds, landscapes and portraits. After seeing a small number of animal pics in my photo collection, I decided to try to capture more wildlife this year, if I can.

Unfortunately, one of the worst computer disasters hit me last year, when my hard drive died and I lost two very precious weeks of photographs. Those photographs were priceless – I captured a fox with 5 fox kits in their natural habitat: playing, cuddling with each other and chasing, capturing and eating mice. All of those photos were lost for good and I was only able to save a low-resolution version of a couple of pictures that I sent over email to a fox rescuer. Honestly, if there was a way to save those pics, I would have traded them over everything else I got in 2009…that’s how valuable they were for me. I resized those low-res images of foxes and I’m attaching them here. Although they are not as good when it comes to quality, I still love them.

  1. Red Fox 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  2. Red Fox Kit 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  3. Mountain Pika 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  4. Mountain Pika Voice 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  5. Male Buffalo 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  6. Female Buffalo 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  7. Island Fox 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  8. Coyote 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  9. Dolphin Jump 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper
  10. Channel Islands Side-Blotched Lizard 1920×1200 Widescreen Wallpaper

Thumbnails:

Red Fox Red Fox Kit

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Bobcat

16Oct/09
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The rain was intensifying, putting lots of water drops on my camera. I was right about to leave the location after photographing a bird and as I looked around to see what else was worth a shot, I spotted this beautiful bobcat walking around and looking for food. I quickly took a couple of shots, but it was already too late…the bobcat walked into the woods and was gone for good. I love these beautiful creatures and I have only seen them twice in my life, both times in Florida.

Bobcat

Bobcat

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Yellowstone: Wildlife

11Sep/09
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I’ll be honest, this part of the Yellowstone tour is probably the most boring one, as I simply do not have any good pictures. I know, it is a shame and it really sucks that I couldn’t capture anything good after coming back from Yellowstone, where wildlife is abundant and all over the place.

Ultimately, I wanted to capture nice images of wolves, black and grizzly bears, foxes, coyotes, various birds (eagles, hawks, owls, etc) and so on and so forth. I’m not sure if it was the hot weather, too many people or just bad luck, but we just didn’t see much wildlife at all. Sure there were deer, elk, bison and some mountain birds…but I have seen them all in Colorado and I can capture them close right here pretty much any time of the year. I read various booklets, asked rangers and other people and still was not able to see anything special.

Let’s start with raptors. Basically, raptors are abundant and can be found everywhere in the park. If you drive along the lakes and rivers, you will most definitely spot Ospreys and Bald Eagles. Ospreys are everywhere and I saw at least 10 of them, whereas Bald Eagles are somewhat rare (only saw a couple).

Wildlife #1

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Common Dolphins

16Jul/09
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I was hoping to see white-sided or bottlenose dolphins, but only saw common dolphins. These guys were following our boat, jumping out of the water and showing off from all sides – there were probably hundreds of them. It’s a pity that we couldn’t spend more time watching these beautiful animals.

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin Jump

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Channel Islands Side-Blotched Lizard

15Jul/09
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I did not see any island night lizards, but this side-blotched lizard was kind enough to pose for me several times.

Channel Islands Side-Blotched Lizard

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Island Fox

14Jul/09
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As promised, here is the picture of the Island Fox – a critically endangered, federally protected fox species that was reintroduced to the Channel Islands through a breeding program. This little fox is a size of the house cat and is considered to be one of the smallest fox species.

Island Fox

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A very sad ending for the fox family

3Jun/09
4 Comments

Ever since my wife saw a fox on a rainy day in April, I have been going to the site almost every other day to check up on the fox kits. The fox mother gave birth to kits right off a busy road where people drive like crazy at 50+ miles/hour. She did it for a reason though – not to get her babies eaten by coyotes, since coyotes try not to approach busy roads and highways. Initially, there were a total of 5 fox pups, plus the caring mother who had a hard time feeding herself because she was so busy providing food to her youngsters.

One of the fox pups was hit by a car after the first week and a local resident took him to a veterinarian, who had to put him down because the poor baby was suffering from severe head injuries. It was really sad to find out about it from the locals, who were stopping by daily, making sure that the pups were OK. Then all of a sudden, the mother disappeared. Apparently, a man who had a ranch on the other side of the road called trapping services and had the mother relocated somewhere else! Can you imagine, the guy didn’t even bother telling the trappers that she was a feeding mother for God’s sake! Apparently, he was getting angry because of the people who were stopping by and taking pictures…

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