LOL. Well, if we were talking rathers here… I’d rather have the money to go for a higher speed DSLR with a custom macro lens and fantastic tracking focus.
But, my reality is the (used) bridge superzoom I have is fairly quick. And there is a ‘park’ zoom button on the side so as you’re birding, you set to what range you want to look around with, then release that button to quickly zoom in for the shot.
The focus tech is the real weakness with the brdige cams. They really can’t compete with the advanced systems of a newer DSLR. But I’m getting better at guessing the distance and going with setting to manual when I want to get ‘in the air’ shots. So far though, it’s pretty hit and miss.
And this camera also has a preshoot mode which keeps the last second and a half (about 10 shots) floating in a memory cache until you press the shutter all the way. But it really cuts down the resolution and shortens battery. Personally, I prefer using 4K video for flight shots. No, not too crisp at 30fps, but doable.
On battery, the P950 is good for about 200 shots before a change. That works fine for most of my outings. And I always bring a spare. But it’s better than I thought it would be for my excursions, which generally average an hour or two.
Plus, I really love just pocketing the Raynox extender in my pant pocket to quickly switch the bridge to super macro when I come across my primary interest: all things very tiny along the trail.
Which is where I’m headed… right now! Thanks for the reminder, Marina! Happy trails.
Just last week, I photo’d moths attracted to the lights at a restroom. A woman walked up and said, emphatically, “I assume you’re not doing the peeping tom thing!”
I walked over smiling and showed her the most recent photos on my camera. We had a nice little conversation.
I don’t know if I have really had anyone see me as suspicious per say. If I am somewhere here and someone walks past me crouching and looking at something, often its just to ask what I have found, and if they are really interested I don’t mind a chance to do adhoc advocacy/education about what ever I am looking at. I don’t tend to spend time around cities though, so that probably means not being spotted so much, and possibly more generally when I am, the context is likely more clear.
Outside of NZ, often in countries I travel to (Mostly S/SE Asia) I will often go somewhere relatively remote and walk down some random road through a farming area, and see what critters I see on the verges. I am very used to getting stares, but mostly it just seems to be the more confused sorts of looks. Sometimes if they speak English, questions if I know where I am going. One time (I think it was somewhere in Thailand), a group of guys drinking under a basic hut on the side of farmland waved me over to join their drink. None of them spoke English, and unfortunately I had next to no Thai, so out of respect I accepted and hung out for a few smiling, and bowed to move on. But all in all, I have seemingly a lot more confused looks than suspicion, at least if I am reading it right.
Maybe I’m not as much suspicious as… scary?
I’m in Michigan, And when I lived downstate I berry picked while photographing in a public park laced with walking and bicycling trails. So many people were so unaware of their surroundings, not seeing me until the final seconds. Ok, yes, I dress in camo t-shirt, pants, boots and hat. But I make a lot of noise! I had a few regulars that called me “ the scary berry fairy” . I’ve been called worse. I learned to look carefully and listen before stepping out of the canes.
I thought it hilarious!
I still dress in camo… I’d rather not be so easily spotted with camera in hand.
I’d walked that park so much, I knew where to meet the does and which meadow edge the hummingbirds preferred for nesting. The two most frequented parks are (sadly) all I miss from a 20 year stay.
Nicer nickname than Murder Birder. Not that I’ve been called that but I have freaked out hikers as I emerged unexpectedly from the brush in front of them.
So yesterday I was in a mudpit/marshy bottom land/etc trying to get at the base of some sycamores to look for morels (and take pictures of course,) and tried to climb up a hill. I promptly fell on my face, got mud everywhere, including my poor camera… its was a mess, right?
I look up and I see a guy just slowly driving by in a minivan with the window down, staring at me, obviously trying not to laugh. So yeah, I gave him the world’s most awkward thumbs up and began contemplating if it were possible to die of embarrassment.
Found some neat horsetail shoots and a young American elm, so that’s a plus, I guess?
I wonder if being in a university town affects this? My dandelion and other Cichoriae observations, with all their many angles, were taken on parking lot edges, along sidewalks, and even at the bus station, and nobody showed any overt signs of noticing my activity. Maybe they assume I’m with the university.
I had a similar thing happen to me this spring break. I was trying to take a photo of a boreal chickadee for inat on the street my cabin’s on and a lady approached me and asked me what I was doing. Turns out she was from the house behind the trees I was photographing the bird in, she was pretty understanding when I explained to her what I was doing but it didn’t help when I tried to point out the chickadee to her and it had left. I realised how suspicious it really looks with a giant lens pointed at her house and I understand how she thought I was doing something suspicious.
I’ve had similar stuff happen to me before I had inaturalist but usually more out of concern than suspicion when they find me alone in the bush. Especially when I was a kid, my parents have always been very trusting and so I wandered a lot mostly to look for birds, so a lot of people would ask me if I was alright or if I was lost when they drove past me on a country road, what I used to do when I was like 8 was just hide whenever I heard people because I didn’t like always having to convince them that I was ok and explain to them what I was doing, which made it even more concerning when they found a kid hiding in the grass or in a tree watching them lol (this happened at least twice).
But usually now when I’m out taking photos (I do it a lot around my neighbourhood and cabin) people are very curious what i’m looking at etc. and will tell me about a bird they saw.
I know this message is old but it is very true. Parents always wonder why kids don’t go outside anymore, it’s because the “outside” is no longer built for people. When I go to my neighbourhood park it makes me pretty anxious, I have to cross a very busy and dangerous street with a weirdly designed crosswalk so that when the light turns green for you to walk, from the sidewalk you can’t see it, only the drivers who are waiting can because it’s hung right above your head. So I get honked at all the time and a lot of the time drivers don’t even stop for you, I’m getting kinda tired of cities where pedestrians are seen as an inconvenience to vehicles and where greenspace is only available to those that can afford it and the rest of us are trapped by highways and apartment blocks.
Jeez. I know how you feel. I’ll feel creepy if I’m taking a pic of a bird in someone’s yard or near their car, because I feel like they’ll be freaked out by that especially.
I’ve been asked what I was doing before when I was recovering some skulls at the edge of my property, and when I explained that I collect different kinds of skulls (a hobby I have to be careful bringing up- I dont collect anything illeagal or human bones but still) they were really fascinated about what I had to say, and we had a good time talking about hiking and nature in general.
I suggest showing them iNat, and telling them about what you do. Many people will be interested.
I suggest showing them iNat, and telling them about what you do. Many people will be interested.
In my experience, it does help convince well-meaning but concerned people (especially parents with young kids), it’s probably the main reason I have the app installed on my phone despite being exclusively a PC user. There are people you’ll never convince, unfortunately.
Cavers have done this for ages, we have a lil bat symbol, and the locals got wise which is generally good except there’s also coves you take it off so they don’t rob your car while you’re gone.
