my compromise for switching between macro and distant shots is simple: I only take photos with macro or regular, and enjoy birds the old-fashioned way with my eyes :)
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I would love to be comfortable with such cameras! My iPhone with case and wrist strap is under 10 oz. Even then, my hands and forearms hurt from overuse. Still, I would love to have a more competent camera for distant or moving subjects.
I think the iPhone does fairly well with nearby, well-lit, and still subjects. Alas, so much in nature is not so well constrained.
I am considering trying a more conventional camera to see if I can manage it. Your link to the prior discussion may be helpful to me. I note that very few camera reviews say anything other than “lightweight” and do not say just what the weight really is - with camera, accessories, and case.
I would love a “set-up” of under a pound or two.
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Changed slightly by Edwin Way Teale – for him, it was his front yard.
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The iPhone, and I assume Android phones, have a Voice Memos app. It’s useful for dictation or recording bird song or similar useS.
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It is surprising what can be gotten used to and worked through. Bone spurs in my toes (due to pronation) mean that my feet always hurt to some degree, unless they are submerged in a near-scalding hot spring. An unexpectedly cold, humid day can almost render me lame if my footwear is inadequately insulated. I had to give up running some years ago due to knee pain, again because of the pronation. Yet this does not stop me from going on long hikes, up to ten miles in a day – although I’m the slow one on the trail whom everyone else passes.
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I use an Olympus TG-4, which is compact, waterproof, can take being dropped (i.e., I can stick it in my pocket and not worry about it), and weighs 9 ounces.
It’s not a superzoom, not much of a zoom at all, only 4x. But it has a nice macro setting. See www.inaturalist.org/observations/62394272. I do have to be careful to hold it very steady.
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This is a key for me, as a disabled person, because it is very easy to convince myself that I can’t do anything, when really I can do many things. I just have to do them differently than I used to or than most do. This summer, it is I who have traveled my backyard. Perhaps about half of it.
Regarding a camera, my problem is shaking hands or becoming unstable if I bend down to look closer (and consequently photograph closer). I have found an app I downloaded which lets me take RAW photos and which do come out focused better at times.
I’ve thought about venturing out of my yard and into a local wildlife area, but several things become apparent. Where to park the car that I don’t wear myself out just getting from the car to the beginning of a park or woods. Breaks, as people have mentioned. I have pain, and that is a problem, but when muscular fatigue sets in, I could get stuck.
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Absolutely. I’ve healed now, but for a period of about a year my whole identity was revolving around what I could not do. It was super bad for my health to have that attitude. And while testing your limits every once in a while is fine, my ambition often pushed me too far, worsening my injury and slowing my recovery :(
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I hear you. My condition is chronic. I wish it could get better. It’s taken me longer than a year to accept that this doesn’t have to be my identity! So @astra_the_dragon, great job! :) It’s okay for us to take it slow and sometimes do nothing at all. I realized it’s been a week since I posted an observation, and probably longer than that since I went outside and did a walkaround because of the weather and weather-related pain. I’m learning to tell myself that’s okay! Some people who don’t understand will say we need to push ourselves, but we don’t. On the other hand, if I don’t remind myself, I may forget to do what I love to do.
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It’s such a balancing act. And adding into the mix, I’ve found that if I don’t do things that make me happy, my health suffers. Who would have thought, my workaholic approach of work first, & do fun stuff if and only if there’s time left over, is actually counterproductive!
My ‘big’ camera (Panasonic DMZ-FZ200 (no longer available, but a newer version is)) has has shake control, which is a godsend. My pocket camera (Olympus RG-4) advertises the same, but it’s not very good. I’ve been avoiding shooting RAW, but I may have to try it out.
Ah yes … there was the time I almost did a face-plant off a boardwalk into a swamp when my legs froze up (good thing my sister was there.) And one memorable outing where I got lost, got found again but had to lay down & rest for an hour, then got back to the parking lot but fell in a rut & broke my leg 10’ away from my car. 
(Self-preservation is not one of my strong points.)
I’m starting to use a rollator when going out. I can go a lot farther with the same effort, and have a nice, stable seat any time I want. Problem is, it only works on pavement or smooth grass. I’m saving up for one designed for off-road use, with huge tires and a suspension system/shock absorber.
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That’s spillover. If you are ill, or have a chronic fatigue condition, or parasites, people can’t see that, but they can see that you are not doing as much work as they think you can/should. So their default assumption is that it’s because you are lazy, and it never crosses their mind that there could possibly be another reason.
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yeah. Ironically, it’s one of the times that my youth was a disadvantage. people expect a young twenty-something to be the one to volunteer with physically demanding tasks, but I couldn’t. It made it horribly, horribly embarrassing to ask for help. At my worst I had to get help to open a bag of chips. I’d often wear an arm/wrist brace, not because I needed it or because it helped (it did not), but because it would signal to others that something was wrong and make it less painfully awkward.
and I was in the army at the time, too – even worse. At least I was in non-combat / support role where the toxic machismo is much less of an issue.
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That’s probably similar to my feeling the need to fake-limp when getting out of the car in a handicapped parking spot even though I don’t need to limp that day. Invisible handicaps can be very misunderstood.
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I ran into a fellow from out of state one time when we were both in the woods birding. He had a neck injury that prevented him from lifting his head. But there he was with binoculars and carrying a folding chair, which he would set down and slouch in so that he could angle his head upward enough to use the binocs. I was impressed with his tenacity. He really wanted to see a Blue Grosbeak and I think I spent about an hour with him trying to spot one so that he could get a look, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. That chance encounter stuck in my mind and I told myself I hope I have the perseverance to not give up on this hobby we share when I’m physically challenged.
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And it’s easy to gaslight yourself. I do this all the time, think that I’m “being lazy” when I just can’t force myself to do something. Then I wake up the next morning and do it without even thinking about it … then realize, yeah, I couldn’t do it yesterday because I felt like crap.
Usually hits with stuff like unloading the dishwasher, but also with getting out to check whether the Rattlesnake Root has started blooming yet (as if I would let ‘laziness’ interfere with that!)
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So in the fall of 2012 I was in a car accident and suffered a head and neck injury. It was right about this time I got really interested in birds. Unfortunately for me the head injury caused balance problems and double vision so my once sharp vision now left all the minute bird identifying features blurry without the use of binoculars or a telephoto lens camera to review later. At the same time my left eye focusing incorrectly prevented me from comfortably and effectively using binoculars and focusing my camera. (Can’t win!) Also lugging all that weight on my neck and staring up into the trees for long periods causes a great deal of pain and occasionally dizziness. (Sometimes I just lay on the ground staring into the trees which gets me some odd looks…) I was also born a bit deaf so learning to bird by ear has been a struggle for me. Especially with the higher pitched songs.
I have been able to help the eye problem with exercising the muscles and corrective lenses to a point… Amazingly it cleared up much of the balance issue as well. However in the last year or so I began using the Voice recorder on my Iphone and Apps Like Song Sleuth and BirdNet to help record and ID bird song (Also Frogs and toads) and have posted many that I’ve cleaned up with an open sourced program called Audacity. I use it to remove background noise like running water, traffic, other hikers, wind etc.
There are still occasions where the effects of the head injury interfere with going out and doing things but it has taught me to slow down and maybe observe and appreciate a little more.
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Isn’t this the truth? This is something I’m working on lately. When it comes to chores, I was recently told (by a non-chore-interested party) that it’s okay to do a half-a** job. That gave me a sigh of relief, because perfectionism and disability really do clash. I am a little frustrated that I didn’t make myself get photos of the asters in fruit yesterday. The rains kept me from it up until yesterday, and today’s wind is probably blowing it all away. :)
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I came across this relatively new organization Birdability that is working to remove barriers to birding. Of particular interest may be the crowdsourced map of more accessible birding locations. Seems like a great resource with opportunities to get involved!
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Ooo! Where can I get one of those? I wanted to find a small light canoe that I could load in the truck to go explore creeks in our area.
I have a 16-ft 1/4" plywood panel canoe (my dad built it) that seats 2 and weighs about 60 lbs. Luckily now that I live on a lake (heavily vegetated) I can just push off into the water instead of loading it onto a vehicle. I do have to get it down and up a hill side though. I have to wait for a day/time that I feel good and it’s not too sunny or windy and my mom feels like coming with me. My dad has my canoe right now and is refinishing the wood for me. He is also making me a cart so I can pull it by myself (downhill anyways) and rigging up something to strap to the canoe that I can attach a small trolling motor to. That way I can go out by myself and save my spoons by using the motor while in the deep parts.
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