Tag: Fuji X-H1

Silver Saddle Ranch

ruminator
From walkies a couple of days ago, I made this capture with the Fuji X-H1 and the Fujinon 35/1.4. The clouds have moved on for now, so I lost that lovely sky contrast.

Over the last month or so, I have been asking myself “What can I do that will nourish my soul?” I go through these reflective periods now and again. I think it is a healthy thing to do.

Well, one of my answers was to get out my camera, charge the battery, and carry it along with me when out and about. The Fujifilm X-H1 was an acquisition I bought for the larger Fujinon lenses. Some of them just do not balance well on the smaller Fujifilm X-T1 body. I have not had this camera out in a long time. So, I thought it time to charge its battery, mount an appropriate lens, and carry it.

The main reason I have not flown my drone or carried a camera is because Sera requires a lot of attention in the field. We are now in snake season (again). She appears to be wary of snakes, particularly if they buzz and do not run away. But the risk of a bite is too great for me to ignore. So I am very careful in the field with her when the weather is warm.

That does not leave a lot of attention for the camera or a drone. At least, it did not until this season.

I plan on carrying a camera (other than my iPhone — long story there) for now. I really like carrying the X-T1 better, particularly with the lovely Fujinon 35/2.0 (35mm f/2.0) small lens. It is in the Fujinon compact lens series. It is very good (as are the others). It is very small and light. It makes great images.

However, on this day I carried the larger X-H1 body and the larger (and faster) 35/1.4 (35mm/f1.4) lens. I suspect that the image quality from both camera and lens is superior to the X-T1/35/2.0 combination… but not observable for a web image.

But the day I made this capture I carried the X-H1 and made some images with it. Silver Saddle Ranch provides lots of subjects.

The Great Egret

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This beautiful bird, the Great Egret (Ardea alba), is one of the birds I see regularly on my walks along the Carson River. I was able to capture this wonderful photograph one day.

Early this year, while Older Son was visiting and helping me around the house, we took The Girl out for a long walk along the Carson River. We staged from Riverview Park, which is at the end of Fifth Street on the east side of Carson City. The weather was a beautiful winter day. There was plenty of water in the river, although nowhere near flood stage. That meant all the wetlands were, well, wet. The wetland wildlife were out and active on that beautiful winter day.

We came across this beautiful Great Egret, (Ardea alba) working the ponds in one of the wetland areas. I had only my Olympus OM-D M10 and a Wollensak cine lens with me. The lens was long enough, but I couldn’t get the capture I wanted. I was left with, well, only feathers.

The Girl waited patiently while Older Son and I made our captures. When she detected that we were done, she started toward the water, accelerating as she got closer. The egret watched her from his watery perch. (I knew she wouldn’t get into the water.) When she got close to the water’s edge, she bounced and uttered a single “Woof!” The Egret calmly flew off a few yards, settled back down, ruffled his feathers, and continued fishing.

Since that time The Girl and I have seen this bird, or another like it, several times on the river, fishing. If I’m in a blind, then the bird goes on without noticing me. They have very sharp eyes, however, and will spot me (or The Girl).

A couple of weeks ago I had the Fuji X-H1 and the Fuji 100-400mm super telephoto zoom with me. The Egret was perched on Mexican Dam. The Great Blue Heron flew away as I approached the dam. The Egret watched me for a bit, permitted me to make a few captures, and then flew a few yards away to a sandbar. There it continued watching me. I made a few more captures but didn’t really like any of them.

I like birds quite a lot. They fascinate me. I like being along the river, too. The new equipment provides me some capability I did not have. It has opened some of the world for me to capture, like this Egret and the Heron.