As Wallace would say to gromit A GRAND DAY OUT LAD.

My trip to Burton mere really was a grand day out, bright n cold then dark n wet then bright n wet then really bloody cold and time to go home but enjoyable non the less, on arriving I introduced myself as a new member visiting a reserve for the first time, I half expected a list of does & don't s but actually got a half hour guided tour which proved to be really helpful. The staff are proud of what they have achieved over the last few years and so they should be.

Now for the birds, there are lots n lots of geese - mostly  Canadian,  pink footed  a few white fronted and greylag s in the mix, all to far away for me to photograph with any kind of success but just seeing these large birds in flight over the Dee estuary is a magical sight.

While photographing a blue tit preforming acrobatics on a bull rush, a commotion amongst the reeds started and the biggest swan I have ever seen flew over my head! and no I didn't get a shot of that either (50/50 mute - whooper according to the experts which means it was too quick for them and not just me )  

A nice quiet hour was spent in a hide out on the marsh overlooking a scrape with a pair of Gray heron looking quite comical - see photo below, a large number of snipe and yet more Canadian geese were also present. I have no doubt that there were a lot more wild fowl present then I could see this is a large area and  I don't have any bins yet. I hope you enjoy the photographs & if you could help me by identifying the bird on the feeder it would be a big help 

 Regards Bri.  and a big thank you to all the staff at R.S.P.B. Burton mere.            

Help I don't know what this is ( Goldfinch ? )

Everyone in the hide laughed when someone said MEXICAN STANDOFF

Blue tit amongst the bull rushes  

Male Tufted duck shot against the sun 

New R.S.P.B. member an old git!

Because of all the medication I take getting out has been a bit of a problem , tablets make me drowsy - so I cant drive, it takes 2-3 hours for the fog to clear from my head every morning , all I can say is thank god for local parks such as Acton in Wrexham.
A local fishing club maintains the area around the lake & provides platforms (for fishing from) large & safe enough for wheelchair users to view from or indeed fish from, I find them handy for my tripod!. The park is a 10 Min walk away but traffic concerns mean that I can only get there if my wife or son walks with me, once there i,m as happy as a pig in - well you know
Anyway to the RSPB. I joined early this month & I am paying my first visit to a reserve on the 26th to Burton mere on the Dee estuary, I am really looking forward to seeing something other than pochard, grebe, mallard & Canada geese, not that I,m bored with my usual suspects, I just want to see something different - a little egret would be nice. As I have said before I don't want or expect sympathy from anyone. My anxiety, depression is my problem which I have to deal with but I have to admit that I feel at my best when out watching our little or large feathered friends.

P.S Big thanks to the wife - she,s driving on Thursday.  Regards sad old git.

Photo,s taken with tair 300mm

As this lens was designed in the 1930,s it suits B&W 

Taken from around 20mtrs away

About 5mtrs away

Not bad for a lens around 30 to 40 years old

Add a 2x converter & this is around 45mtrs away

I still can,t get-over how sharp this lens is 

TAIR 300mm Russian lens

In my last post I promised a report on my 300mm Russian lens the Tair 3s 300mm f4.5, and here it is in all it,s glory

Aperture set to f22.

l/h side                                                                                                        
Three things to notice 1, Large wheel at front of lens is for focusing
2, Silver leaver under rear of lens is used to release aperture mechanism
3, Large red dot above leaver is for cocking aperture (as in cocking a gun)

Red dot can now be seen as a nob - aperture set to f22 but is actually wide open, allowing bright viewing to enable easy focusing,  by taping the leaver the aperture snaps closed
It sounds complicated but you soon get used to it, the sequence is as followsThe way the FS-12's trigger mechanism works is as follows:1,first you cock the aperture mechanism and focus on the subject.
2, Then after metering you set the desired aperture
3, when everything is set tap the leaver and press the shutter release, simples
If you are interested in Russian lenses then visit .alfredklomp.com  for more info

1. First you cock the aperture.
2. Then after metering, you set the desired aperture on the aperture ring.
3. Then when everything is set, you pull the trigger.
4. The trigger flips up a rod that first strikes a plate on the lens, thereby releasing the aperture.
5. A fraction of a second later, the aperture is closed when the rod strikes the shutter hub underneath the camera.
6. The camera's shutter triggers and the picture is made.

(still under construction)

The way the FS-12's trigger mechanism works is as follows:

1. First you cock the aperture.
2. Then after metering, you set the desired aperture on the aperture ring.
3. Then when everything is set, you pull the trigger.
4. The trigger flips up a rod that first strikes a plate on the lens, thereby releasing the aperture.
5. A fraction of a second later, the aperture is closed when the rod strikes the shutter hub underneath the camera.
6. The camera's shutter triggers and the picture is made.

(still under construction)

The way the FS-12's trigger mechanism works is as follows:

1. First you cock the aperture.
2. Then after metering, you set the desired aperture on the aperture ring.
3. Then when everything is set, you pull the trigger.
4. The trigger flips up a rod that first strikes a plate on the lens, thereby releasing the aperture.
5. A fraction of a second later, the aperture is closed when the rod strikes the shutter hub underneath the camera.
6. The camera's shutter triggers and the picture is made.

(still under construction)

The way the FS-12's trigger mechanism works is as follows:

1. First you cock the aperture.
2. Then after metering, you set the desired aperture on the aperture ring.
3. Then when everything is set, you pull the trigger.
4. The trigger flips up a rod that first strikes a plate on the lens, thereby releasing the aperture.
5. A fraction of a second later, the aperture is closed when the rod strikes the shutter hub underneath the camera.
6. The camera's shutter triggers and the picture is made.

(still under construction)

NICE THINGS DO HAPPEN

Well nice things do happen! - having broken my optomax 300mm lens on Thursday, I set about looking for a replacement on ebay. I had ordered a 2x teleconverter to fit the old lens (M42 thread) on Monday morning so I was stuck with having to find an old m42 Reliable lens that would stand up to the punishment that I would give it.
     If I wanted something old, cheep and reliable" -  only one thing to do - buy east German or Russian, so I trolled through the listings  and found 2 German zeiss lenses both out of my reach, lots of russian lenses but only  one 300mm a TAIR f 4.5, so I checked the internet and found that this lens was part of the old photo sniper system that zenith produced until the mid eighties. I waited until the wife  got home-asked- before buying the lens  ( thought it would be best to check first!) and bought it at around 11pm. Friday morning I had an email from seller saying that he would post item when he had chance - it arrived at 9.30 this morning!!!!!!
 So out I went - down to the local duckpond to test the new toy. First impressions ITS BLOODY HEAVY & rather strange to use ? I will tell you about that in another post as its now 8.0 pm and time for my pills.
Check out the photo,s - remember that the lens was probably built in the 60s and please leave comments whether or not you like them. Bye for now Brian.
ALL PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE TAKEN WITH THE TAIR 300MM LENS

Tair 300mm lens iso 200 1/200

Tair 300mm lens f8 iso 200 1/200

TAIR 30mm f4.5 lens

Sorry there have been no posts of late, with the weather being so wet, then my only long lens breaking beyond repair it hasnt been a few good weeks. MORE PILL,S
On a brighter note does anyone have any info on the Tair 300mm f4.5 lens as used on the old photo sniper system, I will be using said lens with my sony a 200 via an adapter same as the optomax that just broke.
I knew there was something wrong with the old optomax, when I uploaded shots taken on the 11/01/2012 all were flat no sharpness at all - checked out the camera with my 28-80 everything fine ? after a close look at the 300mm I could see that the focusing mech was skewed but still worked - so I removed the front element (easy job) and the focusing mech fell out in four bits, oops there should have been only three - looked like it had been repaird before. Ah well cant complain as I got it for free.
 I will post new photographs soon

NEW YEAR,S EVE RAMBLE

Managed to take my camera for a walk to the local park yesterday (31/12/2011 new year,s eve.) equipped with   my 300mm OPTOMAX lens, which was from an ad on freecycle! so cost me just £7.00  for an adaptor from amazon. The morning started nice and bright, BUT not bright enough for such a long lens with subjects that wont stay still - aperture wide open shutter as slow as I dared and you guessed it crap photos, even using my venerable slik 88 tripod didn't help it was just to dull. I did manage a few reasonable shots later in the day when it cleared for about 20 Min's but the birds that I was after decided they had no option other than to hide in the bushes on the opposite bank well away from the strange man with a large black pointy thing stuck to his face standing behind a three legged stick!, well was I disheartened No!-- I just packed in, and went home.
   Note. Anyone wanting to use old non auto lenses on a dslr adaptors are available to fit most of today's cameras i.e m42 or  Pentax k -  to Canon, Nikon, even the new Sony nex  but your super doper fully auto camera becomes a dinosaur similar to the old zenith e  - - FULLY MANUAL--.
       that's all for now folks enjoy the pics - please leave comments (good or bad ) that's the way we learn
HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL  ---- OLD GIT!

A pair of great crested grebe,s taken with my 300mm optomax lens

A not so shy squirrel who is more interested in his lunch than running away from me

Male pochard , a very shy fellow