Nature Phonography: Bluebird again
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have set up the backyard bird blind feeders, and over the next few days when the temperatures are going to get up into the 50s, I will taking the blind out to see if I can get some Nature Phonographs of birds without a double glazed door between us 🙂 This shot is from the comfort of our kitchen through the glass. I am learning the limits of the tiny sensor in the iPhone SE 2020. Even at low ISO, on close up shots like this one, taken with the Sirui 400mm attached, the sensor does not have the resolution or image structure to render fine feather detail. I am sure detail is also limited by the diffraction of the tiny lens. It is not so obvious in landscapes, or even in macros, but in long telephoto shots I am, so far, coming up hard against the limits of what the phone camera can do. At least the phone camera in the iPhone SE. I may have to invest in a phone with a larger sensor before this is over, just to see what can be done. I wonder if anyone rents phones? Still there is a ways to go in testing the limits of the iPhone SE that I already own, and, considering that I did not buy it for its camera, it is doing okay. iPhone SE 2020 with Sirui 400mm lens on a Moment thin case. ProShot camera app, with a custom preset, Auto White Balance, 1/1000th, and Auto ISO with a 400 upper limit. ISO at 32 in this light.
Nature Phonography: Mousam at Roger’s Park
The Moment thin case makes mounting the Sirui lenses easy on my iPhone SE 2020, and though I am learning the limitations of the camera in my phone, it works very well with the 18mm equivalent wide angle lens for landscapes like this one. The built in camera app with its “smart HDR” produces (or perhaps “reproduces” is better) lovey scenery. While a few of the camera apps for iPhone have more sophisticated HDR programs, I am not yet convinced of the need for them. This is the Mousam River at Roger’s Park, a great place for fly-fishing. It is a rare day when there is not at least one fisherman in waders in the water. This day one of the fishermen was all kitted out in the latest LLBean or Orvis gear and being followed by a photographer with a full commercial rig. I suspect the Mousam is going to feature in this year’s catalog or on their website. iPhone SE 2020 with Sirui 18mm wide angle on a Moment Thin Case. The program chose ISO 20 @ f1.8 @ 1/1312th. (By the way, don’t be fooled that ISO 20. ISO20 is about equivalent to ISO 100 on my Sony Rx10iv with it’s much larger sensor, and probably close to ISO 400 on a full frame DSLR. ISO is always relative to sensor size.)
Nature Phonography: Mousam at Roger’s Park
The Moment thin case makes mounting the Sirui lenses easy on my iPhone SE 2020, and though I am learning the limitations of the camera in my phone, it works very well with the 18mm equivalent wide angle lens for landscapes like this one. The built in camera app with its “smart HDR” produces (or perhaps “reproduces” is better) lovey scenery. While a few of the camera apps for iPhone have more sophisticated HDR programs, I am not yet convinced of the need for them. This is the Mousam River at Roger’s Park, a great place for fly-fishing. It is a rare day when there is not at least one fisherman in waders in the water. This day one of the fishermen was all kitted out in the latest LLBean or Orvis gear and being followed by a photographer with a full commercial rig. I suspect the Mousam is going to feature in this year’s catalog or on their website. iPhone SE 2020 with Sirui 18mm wide angle on a Moment Thin Case. The program chose ISO 20 @ f1.8 @ 1/1312th. (By the way, don’t be fooled that ISO 20. ISO20 is about equivalent to ISO 100 on my Sony Rx10iv with it’s much larger sensor, and probably close to ISO 400 on a full frame DSLR. ISO is always relative to sensor size.)
Nature Phonography: Spring is coming!
I continue with my experiments in iPhone nature photography. I have changed the name of the series from “Nature Phone” to “Nature Phonography,” which is, I think, a more “clever” sounding moniker for when this eventually becomes a book 🙂 (No really. Not the clever part but the book part is definitely in the cards, once I learn all I can about phone photography in nature.) So this is the catkins on the bushes beside the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond Park here in Kennebunk, and indeed they are plumping up for spring. A good sign if you are as winter weary as I am, and eager for warmer days to be outside. Here I am experimenting with the Sirui portrait, short telephoto lens, which is a 60mm equivalent. My Moment thin case, which has a bayonet mount that works with my Sirui lenses and is much more elegant than using the Sirui clips or telephoto mount, came a few days ago, and this was my first time out with it. I had tried the “regular” Moment case which was a tight fit for the Sirui lenses. Evidently it was a tight fit for the Moment lenses as well since one of the “selling features” of the new Thin case, besides it’s considerabaly lower weight and bulk, is an easier mounting experience. I used the Apple Camera app and 2x digital zoom on the iPhone SE 2020. I find that if you keep the digital zoom to 2x or under, it is difficult to see any decrease in image quality at all. That gives me a 120mm moderate telephoto lens for close-ups of flowers and bugs. I am eager to try it on dragonflies. (And if I had a phone with a built in telephoto, it would extend my range ever further.) The lens is excellent and I am very happy with the results so far. This could easily pass for a shot with my Sony Rx10iv. 🙂 Auto exposure and focus. ISO 20 @ f1.8 @ 1/423rd. Processed in Pixelmator Pro.
Reach for it…
Tufted-titmouse: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Another bird in rain shot. This titmouse was certainly acrobatic…it was all over the perch and feeder, in all kinds of unlikely postures. Entertaining. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Taken through double-glazed glass. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV Exposure compensation.
Thief!
Grey Squirrel: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I use squirrel proof feeders at both my deck and (in season) my backyard bird feeding stations…but that does not keep the squirrels from trying. My resident squirrels have pretty much learned their lesson, but this time of year, when, on warm days, there are lots of roving bands of hungry squirrels moving through the neighborhood there are always a few who don’t know any better or who at least decide to give the feeders another try to see if anything has changed. I chase them away when I catch them at it. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Taken through double glazed glass. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation.
Bluebird in the rain…
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Sometimes it all comes together. The slightly wet bluebird, the rain drop on the green hook, the greenish yellow bokeh, and the classic pose. This is a shot I might frame for the wall. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photo. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation.
Chickadee in the rain…
Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — the Chickadees are out and about around the feeders rain or shine…more so in the rain in fact. They have looked a bid wet and bedraggled the past few days…but cheerful none the less. I have noticed a lot more bird song this week than last. Spring is coming, though you would never know it today. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation.
Nature Phone: Bluebird at 400mm?
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk Maine USA — Not a great photo, but an interesting photo in that it was taken with my iPhone, through a double glazed door, on an overcast day. Continuing my experiments with iPhone nature photography. How about birds and wildlife…generally the realm of long telephoto lenses? I bought 2 add-on telephoto lenses and I will do a comparison at some point. This is the best I have done (though, as above, not under ideal conditions) with the better of the two…the Sirui 400mm telephoto on my iPhone SE 2020. While it is not obvious in wide angle, macro, or portrait shots, the limitations of the tiny sensor in the SE become very, well, limiting when attempting a telephoto close up. Unless you use a tripod, (which kind of, in my opinion, defeats the whole purpose of using your compact phone) your natural instinct will be to increase shutter speed for a steadier shot, at the cost of pushing up the phone’s ISO setting…while you can not do that in the stock camera app, it can be done with any number of specialized camera apps. My experiments have demonstrated, however, that shooting at anything much over the base level 20 ISO will not yield satisfying results, at least with the iPhone SE. Action mode on one of the apps uses shutter speeds in the 1/6000th range, great for eliminating motion blur, but any detail is lost in the mushy, grainy, blotchy image quality, at ISO 640. Very disappointing. I have gotten better results just letting the camera choose both ISO and shutter speed and shooting a burst of photos from a monopod. The image above was taken in “live” mode on the iPhone, and then selected as the sharpest of the 15 or so frames the phone captured when I touched the shutter button. I am still experimenting. And, of course, while auto focus still works quite well through the 400mm telephoto, you do have to pre-focus the lens manually to get as close to correct focus as is visually possible. It is a juggling act, trying to focus, and shooting off a few shots with the volume buttons or by tapping the screen, and still holding the phone, even on a monopod, still enough to have any hope of a clear shot. With practice, however, it can be done, more or less. I am still hoping for a bright sunny day when I can get beyond the glass door and results that might be even better. iPhone SE 2020 with Sirui 400mm telephoto add-on lens, using a monopod, Auto Live Mode. ISO 32 @ f1.8 @ 1/121th (chosen by the phone’s camera app).
Always Chickadees
Black-capped Chickadee: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — sometimes I get the deck door open, even in winter, for some unobstructed shots of the feeder birds. The double glazing always just slightly diminishes the the amount of detail you can see in the image. This is an unfiltered view. Sony Rx10iv at 550mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation.