Monthly Archives: March 2021
Nature Phonography: All contrails lead to Portland
The atmosphere yesterday must have been ideal for the formation of contrails. This was taken from our local beach at the mouth of the Mousam River, and all those contrails point to Portland, Maine, away there, not so far, over the horizon. I know some landscape photographers hate contrails, and I know all about the chemtrails conspiracy theory (or as much as I want to know…I got educated by (or at least “due to”) folks who commented on past contrail containing landscapes). But sometimes the “flaws” in a photo are actually what the photo is about. Case in point. iPhone SE with Sirui 18mm wide angle lens. Standard Apple Camera app. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Nature Phonography: Chickadee in 4K
Still experimenting with my iPhone SE 2020 and the Sirui add on lenses on the Moment thin case. This shot is a frame from a 4K video, and, given the limits of the phone camera, I think it shows promise. I had the phone on my selfie stand on the deck with the Sirui 400mm lens prefocused on the meal worm dish and again, I was inside with the bluetooth remote. The frame was captured from the video at full 4K resolution using the Lumafusion app on my iPad, and then processed as I would a normal image, in Polarr and Apple Photos. This might be as good as the iPhone SE can do. I have a photo grip for the phone arriving today…just a little hand grip with a bluetooth trigger that fits one the end of the phone, so my next experiment will be to see if I can get anything at all from a hand-held 4K video. 🙂 The video is too large for upload to WordPress, but I will post it on FaceBook. I have been digging into Phone camera reviews, and, while there are certainly better phone cameras out there than the one in the iPhone SE, it looks to me like the limits I am seeing in the telephoto images are not going to be eliminated by investing in a “better phone”. The reality is the sensors are just so tiny, that they reach their limits for nature work, especially wildlife, very quickly. Still, it is amazing to be able to get anything at all at 400mm with a phone. 🙂
Nature Phonography: remotes at 400mm
I set up the chair blind in the back yard yesterday, just to begin the process of getting the birds used to it. I took the iPhone SE 2020 out with me with the Sirui 400mm lens attached to the Moment thin case, and mounted it on a selfie-stand I bought for videos. The stand is handy because it has three broad based feet and then a pole that can put the phone at be any height from 2.5 feet to close to 6 feet. It is just right for working inside the chair blind. I had the phone focused on the meal worm feeder, which was the most active, and was using the bluetooth remote that came with the Sirui lens to shot a burst of photos when a bird would show up. I was hoping, of course, for my first telephoto shots NOT taken through the double glazed glass of our back deck door. As I was sitting there though, getting colder and colder in the mid 30 degree weather, shivering in the shade of the chair blind, it suddenly occurred to me that I could put the phone and lens on its stand outside the back deck door, so there would be no glass between it and the feeders, and I could be inside with the remote, staying warm. Best of both worlds.
So I sat at the kitchen table, doodling around on the iPad, and playing a few tunes on my low whistle and bowed psaltery, sipping coffee, as I kept my eye on the meal worm feeder and shot off bursts when a bird come in. Very enjoyable.
I am still experimenting with different camera apps for the telephoto shots, as a higher shutter speed than the built in Apple Camera App is likely to choose is required, even with the camera on a stand…since the birds do not stay still for long. I took some shots with the ProShot app, which allows you to specify the shutter speed while the camera choses the ISO (you can also set an upper limit on the ISO, but the lowest setting is 400, which is not much of a limit in any kind of light at all). I set the shutter speed to 1/000th. The Chickadee above is with ProShot, at ISO 40, just twice the base 20 ISO, and you can already see that the sensor is straining. I also tried the Action mode on Camera +2, but that chooses a shutter speed in the 1/3000th to 1/6000th range and pushes the ISO up to 125 or more. ISO 125 on the tiny sensor of the iPhone SE provides considerably worse image quality I get at ISO 6400 on my Sony Rx10iv with its 1 inch sensor, and very likely worse than you would get at ISO 125000 on a full frame sensor. So not good.
This is another ProShot image of a Bluebird.
My next step is to use this setup to shoot 4K video, both for the video itself, and to see what a 4K frame looks like as a still photo. Maybe today. 🙂
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.