# I went to the zoo this past weekend also.



## Markw (Sep 30, 2008)

Here are my favorite shots. We went to the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in Thurmont, MD and it poured down raining the whole time. I liked the zoo, so I walked around in it and just got soaked. There were spurts without rain so I got some pictures. Alot of the 100+ took didnt turn out or were just "snapshot worthy" as these might look also, so I didnt even bother posting them. 

1.





I know the focus is off, but MF is hard on a P&S and a moving target. I still like it.

2.




I like it. He was about 4'long and just a monster.

3.




For some odd reason, the things thatr are infront of the lens when the camera is off, they didnt open fully. Imagine it not there. 

4.




It can get quite frustrating shooting thru bars. Again, if at all possible, picture it not there.  (again)

C&C welcome.

EDIT: The only pp involved with these shots was a contrast boost on the 1st and 3rd ones.


----------



## Markw (Oct 1, 2008)

After re-looking them larger than in my 3" LCD, teyre not as good as I thought they were.

Mark


----------



## TrickyRic (Oct 1, 2008)

Some over exposed areas in those, probably thanks to the wet weather. Quite a nice effect in that last shot though... I'd play around with close up crops of it if I were you, maybe a portrait crop of the eye and chest area?

The others don't do much for me unfortunately, I'm no fan of bars.


----------



## Markw (Oct 1, 2008)

Attempted a crop, not usually very good at them.  Hows this:







Mark


----------



## TrickyRic (Oct 1, 2008)

That doesn't look bad. Shame your original focal point wasn't of the beak =).


----------



## Bifurcator (Oct 1, 2008)

TrickyRic said:


> The others don't do much for me unfortunately, I'm no fan of bars.



How long were you in for?




Mark, I like http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa215/Tamandua-Lover/tortoise3.jpg <--this crop better. And if your f-stop were larger that would be the perfect place to set the focus. :thumbup:

Nice zoo shots!  Thanks for sharing!


----------



## TrickyRic (Oct 1, 2008)

> How long were you in for?



LMAO, I fell into that one!


----------



## TrickyRic (Oct 1, 2008)

Had a bit of a play, just for fun. This is the eye and chest crop I originally meant - It would work better from your original resolution, since then you could scale to an 8x10 print at least. It's probably a contraversal crop and certainly doesn't show off the subject in all it's glory, but I really like the colours it highlights.

I processed a fake beak focal point too. Probably looks very heavily processed but as I say, I was just having fun with it .


----------



## Markw (Oct 1, 2008)

Bifurcator--As far as i can go with anything manually on my P&S is POSSIBLY a MF and thats extremely slow and hard to do with animals.  but thanks for the compliment and future reference help.

TrickyRic--Thanks alot.  I LOVE that crop.  BTW, on another note, my camera is 8MP, how large of a print would that be able to print up wo without losing quality?  And while were on the subject, how about 6.1MP? [for future reference with the D40]

Mark


----------



## Bifurcator (Oct 1, 2008)

Markw said:


> ...my camera is 8MP, how large of a print would that be able to print up wo without losing quality?  And while were on the subject, how about 6.1MP? [for future reference with the D40]
> 
> Mark



That really depends on how close you view the print at. 6mp can do an 8x10 (A4 / US Letter) no problem at all. If it's poster sized and you view it like a normal poster (from &#8805; 3 meters away) then 6mp can print posters with no noticeable loss of sharpness or resolution. Same with building banners and billboards. If viewed as intended from a  &#8805; 30 meter distance then 6mp will suit the task quite well.


----------



## Markw (Oct 1, 2008)

Well I plan to do 4x6 or at most 8x10 EVENTUALLY. so I guess the D40 will be a good choice for me.

Mark


----------



## Bifurcator (Oct 1, 2008)

The D40 is kinda a sucky camera though. The Olympus 510 for the same price or the Pentax at around the same price is far far FAR superior in terms of both build quality and functionality (feature set/ability).


----------



## Markw (Oct 1, 2008)

I would like to work with Nikon.

Mark


----------



## Bifurcator (Oct 1, 2008)

D80 or D90 then...

The D40 and D60 are the worst cameras in general use. Really really bad. Sure they still take OK images but they're feature stripped in both firmware and physicality to the point of being severely crippled. Their build quality feels really really bad too. I say this even though Nikon is my favorite SLR/DSLR maker!

If you're just after Nikon glass (which is wise) there are adaptor rings that work or bodies that accept Nikon lenses like the Sony line (all of which are superior to the D40).


----------



## Markw (Oct 1, 2008)

Im on a budget. So the D80 and 90 are way out.  And I would really just like to work with Nikon.

Mark


----------



## Bifurcator (Oct 1, 2008)

Sure.. but just know that with the D40 all you're paying for is the white "Nikon" text on front. You're getting way way WAY less camera for the same money.  As long as you know it then of course the decision is yours.

I've done the same thing in the past... purchased stuff just for the name I mean.


----------



## Markw (Oct 1, 2008)

I have seen amazing pictures taken with the D40.  I will be just fine, beings as Im a beginner and dont need all that complicated stuff anyway.

Mark


----------



## TrickyRic (Oct 1, 2008)

I'm not going to argue with the comparisons made above, between the D40 and higher spec cameras, but I have to say it is a great entry level camera. It's the smallest, lightest camera Nikon make and for the price it is a pretty good one. Although it's an entry level, I personally havn't found myself needing higher end features enough to warrent spending the larger price tag that comes with them.

As for print quality, a 10x8 print at 96dpi needs only a 960x768 pixel image for lossless quality. That gives you plenty of room for cropping and down scaling with any entry or professional level camera.


----------



## yanksfan (Oct 26, 2008)

I Love Number 2, Congrats...


----------

