American Kestrel, Nikon B700

Happy Earth Day 2018, everyone! This wonderful planet needs all the help we can give it.

This photo was taken mainly to test the power of the Nikon B700 and see how 'sharp' the resulting images were when zoomed (not fully in this shot - the fully zoomed shots were terrible). This Kestrel was on the far side of a wide road and perched up on a high wire. All my life, I have used cameras with a great lens, that produce sharp photos. Seeing a shot like the one above does not make me happy : ( I am still having the problem regarding image shifting. Someone on the excellent dpreview website suggested that it might be a Vibration Reduction/Image Stabilization issue. I already have the camera set to normal VR, but he thought that maybe the camera needs longer to stabilize when the shutter button is pressed half way. Just given that a try, but it makes no difference.

The day before yesterday, 20 April 2018, I had no choice but to go out somewhere to test this Nikon Coolpix B700. I had returned the original one to the store as soon as I got a chance to use it, as it had a major problem. When taking maybe half the photos, the camera would give a loud "clunk" that could be heard and felt. Fortunately, I had just come across someone's review online and it mentioned what his camera was doing - when the shutter button was pressed, the image was suddenly shifted upward, downward or to one side. This was exactly what was happening with my camera each time the clunk was heard and felt. As a result I was getting headless birds or birds without the tail or feet (like the Robin in the next photo)! So, I took the camera back to the store and was given a replacement to try out. I am finding the same problem with shifting, but there is no "clunk" to be heard or felt. The extra zoom on this camera, along with it having 60x optical (instead of the 24X optical on my Panasonic FZ200) is what I need. Photos are not as sharp as with my FZ200, though.

Anyway, I took my usual short drive SW of the city to find some things that I could photograph. Not a whole lot to be found, but a group of three competing American Robins made my first stop. Later, three distant Mountain Bluebirds were in fighting mode and two of them were down on the ground in quite a vicious attack. Too far away for more than snapshots. I also stopped to watch three distant Hawks that were competing. You know what they say : "Two's company, three's a crowd".

A very cooperative American Kestrel gave me a good chance to try out the camera at different zoom distances. Cars were a different thing - and I was not on the best road for stopping, so I ended up driving the same stretch of road several times. These birds are so beautiful. I knew that this one caught something to eat, but it was timed just when another car came down the road and I needed to move on.

Of course, an old barn is always a bonus. The one I posted today shows how fields are still covered in snow. This should disappear before too long, as we have much warmer temperatures coming up. Unfortunately, after so much snow this winter, there is now flooding in fields and over roads south of us. Before heading out that way, it is a good idea to check which roads are closed.

The sun was shining for most of my drive, with cloud moving in towards the time I wanted to leave. A stop to pick up some delicious chili was the final stop of the afternoon.