I have put together this Free Mobile Photography Course that will help you to click better pictures. This Free Mobile Photography Course consists of 3 short videos that show you how to improve the quality of your pictures across a diverse range of Photography Subjects.
The first video of this Free Mobile Photography Course will show you how to improve the Lighting in your photos, the second video is about Street Photography which is everybody’s favourite subject, and the third video is about Cool Photography Project Ideas for you!
In this first video, we’ll discuss side lighting in indoor spaces – a space which has a roof over your head. I see people turning on artificial lights while clicking pictures indoors during the day. Let’s try a different approach…
Street Photography 101
In this video let us look at 3 photography project ideas that will keep you amused for the rest of your life!
How do I click super sharp images of birds with the Nikon D500 camera and the 200-500mm lens? In this video, I’ll teach you all the camera settings that go into clicking awesome photos of birds and wildlife.
I’m Girish Menon and I just show up on your screen and start talking about photography. I offer you free photography tips that will help you to click better pictures. And I release a new video every week, so please subscribe so that you don’t miss out.
If you’re wondering how I click classic shots of birds and you’d like to click similar pictures, then this video is for you! I’ll teach you all the camera settings that go into making super awesome bird photos with a Canon 7D Mark II camera.
Are you wondering if the Nikon 200-500 lens is relevant in 2022? Then stick around, because in this video I’m going to tell you more about the Nikon 200-500 mil lens and why it’s still one of the best lenses you can lay your hands on, even in 2022.
Ok, so you want to click wildlife, and are watching this video to find more about the Nikon 200-500 lens. You’re in the right place!
There are 4 main points that I wish to explore. The build quality, autofocus speed and accuracy, image stabilisation performance, and last but not the least… sharpness.
The build quality is good, with basic weather sealing, but doesn’t compare to Canon’s 100-400 Mark II lens where even the switches are weather sealed.
The autofocus is good, I’ve never had a problem with it, even in difficult situations where there are twigs and leaves in the way.
The image stabilisation is exceptional, now I used a bean bag while clicking these photos… still the shutter speeds were as low as 1/60th of a second at 500 mil on a shaky boat. So full marks to the stabilisation.
I never found the sharpness to be lacking in any way. It somehow gets the job done, even though… it doesn’t have the fluorite element that the Canon 100-400 Mark II does.
Now Nikon has a slight edge over Canon. Canon does not have an affordable 500 mil lens for their DSLR cameras whereas Nikon have two, a 200-500 mil and the 500 5.6 lens that costs less than half the price of the 500 mil f/4 lens.
However, the 100-400 lens is 100 mil wider, and at 38.4 inches has a ridiculously minimum focusing distance.
But when I go out to click birds, I prefer the Nikon 200-500 because of its extra reach. However when I go on a tiger safari, I prefer the wider 100 mil focal length for times when I get the opportunity to click tigers that are close to me. But sooner or later, once you become more committed to wildlife photography you can get an additional Nikon camera with a 70-200 mil lens. That way you’ll be covered from 70 right up till 500 mil which is beyond the reach of any affordable Canon lens for DSLR cameras.
Wildlife photography is challenging, so you must make sure that your gear is best suited to your style. Please see links in the descriptions to videos about the Canon 7D Mark II and Nikon D500 to get a better idea about these cameras and find out which brand will suit you better.
I’m Girish Menon please subscribe to my blog/channel to watch a new video every week that will help you to become a better photographer!
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II IS USM review for bird and wildlife photography. Is the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II IS USM lens relevant today, in a world of mirrorless cameras and lenses? That’s the question we’re addressing in this review. Canon is also now a formidable player in the world of mirrorless cameras. So it’s reasonable to assume that Canon will not release an update for their 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II IS USM lens for DSLR cameras.
In the following videos, I address these questions individually: Is the Canon 7D Mark IIrelevant in 2022 and is the Nikon D500 relevant in 2022.
I hope this Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II IS USM review has helped you. Please see www.girishmenon.com to know more about the photography workshops and wildlife photography tours that I offer!
Is the Nikon D500 relevant for bird & wildlife photography in 2022? Bird & wildlife photography needs gear that’s fast enough to meet challenges. In a world of mirrorless cameras, are DSLR cameras such as the Nikon D500 and Canon 7D Mark II good enough to click sharp pictures of birds and wildlife?
I have a 5-point checklist to decide whether a camera is good enough for wildlife photography and they are, the number of autofocus points, autofocus speed, burst speed, buffer size and image quality.
Now before we talk about each of these in detail, I want to tell you that the camera has excellent build quality. It is weather sealed. So you can use it briefly in light rain, and its’ dust resistant.
If you read the specs, they’ll tell you that this camera has 153 focus points. And that 99 of them are cross type focus points.
But what you should know is that only 55 out of those 153 points are selectable by the user. And only 35 out of those 55 are cross type focus points.
On the other hand the D500’s biggest rival, the Canon 7D Mark II has 66 focus points, all cross type.
Cross type focus points are able to focus faster and more accurately than non-cross type points. You can rely on them to nail focus every single time.
I always choose my autofocus area as “single point”, and select the relevant point where I want maximum sharpness. I align that focus point with the eye of the subject.
You must also know that the focus points on the D500 that fall along the rule of thirds are not cross type. Which is a bummer when I want to align something along the thirds. But it’s not always that the eye of the bird needs to be along the thirds. And even though there are no cross type focus points at the thirds, we have non-cross type points there. That’s better than no focus points at all.
The autofocus speed is fast. With some practice, you should be able to nail focus on your subjects even in challenging situations.
The camera has a 20.9 megapixel sensor. And can click 10 frames per second which is exceptional.
It has a buffer size of 200 RAW images. So as long as you have a fast enough card, which you should when clicking wildlife, your camera shouldn’t slow down because its buffer is full.
When clicking pictures of birds in flight, for example, we need shutter speeds in excess of 1/2000th of a second, sometimes even 1/4000th. That means higher ISO values. The image quality is exceptional, even at 1600 ISO.
The Nikon D500 camera checks all boxes and that’s why it’s still one of the best cameras you can lay your hands on, even in 2022.
The thing that makes it most appealing is the Nikon 200-500 mil lens. This lens has a fixed maximum aperture value of 5.6 through the entire range of focal lengths. The 500 mil focal length is extremely essential when clicking pictures of birds. Canon, unfortunately never considered providing an affordable 500 mil lens for DSLR cameras whereas Nikon offers two, the 200-500 and the 500 5.6 prime lens.
But the Canon 100-400 Mark II lens is much smaller and lighter, ideal for jeep safaris if you’re going to click tigers, leopards, rhinos, and other mammals.
Please see www.girishmenon.com to know more about the bird and wildlife photography workshops and tours that I teach and organise
Ok, so you want to click wildlife, and you are considering the Canon 7D Mark II. You’re in the right place!
I have a 5-point checklist to decide whether a camera is good enough for wildlife photography and they are:
Number of autofocus points Autofocus speed Burst speed Buffer size and Image quality
I find that if these specs are good enough then all other factors also fall in place.
Now before we talk about these specs in detail, I want to tell you that the camera is, as they say, built like a tank, Completely weather sealed, resists water and dust like a champion!
It has 66 focus points, all cross-type. Cross type focus points are able to focus faster more accurately than non-cross type points. You can rely on them to nail focus every single time even in challenging conditions such as low light, and when clicking photos of subjects in action.
I always choose my autofocus area as “single point”, and select the relevant point where I want maximum sharpness. I align that focus point with the eye of the subject.
On the Canon 7D Mark II, you can choose a smaller AF area within the focus point for even more accurate focusing.
The autofocus speed is super fast. I have no words to describe how quick and accurate it is in any situation.
It has a 20.2 megapixel sensor. And can click 10 frames per second… which is exceptional.
Its buffer can hold 31 RAW images which is significantly less when you compare it with something like a Nikon D500 which has a buffer size that can accommodate 200 RAW images.
However if you use a fast memory card, which is very affordable these days, your camera will never slow down just because its buffer is full. You can keep clicking at 10 frames per second, uninterrupted.
When clicking pictures of birds in flight, we need shutter speeds in excess of 1/200th of a second, sometimes even 1/4000th of a seocnd. That means higher ISO values.
The image quality is exceptional, even at 1600 ISO. And produces acceptable images even at 12800 ISO. These images that I clicked at 12800 ISO would be much muddier and unusable if I had clicked them with some other cameras.
The Canon 7D Mark II camera checks all boxes and that’s why it’s still one of the best cameras you can lay your hands on, even in 2022. But if you’re interested in photographing birds, you must consider the fact that Canon does not offer us an affordable 500 mil lens for their DSLR cameras… unlike Nikon which has two lenses, the 200-500, and 500 5.6 prime lens.
On the other hand, Canon has an exceptional 100-400 lens that’s probably the sharpest super telephoto zoom lens out there at the moment. The 100-400 Mark II is also a lot smaller and lighter than the Nikon 200-500. So if you’re going on jeep safaris to click tigers, leopards, rhinos, and other mammals, then the 100-400 Mark II lens is more comfortable to handle. It does exceptionally well with the 1.4X Mark III teleconverter. Please see the link in the description for my review on using the teleconverter and extending the focal length from 400 mil to 560 mil!
We see little bird activity early in the morning, especially when it’s cold. Waders i.e. water birds are always on the lookout for fish and other creatures that waggle between their legs. But other birds must wait until the sun rises and the ground is warm enough to drive insects out of their burrow slooking of food. This can be a frustrating time for photographers, waiting for songbirds to emerge, having already clicked all the possible photos of waders.What do you do? Wait?
This video shows you what that’s like! What would you do in such times? Please watch and lmk
I all began in December 2020. I started putting together short videos about my wildlife photography experiences. I used to stay up all night to record my narration videos.
Up until that point, I had never stayed up all night ever. Not even if I had an exam the next day. Consequently, I fell ill. Once I had recovered, and that took a while, I had to figure out alternate ways of recording my voice-over.
So I went into the nearby jungle and filmed with an OSMO Pocket. You see, my apartment is on the first floor of a noisy street. So recording during the day isn’t an option.
There are many challenges with using an OSMO Pocket. The lens isn’t wide enough. So I have to use this wide-angle lens adapter that sits over the main lens via magnets. The audio adapter that lets you connect external microphones to the OSMO Pocket is out of stock. So they gave me a third-party adapter. I only just realised that it doesn’t work! The on-board mics did the recording, which turned out okay, but not as well as a directional mic would. I just got a mic that connects directly via USB-C, so that’ll solve that problem next time I’m out filming.
If you’re into vlogging, I recommend getting the GoPro HERO 10 Black. It’s a bit pricey, but will serve you well for at least a decade.
I put together this video, it’s the second video with my narration recorded on the OSMO Pocket. I recorded 2-3 videos that morning. I think they’re all still very sketchy with things that need to be ironed out. But I wonder if that’s really required or if I’m over thinking. I reckon this is my worst video production till date—it’s a behind the scenes look at me clicking a bee eater.
