Saltees

This week our camera club had our annual week-end away and we went to Bunclody. The highlight for many of us was the day trip we took to the Saltees Island a bird sanctuary off the Wexford coastline. As we headed off from Kilmore Quay the weather looked fairly overcast and the thought of 5 hours stranded on the island didn't look too enticing. We were all wrapped up but wondered would the cloud blow away and give us a nice day to take some photographs of the Gannets, Puffins and other wild birds. We trekked off towards the Gannetries and we were not disappointed. The clouds cleared, the sun came out and we had great photographic opportunities. A few lucky people also caught glimpses and a few frames of the odd Puffin or two. By the end of the day we were exhausted but very happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU1m0jqqOYs

The weekend was a great success we had lovely meals, a great day out and hopefully everyone got some great photographs.

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My favourite shot of the day.

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Group photo

The group that went to the Saltees, thank you Roisin for the photo.

Howth Summit

At this point I was hoping to have a video from our trip to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, but the volcanic ash put a stop to that and now we will have to wait until September.  So in the mean time I took out my camcorder and here is some video I took while on a walk from Howth Summit to the Harbour and back.  As you see the weather got steadilly worse as I went along, but a nice walk all the same.

Howth Summit from Shay Farrelly on Vimeo.

Nikon D300s HD Video

I have a Nikon D300 and I was thinking of getting a HD camcorder (see previous blog) so I was wondering would I be better getting a D300s that does HD video and the convenience of just having one camera or would I get the Panasonic TM700. A friend has the D300s so I got a loan of this to try it out. Although the video is quite good I feel there are a number of problems using a DSLR as a Camcorder so I decided to go for the TM700 which I've ordered and for which I am waiting.

One of the problems I noticed with the  D300s (apart from not being able to edit in Adobe Premiere PRO CS4) is that the mike picks up the sound of the VR lens as it makes it adjustments but what I would do in future is turn off the VR.  The attached is some of the video I took while experimenting.

South Africa Videos

Here are some video clips of our trips to South Africa, I hope you enjoy them. First in Kruger National Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw5ZCbHllQc

Then in Cape Town

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWvKVjY6T5U