A real change of pace for June, with a trip to the amber destination of Poland dominating my photography this month as finally some form of travel was back on the agenda. I also delved back into the world of 35mm film photography with some colour and black and white film finishing off the month.

POLAND

With all the restrictions and faff of travel however, I decided to keep gear to a minimum. With this being said, it was the perfect opportunity to really put the new Sigma 150-600mm F/ 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary through its paces, and see what it could do out and about in the forests of Poland paired with the Canon 7D MKII.

Male Black RedstartCamera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary — Male Black Redstart
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary

Starting off with one of my favorite little birds to photograph, the black redstart. I have had a previous encounter with this lovely little bird on my last visit here, but was only able to get a useable shot of a juvenile bird. This time I was out to get some of the adult birds and was not left disappointed.

Juvenile Black RedstartCamera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary — Juvenile Black Redstart
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary

I managed to find a wall where I spotted a recent fledgling sat, blending in best it could into its surroundings. I simply had to wait patiently for a parent to come in and feed it…

Juvenile & Male Black Redstart feedingCamera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary — Juvenile & Male Black Redstart feeding
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary

The visits to feed were very hard to capture as it happened so fast, but by watching the movements of the adults I was able to determine where they would perch before and after visiting the chick. Once I knew this I was able to focus properly on the bird and get some sharp images of it going about its business.

The next surprise of the trip was a bird I had no prior knowledge of until now, so it was a joy to see and get some images of as it sat on the telegraph wires while I was busy photographing the Black redstart.

SerinCamera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary — Serin
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary

At first I thought it was a siskin, a bird I had seen and photographed up in the lake district back in 2019 (see blog post ‘life is a minestrone’). On closer inspection however, it was in fact a little bird called a Serin, a smaller relative of the Siskin that is only found here in Poland during the summer months.

The extra reach from the Sigma 150-600mm F/ 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary meant I was able to get a few images of it despite its distance from me.

The success continued throughout my stay with several trips to the local woodlands yielding some great results every time I ventured into them with the new lens.

Jay sunbathingCamera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary — Jay sunbathing
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary

Dead Shrew with FlyCamera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Canon 100MM F/2.8 Macro — Dead Shrew with Fly
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Canon 100MM F/2.8 Macro

Mallard DucklingCamera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary — Mallard Duckling
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary

The pièce de résistance of this success were the images taken of several Great spotted woodpeckers as they fed their chicks.

I had tried photographing/getting close to these guys on many occasions with varying degrees of success over the past few years. From green woodpeckers in Bushy park, to Great spotted in cornwall, but found getting close enough to get a useable and sharp image was really tricky.

Lucky for me, the woods in Poland are woodpecker heaven, and it just took being here at the right time of year to finally get the opportunity to capture some really great images as the adults fed their chicks at the nest itself.

Great spotted woodpecker Camera - Canon 7D MKIILens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary — Great spotted woodpecker
Camera - Canon 7D MKII
Lens - Sigma 150-600 mm f / 5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary

I found that the new lens did get the job done in this instance, but I can see already that this lens hunts a lot more for focus over my canon 400mm F/5.6. The lens is also noticeably heavier so keeping stable while shooting is also more of a challenge.

In terms of sharpness I would say it is not quite as sharp as the 400mm, but the extra reach and background separation the lens gives you makes up for this overall. What I may look at getting in the future is a monopod to give me some additional stability when tracking small subjects like birds.

The main issue with this lens however is the F stop. At F/6.3 on the long end, it really struggles unless in good light, which I knew was always going to be the case. I refuse to pay more for a lens so this will just have to be something I accept while using it.

At workCamera - Canon G9 — At work
Camera - Canon G9

I was also able to get some use out of my trusty Canon 100mm F/2.8 macro lens on this trip after being guided to a very specific spot in the woods where these tiny carnivorous plants grow. They are only found growing in very boggy areas, so I had to precariously position myself in the water to take these images. I would have again benefited from the use of a monopod or tripod for this but I could still get good images hand held of these amazing plants.

Drosera rotundifolia - Round-leaved sundewCamera - 7D MKIILens - Canon 100MM F/2.8 Macro — Drosera rotundifolia - Round-leaved sundew
Camera - 7D MKII
Lens - Canon 100MM F/2.8 Macro

With no real camera option for street photography when in poland, I turned to a newly re-discovered point and shoot camera which started my journey into photography back in 2008 when it accompanied me around the world. The Canon Powershot G9 is a small diminutive camera that I loved so much I bought it twice after the first one was broken in South America.

After all these years I popped it in my hand luggage to play around with in Krakow. The little camera still takes some nice images, and got me thinking about getting a new, smaller camera for travel and street photography that would alleviate the space issue I now seem to have when packing to go anywhere. It would mean a shake up of my gear, but may work to my advantage when selecting gear for upcoming trips such as this one where space is a factor.

Krakow Main square - Old TownCamera - Canon Powershot G9 — Krakow Main square - Old Town
Camera - Canon Powershot G9

Krakow Main square flowers - Old TownCamera - Canon Powershot G9 — Krakow Main square flowers - Old Town
Camera - Canon Powershot G9

Krakow Main square Housing - Old TownCamera - Canon Powershot G9 — Krakow Main square Housing - Old Town
Camera - Canon Powershot G9

Summer Lake sceneCamera - Canon Powershot G9 — Summer Lake scene
Camera - Canon Powershot G9

After contemplating this gear shake up, I completed the trip with a short flight with the Mavic II, which sadly did not get much use at all over the course of the trip, but always captures some lovely stuff when I do decide to get it out for a little fly. This time it was a short flight around the local area I was visiting at sunset, with the surrounding forests I had been photographing the woodpeckers in clear to see off in the distance.

Town ViewsCamera - DJI Mavic Pro II — Town Views
Camera - DJI Mavic Pro II

Forest ViewsCamera - DJI Mavic Pro II — Forest Views
Camera - DJI Mavic Pro II

Once back in the UK however my continuing photo journey took a bit of a break due to the 10 day quarantine I then had to endure. Luckily I had all these images from Poland to edit, and the seed in my head planted about a new, smaller camera, so I won’t complain too hard. Hopefully July can bring some more trips, and some more photo opportunities, as well as possibly some new developments in any camera gear changes I may look at making.

FILM PHOTOGRAPHY

After 10 days in quarantine, I was finally able to get back out and test the new Canon 7 film camera for the first time. The camera came with some expired Fujicolor C200, which I put to the test in central Bristol on an overcast afternoon.

I found the rangefinder focusing patch vastly superior to that of the Fuji GS645s, which I really do struggle to focus with. I also found that having a light meter with me for quick metering was spot on, and was pleasantly surprised to find all the images were not under or over exposed when developed back at home.

Boat coloursCamera - Canon 7Film - Fujicolor C400 — Boat colours
Camera - Canon 7
Film - Fujicolor C400

Building with street light reflectionCamera - Canon 7Film - Fujicolor C400 — Building with street light reflection
Camera - Canon 7
Film - Fujicolor C400

Colourful buildingCamera - Canon 7Film - Fujicolor C400 — Colourful building
Camera - Canon 7
Film - Fujicolor C400

Pedestrian BridgeCamera - Canon 7Film - Fujicolor C400 — Pedestrian Bridge
Camera - Canon 7
Film - Fujicolor C400

This was also the first roll of colour 35mm I have developed, and the first 35mm film in general I had used since the beginning of the year, so developing at home did take some time. I realise now the difference in resolution and grain structure between the two formats are quite significant, which I will be mindful of going forward.

After the relative success of developing the Canon 7 roll, I moved onto the Olympus OM1 35mm, which I have neglected to use properly since the start of the year.

I knew the film in it was black and white, but after finishing the roll, I realised it was some Ilford XP2 Super 400, a film stock that needed C41 (Colour processing) to develop. This stock was actually one I had originally purchased back in 2018, but due to me not realising the film needed C41 to process, had sat untouched since then. However now I am able to develop colour at home, I was able to use this stock at last.

Mossy branch - dust heavyCamera - Olympus OM-1Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400 — Mossy branch - dust heavy
Camera - Olympus OM-1
Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400

I struggled to load the film and once developed, the amount of dust and marks on the images were quite significant as this image above shows.

Using lightroom I was able to salvage some of the images but I don’t think it is a film stock I will be using again anytime soon as I have had much more success with Ilford HP5.

Chimneys Camera - Olympus OM-1Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400 — Chimneys
Camera - Olympus OM-1
Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400

SignsCamera - Olympus OM-1Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400 — Signs
Camera - Olympus OM-1
Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400

BorisCamera - Olympus OM-1Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400 — Boris
Camera - Olympus OM-1
Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400

Broken into carCamera - Olympus OM-1Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400 — Broken into car
Camera - Olympus OM-1
Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400

Dragon sculptureCamera - Olympus OM-1Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400 — Dragon sculpture
Camera - Olympus OM-1
Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400

Lone treeCamera - Olympus OM-1Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400 — Lone tree
Camera - Olympus OM-1
Film - Ilford XP2 Super 400

And Finally, June has also seen the sale of my Canon 24-70mm F/2.8, a lens that I was kind of shoehorned into getting for a photography job back in 2017, which has just not seen enough action since to warrant keeping in the long run. For weddings it would come in handy for the larger group shots, but being such a heavy lens, it seems like something I can overcome with the Canon F/1.4 35mm prime anyway. It was a toss up between the two lenses in all honesty, but for now the 35mm survived….just

FIN

Jun 27 Believe

Follow

Jun 27 Believe

Jul 25 Coloratura

May 31 The Land of make Believe

Related Posts

Follow