Some low-res bird clips

[Grant Sherman]

Hi folks,

Here's some clips from my first month of owning an XL2.

They're all quite small (176x144) due to webspace and bandwidth considerations. I expect they're stay small for a while.

http://www.returntickettonature.co.uk/bja.htm

Grant

[Brendan Marnell]

Good work Grant and easy to access.

Your dipper is a beauty and the colours on several others and the stance of the wheatear are delightful. What a fine way to introduce the world to the diversity of UK SW. Makes me wonder what I'm doing ironing out the wrinkles on my alien turkey footage ...

Looking forward to many more images and maybe some video on your site.

[Grant Sherman]

Thanks for the encouragement Brendan

Originally Posted by Brendan Marnell

Looking forward to many more images and maybe some video on your site.

Do the links not work? Or is it not obvious that the links are to the video clips?

Try this one:
http://www.returntickettonature.co.u...s/kestrels.wmv

Or this one for Mac users:
http://www.returntickettonature.co.u...s/kestrels.mov

Grant

[Brendan Marnell]

Got your clips this time Grant, thank you.

I'm sure the originals are far better ... any chance you'd attach the kestrel clip to an email to marnellatindigo.ie, as many Mbs as you can manage?

[Mark Williams]

Hi Grant,

That was pretty amazing but I want more. Any chance of a longer clip and bigger video window size. If you don't have enough bandwidth try putfile.com for the upload

Thanks,

[Grant Sherman]

Brendan:

I've sent you a bigger version of the kestrel. I'd forgotten that you like raptors!


Mark:

I'll have a look at putfile.com, thanks.

I'm hoping to have bigger versions of these videos on the Internet Bird Collection eventually. I've got a few more files to process and then I'll send them all off to Spain at the same time.

http://www.hbw.com/ibc/

[Brendan Marnell]

The 2.1mb version is a serious improvement Grant and quick to download.

It's almost as good as if I was using my best binocs ... the pattern on the underwing shows up well but the feet don't seem to be in focus at any point ... I'd guess that's due to compression and thank you for the opportunity to compare versions ... this is a great help while I'm learning PPro and before I start into website development. I really would love to see the 11mb version for further comparison if you'd email it to me please.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Grant,

Shooting wildlife is always a tuff proposition.

while the footage is fine I found (at least on my computer) that the colors seemed flat.

When I went from my gl2 to the xl2 I had to spend a lot of time sorting out a set of presents that gives the camera better rendition of the actual colors on a sunny day.

I found that I had to oversaturate the colors a bit to get a reasonablly good look.

have you down loaded blue barn preset program???

Also there is a black and white preset off the list that I use to focus more easily. (I wish I had the 1500 bucks to get a fu 1000)

remember if it was easy there would be no point in bothering.

Keep up the good work!!

[Grant Sherman]

Brendan:

I have a 10MB limit on e-mail attachments so I couldn't send.

But here's a better version of the kestrel clip

http://www.returntickettonature.co.u...os/kestrel.mpg
(Edit: right-click and Save Target As... )

It's 6MB, rendered as an mpeg2 in DVD Pal Widescreen format. It's also been shortened to 10s


Dale:

Thanks for the comments about the colour. I'll have to find out how to do all that stuff. Steep learning curve!

[Brendan Marnell]

Now you're at it Grant.

After taking a while to realise that I had to Save Target As I've played it a dozen times and will again and again.

As you know, this is typical kestrel behaviour ... using every other muscle to keep his/her head steady and focussed on the slightest creature movement on the ground ... but at this higher resolution I observed for the first time how still the head is maintained. I've been enjoying watching kestrels and lesser kestrels doing this for years all over Europe through top class swarovski and zeiss binocs. This is the first time I've felt I was discovering something else which made me eager to repeat-playback the behaviour to appreciate how marvellous it is ... there's not much chance of Ronsrail being able to adapt the kestrel technique anytime soon but you have certainly provided us all with a classic study. I'm thrilled skinny ... a milestone in raptor videography ... but I didn't think so at the lower resolutions.

Bloody well done Grant.

[Grant Sherman]

Thanks Brendan,

The credit has to go to the kestrel for staying still for so long. It made a very easy subject to film. Like you, I've been watching them for years, but I hadn't realised how still they keep their head until filming this. This was at full zoom with XL2 and 20x lens.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Grant,

that is a much better version. Very nice footage!!

I shoot raptors all the time. When the are flying quarry their heads are almost always dead steady as the body does all kinds of other things. I have seen footage of cheetahs and they run with a stationary head too.

Today we found an immature female gyrfalcon setting on a rock pile on a hill over looking an entire back bay of the local lake (it is frozen already of course.) waiting for the local sharp tailed grouse to make a mistake.

[Grant Sherman]

I've had another go at doing something with the kestrel footage

[Brendan Marnell]

Now you're making a story out of it; a smashing idea; that there's only one place for this kestrel to plunge to, your place, Lundy. Smart kestrel.

Your image of Lundy is a big step up on the footage from the helicopter.

[Grant Sherman]

Thnak Brendan,

These cliffs are Hartland Point. They're the closest point of the mainland to Lundy (11 miles away). It's where the helicopter lands. That footage was taken in better weather. And the white balance setting was better suited to the conditions.

It's a better place for the kestrel as well. The kestrel footage was taken at Hartland Quay - just 3 miles south of the point.