[popo]

On Sunday in the UK, it is an open farm day where many farms throughout the country are open for visitors to see what goes on. The web site even says to bring a camera, with a photo competition too. How could I say no?

But this is going to be very different to the usual wildlife I do... I'm debating what kit to bring. While I have been to zoos and such before, I have a feeling here I will want to capture the environment as well as the subject, so am currently thinking of using the 5D2 with a medium-wide prime, say 35/2 or 40/2.8. I will take other lenses also, probably the 85/1.8 and 135/2, and 150 macro, just in case. Still, my gut feeling is I will probably spend most of the time on the wider end of that.

On that note, I probably should replace the standard focus screen as I currently have in there a cheap 3rd party I was experimenting with for manual focus. It does help, but messes up the exposure in ways I haven't determined yet.

I don't have a true wide angle though. Nearest I got is the 28-135 which I might leave in the car in case I get fed up with primes. I suppose I could dual-body too, with the 7D playing backup with say 15-85 or Samyang 8mm fisheye?

[Guest]

On Sunday in the UK, it is an open farm day where many farms throughout the country are open for visitors to see what goes on. The web site even says to bring a camera, with a photo competition too. How could I say no?


But this is going to be very different to the usual wildlife I do... I'm debating what kit to bring. While I have been to zoos and such before, I have a feeling here I will want to capture the environment as well as the subject, so am currently thinking of using the 5D2 with a medium-wide prime, say 35/2 or 40/2.8. I will take other lenses also, probably the 85/1.8 and 135/2, and 150 macro, just in case. Still, my gut feeling is I will probably spend most of the time on the wider end of that.


On that note, I probably should replace the standard focus screen as I currently have in there a cheap 3rd party I was experimenting with for manual focus. It does help, but messes up the exposure in ways I haven't determined yet.


I don't have a true wide angle though. Nearest I got is the 28-135 which I might leave in the car in case I get fed up with primes. I suppose I could dual-body too, with the 7D playing backup with say 15-85 or Samyang 8mm fisheye?

 

Well, if they allow you inside buildings, you may be really close up to things, and even a fish-eye like the Samyang could come in handy - I guess you have seen the funny cow shots showing huge cow heads in exaggerated perspective - not that you have to reproduce that :-). 

Anyway, the point is, don't compare it to a zoo where you have enforced distances. So, given you don't have anything like a 24-70, I'd take the 28-135, and perhaps your 7D as backup. 

[popo]

Thinking more, I've kinda decided to go with either the 35 or 40 on the 5D2, and 15-85 on 7D with fisheye in bag too. Being realistic, I don't think I need to go any longer than that. I can leave the rest in the back of the car anyway, just in case. It isn't a big site so I could always go and change if necessary.

[popo]

2 hours to go... I should finish my camera bag packing shortly.

Random thought: since I don't usually shoot fast primes in outdoor daytime I hadn't thought of it until now. I vaguely recall I can run into problems with too much light, but then again that may be with flash and the slow sync speed. Just dug out what few ND filters I have and they're all the wrong size for the lenses. Nearest I've got is a single polariser and a 10 stop ND which might be going a bit too far!

For now it is cloudy anyway so the light is not too harsh, but it is expected to clear up as the day goes on.