Thursday, February 28, 2008

Black-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx erithacus): The Borneo's Bird of Rainbow Colors

Quite a bit of happenings the last few weeks. Amongst my best buddies at least. Ron (a.k.a Ripledin) with his brand new Lowepro Toploading Camera Bag & the arrival of his much awaited and anticipated Zuiko Zoom Lens.He's been busy too, getting to know his gear better. In fact, he has taken some impressive shots and have to tell you he's getting better each time. Funny tho, coz he's already thinking of an Olympus E3!.
Chai (a.k.a Insight Borneo) insisted that he's waiting for an upgraded version of a Canon 40D to mount his brand new Canon 70-300mm IS USM zoom lens to. He is not about to leave his Canon 400D just yet I guess. Not even when the camera is bugging him with it's "loud noise" (so to speak!).
On the other side of the coast, Ah Seng (a.k.a Gokibury) is a human Time-Bomb in my opinion. I'm impressed with some of his recent bird shots. He's not bothered with the race of Megapixels I presume. He insisted that his Nikon D70s is a real Gem and will only upgrade when he's done with it! At the time being, he only needs to polish his "precious" gem over and over and over again. He's indeed a time-bomb!
I loaned my Sony H5 to Alphonsus for a few weeks now. He's rarely call, so I assume that he's more or less already knows most of the camera's functions! He's poisoned good I think! (like Ah Seng & Ron before him!!!). It's only time when he'll take a visit at the local camera shop in Sandakan.
My real worry is Gary (a.k.a GuideBorneo) really. He's having "a ball" with his brand new Nikon D300. He's got himself some really remarkable shots recently. A couple of pro photograpers had loaned him high-end lens and he surely made the most of them!
We discussed about lens a few days ago via online and I mentioned to him that I'm going to go ahead and buy the Canon 70-300mm IS USM lens (same as Chai's) as I originally planned months ago. He simply said "you'll regret it, better get the white lens" and yes, I agreed!
Since then, I have this constant head-aches everyday now! I could not resist the temptation because only recently, I helped him process his Raw Black-backed Kingfisher file, which is a pin-sharp shot. Every details are visible with some amazing and remarkable rainbow colors on display!
If I didn't know better, I would have bought the so-called basic lens by now. My real concern is getting to improve my images and I am pretty sure a good lens will help me achieve that goal.


1. Ron's Big Boy Toys
Ron's gear looked like he's been taking photographs for years! an Olympus Evolt E510 complete with macho looking- hooded Zuiko 70-300mm lens, battery grip and a hand strap. To compliments all that of course his macbook and Blackberry-Curve! Impressive, don't you think?


2. Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes Malacensis)

Taken on our recent 3-hour Trio (Chai, Ron & me)outing at a local resort. This was Ron first outing with his first DSLR and looking good as expected.

3. Brown-throated Sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis)

Borrowed Chai's Canon 70-300mm IS USM for this shot. A remarkable speedy zoom lens and great auto-focusing system. A good temptation for the value, but image quality wise and speed? fine details but...

4. Common Iora (Aegithina tiphia)

I could obtain the same result with my Canon 55-250mm IS lens. Lacking in the range and built category, but image quality wise still similar in my opinion.

5. Nikon's real deal!
These I believe belongs to Cede Prudente and Johnathan Tan. Mother of all Nikon lenses. Had the opportunity of taking wildlife pictures with Cede, and sitting at the same table not too long ago. Great man, I tell you with some amazing work. Check out http://www.cedeprudente.com and http://www.borneoimages.com for their work.
6. Black-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx erithacus)

The kingfisher's image Gary's having problem processing with his macbook. The software fails to recognize D300's NEF. This one I think converted to Jpeg using the camera built-in sofware. Not an impressive result I think..


7. Black-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx erithacus)
A march 2008 Calender- a gift from Gary! I will not take credit for this beautiful photo. The only pic in the batch which I was given the opportunity by Gary to process. Thanks to this pic, I have constant headaches and dilemma of which lens to obtain! The Kingfisher on the other hand, is a celebrity on Flickr! Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/8225770@N06/2290922487/ . I will get shots like this soon...I promise.

1 comment:

Jollence Lee said...

May be he should use Capture NX to edit the NEF