Of Mice and Men /  by Arne Bischoff

“A good thing such a garden.”

I am a garden caretaker right now, watching a friends little garden. I ate a lot of gooseberries and raspberries and harvested some salad and zucchini. A good thing such a garden.

And I made friends with this little guy who was not at all shy. One wonderful evening I lay in front of this sage bush and watched my friend eat. It did not care at all and allowed me about twenty centimeters close. And now I am a little in love with a mouse.

So please, do me a favor. Stop killing mice. They are part of your ecosystem as well as your well beloved foxes or squirrels.

What's the story? (Furry glory). A badger in the woods. /  by Arne Bischoff

“I made a new friend. He’s furry, he is black, white and grey and he makes such wonderful sniffing sounds.”

A European badger (Meles meles) in the twilight of its woods.

There is this big thing in the photography community: INSPIRATION. I can’t quite suffer it any longer. “Thank you Stephen McDougle Media House Photography Production, you inspired me to finally clean my fridge. Let me post some images of it as a part of the #instagramcleanfridgechallenge.”

Well, that was my cynical me. In fact, two fellow wildlife photographers really inspired me with their badger images. The wonderful Morten Hilmer shared a video of himself roaming his local forest and searching for badger dens. And Kevin Winterhoff had a short educational piece about how to identify it. I really like both photographers, because they show what wonderful experiences you can make in your own backyard and just around the corner. It’s easy to fall in love with wildlife photography in Svalbard, Patagonia or the Amur region, but if you can do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke, this is quite a feat.

I did not actively head out to find a den later-on. But it somehow resonated with me. Then, under the Corona-lockdown in Germany, I decided to skip the overcrowded parts of my local forests and to discover some terra incognita in the nearby forests. I thought, I knew the woods around my hometown really well, but I was absolutely surprised what it had in store for me, once I left my well-trodden paths. And then I stumbled right across a badger den. I literally walked into it. It thrilled me and I decided to pay the den some visits and see if I’d see its inhabitant.

My first ever badger image.

I did. Right at my first outing, two badgers showed their noses. I did not even have to wait long. I came with the last light of day and as soon as the sun had gone down, the badger came up. One – the bigger individual, I guess the male – was quite curious, whereas the smaller only had a short sniff of fresh air.

Apropos sniff. My badger announces itself with a very cute sniffing-sound, right before it leaves its den. The first time out, I was so excited, I screwed up the photography. I missed focus a lot and the light level was so low, my images turned out soft and noisy. So, I came back. The last time I visited the den, the male badger – like clockword – came out, when the sun set, had a little walk around his den and went off for a hunt. No. 2 did not show off. In my mind, an image arose. An image of Ms. badger lying hidden in the den with a litter of baby-badgers around. I will definitely come back.

Image of the day: Dreamy buzzard /  by Arne Bischoff

With this image, I try something new. I showcase some single-images here. Like on my instagram, but with better image quality and accessible for everyone who does not want to “share” his or her data with Facebook, Inc.

With this image, I tried to create a bit of a dreamy atmosphere. The light was so low and the buzzard so far, it was never going to be a detailed shot anyway. So, I decided to shoot right through the tall grass. What do you think? Did my creative experiment turn out well? Or is it just kitsch?

A Common buzzard on its late perch. Image taken June 23, 10 pm (CET).

A Common buzzard on its late perch. Image taken June 23, 10 pm (CET).

Meeting a ghost /  by Arne Bischoff

“When you meet a ghost, best be stealthy and see you do not disturb it.”

A black stork with both feet in a river. (Ciconia nigra)

This is what I thought when I met this black stork in a local nature reserve. It was fishing in a little river between old trees in a small stretch of Riparian forest - only about 25 metres from both shores.

But this is where the shy creature feels most comfortable. Sadly the black stork has become a very endangered species in Germany. It prefers old forests with running rivers next to wet- or open lands, but this combination has become quite scarce in the small sectioned agricultural landscapes of Central Europe. A lot of old Riparian forest has been destroyed by man. And even where such woodland still exist, it might be too small to provide enough food and space and shelter for nesting.

A close sibling: The white stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Unlike its close sibling, the white stork, the black stork is really sensitive to disturbances, which often causes it to abandon its breeding efforts when people come close. Even 200 metres to a nest might be too close.

I literally ran into this stork when it was fishing right next to a hiking path though. What’s more, this particular spot was only a few hundred metres from where both river and hiking path was to meet the next street. So this was a really daring stork you might think. Then again, it was really early in the morning and the stork might have learned that most humans sleep longer. However. We met and I had this split second to grab the shot. I was so excited about the moment that I clipped the poor storks feet. I hope the dreamy quality of the out-of-focus grassy foreground make amends. Just two frames later, the stork had left.

I hope it came back later to catch some more fish.

Three months with a Fringer. A field-report. /  by Arne Bischoff

Please note: This text have been originally published at fujirumors.com.

Let me get this out of the way first: this is not a review, I did no objective testing and measuring. This is a subjective report about my personal experience after using the Fringer EF-X adapter (firmware v. 1.30 and 1.40) to pair my Fujifilm cameras with the a Canon EF 500 mm f/4L IS II USM for three months and around 7,000 shots. I did not use other cameras or Canon lenses. I used the X-T3 for the majority of shots but tried the X-H1 for a side-by-side comparison. I will not focus on lens or cameras too much, since they are tested elsewhere, but I will try to assess the performance of the combination as a whole. What is correct for me, might not apply to you though.

Fujifilm X-H1 + Fringer EF-FX Pro II + Canon EF 500 mm f/4L IS II USM and Huga Nature Lens Cover.

Let’s dive right into it with the most important takeaways first.

  • Good build quality (adapter)

  • No weather sealing (adapter)

  • Good overall focussing, but worse than with native lens/camera-combination, especially in difficult conditions

  • Usable, but less capable tracking compared to native lens/camera-combination

  • Impeccable image quality


Build quality
The Fringer ships in a stylish black box. Everything seems well thought-out and high-quality. I returned my first copy anyway. The adapter features a lining of black fabric on the inner side to control stray light. With my first copy this fabric overlapped into the imaging circle of the adapter.

The aperture ring turns firmly but smoothly and feels comfortable, but I chose to set the aperture with the command dial. The aperture ring sits right next to the camera and it turned out really difficult to reach with either hand. While my right hand is holding the camera grip, my left hand is balancing the lens and operating its focus ring way out front, so I simply have no finger left to spin the aperture ring of the Fringer.

Both bayonets are made of brass and feel very solid. Once attached, there is quite a bit of play as usual with Fujifilm equipment. But overall the adapter is really well built.

There is one serious caveat though. The adapter is not weather sealed. I reached out to Fringer and they confirmed this. For wildlife photography this is a serious drawback. Demanding weather, especially falling snow, oft create the most beautiful images. I tried to amend this a little (!) by taping the joint between lens and adapter with some layers of Tragopan self-adhesive Camo Tape and put a HUGA Nature neoprene lens cover over it. I perfectly know that this is not a waterproof solution so don’t be too picky about my DIY. By the way, I highly recommend the HUGA cover and actually prefer it over the Lens Coat offerings, being roughly half the price for the same quality.

Fujifilm X-T3 + Fringer EF-FX Pro II + Canon EF 500 mm f/4L IS II USM and Huga Nature Lens Cover.

X-T3 vs. X-H1
I used both cameras with the grip attached, three batteries and in “Boost Mode”. The X-T3 (firmware v. 3.10 and 3.20) beats the X-H1 (firmware v. 2.01) in every regard and circumstance when it comes to focusing the Canon 500 with the Fringer. It focusses quicker and more accurately, hunts less and tracks better. With the X-H1, you’re completely depending on the centrally located phase detection points. The outer contrast detection points only make things worse. This is pretty sad. I personally like my X-H1 better for wildlife photography thanks to its perfectly silent mechanical shutter. To my eye, it renders higher ISO-values cleaner and it does a better job in balancing the heavy supertelephoto, too.

Autofocus
The most urgent question when it comes to adapters and third-party lenses. How does it focus? 

Focussing accuracy with both cameras is really good. Once the camera acquired focus, the images are tack sharp, both in single and continuous AF. From my experience, as soon as you get a positive focus lock, you can confidently fire away.

My Frankencamera in the wetlands.

Focussing speed is a more difficult story. In single AF and good light, the X-T3 achieves sharp focus without any noticeably delay. Continuous AF slows things down, but not too much. In lesser light, heavily backlit situations or with busier backgrounds, the combination is prone to hunting in both AFS and even more so AFC. It then takes noticeably longer to acquire focus than with my Fujinon XF 100-400. The X-H1 is inferior in every of those scenarios.
The focus preset buttons of the Canon lens are helping a lot to mitigate this problem and its manual focus override is infinitely more usable and accurate than with my Fujinon lenses. It has a very precise focus throw. For busy backgrounds, I use this workaround a lot and help the autofocus to get a little closer before it locks in by itself. Unfortunately, the Canon focusses counterclockwise to infinity, while my binoculars (the most important piece of kit in my bag) focusses clockwise to infinity. This drives me nuts!

Focus tracking: Maybe you know the impressive Fringer tracking videos on youtube. They are both a true and untrue representation of my own experiences. If you’re tracking birds in flight against the sky, the results are pretty great. The initial lock takes longer than with native Fujinon lenses but remains perfectly usable. Focus-lock and -tracking against busy backgrounds are less impressive. You best configure your camera in a way that it sticks to its initial subject and ignores obstacles. Gladly Fujifilm cameras allow for a really sophisticated AF setup. But be prepared that your AF locks noticeably slower and loses track more often than you’re used to with native lenses and you would like.

My Frankencamera in the snowy mounatins.

Keeper rate: I do not methodically assess my keeper rate. I have to trust my guts with this. I don’t use the FujfilmFringerCanon long enough to have a representative statistical sample anyway. What I can say is this: My keeper rate with the Fringer-adapted Canon lens is definitely lower than with the native Fujinon 100-400 on the same body. With the 100-400 I rarely have shots completely out of focus, and I’d consider about 70 % as usable in terms of focusing accuracy. With the adapter and the Canon attached to the X-T3, I am down to about 50 % keepers with a higher number of completely out of focus images. 

Image stabilization
The adapter transmits all signals between body and lens, so whatever stabilization you choose works. Canon claims four stops of image stabilization, which is one stop less than Fujifilm does for the Fujinon 100-400. It is worth noting that the IBIS of the X-H1 and the lens-based stabilization of the Canon lens seem to fight each other in some occasions, something I never noticed with the Fujinon 100-400 and the X-H1. I achieved the most consistent results when I used either IBIS or lens-based stabilization, with the latter being more effective due to the high leverage of the long lens. The combination of IBIS and IS sometimes worked perfectly fine and sometimes produced washed out images. I don’t have a clue when and why. The combination as a whole is perfectly hand-holdable with a decent enough hand-holding technique. Sadly, the Canon IS is pretty loud.

The combination provides impeccable image quality.

Image quality
It seems a bit odd to include, since IQ is not a property of the adapter, but this is what it’s all about, right? The image quality is absolutely outstanding. Even in great light, the 100-400 does not come close. The Canon is absolutely superior in terms of sharpness, falloff, background rendition and delivers so much more detail. In poor light, the difference is even more noticeable, especially when you’re recovering underexposed parts of the image in post. The Canon is less punchy in terms of contrast and saturation than my Fujinon. This is easily fixed in post but worth noting for jpg-shooters, who might feel better off using the Velvia simulation.
I am comparing apples and pears, you say? I am comparing long lens options for Fujifilm, I say.

EXIF
Perfect communication between lens and camera through the Fringer.

Summary
Would I do it again? Yes. Image quality and background separation are outstanding and the lens gathering twice the light means more shooting in twilight. The AF works good in most situations. The lack of weather sealing and the inferior AF tracking in low light and with buys backgrounds are real drawbacks. But overall, I really enjoy my Frankencamera. One serious downside of such a hefty lens is the public attention you get. Be prepared that everyone feels inclined to drop a comment.

Beautiful color, contrast and sharpness.

Why all this fuss?
I use Fujifilm equipment since 2017 after switching from a Sony/Minolta system. The Fujinon 100-400 has been my constant companion ever since. It will keep its place in my bag. Although I have been really happy with the lens so far, there are some inherent limitations:

Aperture: When shooting birds, you use fast shutter speeds. When my subject is perched and steady, I can drop my shutter speed, but as soon as it moves, I usually need 1/1600 sec. or faster. In anything but direct sunlight the f/5.6 aperture means that I am shooting ISO 1600 or higher. In twilight, when a lot of animals are most active, we’re speaking ISO 3200 and above.

Reach: A full frame equivalent of 600 mm should be enough for anyone, right? Well, no! Birds are a very small and often far away subject matter. In a region as densely populated and with so much agriculture as Central Europe, wildlife is shy, elusive and distant. Fitting the 1.4x TC is no solution either as it drops your max. aperture to f/8 and puts your ISO through the roof.

Image quality: Don’t get me wrong. I find the quality of the X-Trans sensors quite fantastic. However, when you’re shooting high ISO and low light, you don’t get a lot of detail. The noise pattern is well controlled, but the noise is smushing all the beautiful detail in feather and fur that us wildlife photographers are loving so much. On the long end, the 100-400 is visibly lacking sharpness compared to most telephoto primes and cropping costs additional detail as fellow wildlife photographer Steve Perry explains in this helpful video. 

Please listen, Fujifilm
The Fujifilm platform is not only an absolute joy to use, it meets a lot of requirements of wildlife photographers. Quick and easy to manipulate, snappy AF, well tracking, decent weather sealing, reach-advantages of the APS-C sensor, high burst-rate. What is lacking is the lenses. The 200 mm f/2 does not offer enough reach for most wildlife work, even with the 1.4x TC attached and Fujifilm does not (yet?) offer a 2x TC for it, for the 100-400 see above and this is pretty much it.

So please Fuji: Allow me for a little bit of wishful thinking. A 335 mm f/2.8 or a 400 mm f/4 would suit your system very, very well.

And in the process, please let me set my AE-L-button to “Single Point”- and my AF-L/AF-ON-button to “Zone” -focussing. This would make everything so much faster. So much faster! Sony does it, Nikon does it – you can do it, too!

Archimedes was a Pygmy Owl /  by Arne Bischoff

Do you remember Disney’s Sword in the stone? There is Archimedes, a rather dwarfish, but very hilarious owl with a taunting sense of humour. The ten-year-old me loved it. Archimedes might be an Eurasian pygmy owl, although I think an actual Little owl (Athene noctua) is far more likely to be the inspiration for the character, given its mythological pedigree.

Fast forward nearly thirty years, I met Archimedes in the woods, sort of. I was out counting Eurasian pygmy and Boreal owls on behalf of the local national park Harz. I did this kind of bird monitoring quite a lot in recent months. In order to deliver comparable data, it is a highly standardised way of scientific monitoring. Usually this takes place around the breeding season and you play a call of your target-species and hope that it responds. From the number of responding males you conclude on the number of breeding pairs. Without this systematic approach you would solely rely on incidental findings. Because this way of counting means stress for the birds, it is highly restricted to professional use. I do this, because it is a great way to learn about birds, to be out and about and help conservation a little. As I once said here, if I have to choose between watching and photographing, I’d choose the former. Nevertheless, I take my camera with me, when I go monitoring. Firstly, because I love taking images, secondly because images help from a conservation standpoint, too. You only protect what you know and love.

It was my second outing on this particular route. I had been out for about one and a half hour, without seeing or hearing any sign of an owl. When I arrived at my checkpoint and played the pygmy call, this male immediately responded. I instantly quit playing the call and held my breath. A very inquisitive and adventurous male approached me directly, flew over and took perch on a nearby fir tree. It called and called for at least five minutes and I watched speechless before I finally took some images. The spectacle carried on for a little while before I finally left my Archimedes and headed for the next checkpoint. When I arrived there and played the call, I was just stunned. Archimedes had followed me and took another perch in a nearby tree. By this time, it was too dark to photograph. So, I just watched and listened.

“Like in the movie, my Archimedes is a really courageous and curious little bird.
And I am one really happy birdwatcher.”

Editor’s note: Don’t use calls to attract birds on your own and without scientific reasons or supervision. Unfortunately, a lot of wildlife photographers discovered this “trick” in recent years. From an environmental standpoint, this is an absolute no. The scientific counting rules demand you to stop as soon as a species responds, in order to not disturb it any more than absolutely necessary to gather data which helps protecting wildlife. This is the exact opposite of what so called wildlife photographers do, who play the calls over and over again and whose only goal is to take images, not to help science protecting animals.

The real meaning of 1st. /  by Arne Bischoff

A Bohemian waxwing taking off with its favorite food.

Seeing a bird for the first time is a special and thrilling feat for most birdwatchers and -enthusiasts. Back in January I had this very pleasure. Bohemian waxwings came in quite some numbers to Northern Germany. This isn’t too unusual and happens every few years. But since I am still a newbie in terms of birdwatching, I did not yet experience this occasion.

From the very beginning of my birding-thing, I was fascinated with some species in particular. First of all, there is my much beloved Raven - all kinds of Corvidae in fact. And I really have a fancy for the wonderful Spotted nutcrackers, Sanderlings and Common Ringed Plovers. Less originally though, I have always been fond of some of the the more colorful species since I acquired the great “Kosmos Vogelführer” - such as the Atlantic puffin, the Great kingfisher, the Bluethroat and of course the Bohemian Waxwing. Scandinavia-lover who I am, those Waxwings had a head start into my heart and the fact that one of my most appreciated wildlife photographers, Markus Varesvuo from Finland, often shared waxwing images helped with my fascination.

“When word spread that Waxwings were here, I became a little thrilled.”

I had to wait until this year to see it. When word spread with the local ornithologists that Waxwings were here, I became a little thrilled. I went out with my trusted binoculars, but without success on the first outing. Since they usually feast on Mistletoes, Rowan-berries and Common snowball I kept my good mood and was sincere to find it. One day later a large flock has been reported at a local camping site - easily accessible via car. What happened next was an unpleasant surprise. Loads of birdlovers and -photographers swarmed the place. All well equipped with hiking boots and trousers and heavy packs and what not - right within the city. More annoyingly they behaved as if this was there place, coursing the campers for scaring off the birds, getting in the way of everyone, noising and being way too full of themselves.

What was missing was the waxwings - smart little birds they are. I decided that this was not my place and went for a long stroll around a nearby lake, breathed deeply and forgot all the annoyance, came back - all those Waxwing-hunters had been gone, sat down and waited for ten minutes or so and was rewarded with a flock of 37 birds: noising and brawling and enjoying the Snowball berries. The light was wonderfully subdued. Short: I couldn’t have been more lucky.

“It’s not about ticking some species off of a list.”

The rest is history they say. One happy photographer with a shitload of images to process. Forgotten my irritation about those noisy birdloving photographers I met before. The magic of the moment took over. So I put aside the camera, grabbed my binoculars and watched and listened. Isn’t this what it’s all about? It’s not about ticking some species off of a list. It’s not about hunting for an image as inquisitive passerby oft ask. It’s about experiencing the moment, learning about the ways and behaviour of wild animals that are not subject to man. This is the real meaning of a first. The moment that you will only experience once. This excitement, this joy.

Misconceptions about wildlife photography /  by Arne Bischoff

There is this common misconception about wildlife photography that you grab your camera, go out, press the shutter and come back with beautiful images of elusive birds. More often that not, it's the complete opposite. When you live in Germany, there is not a lot of wildlife around. Most of its so called nature is agricultural wastelands. Even the remaining stretches of nature are too small and too scattered to support wildlife in strong numbers. An immeasurable amount of streets are cutting each and every habitat to pieces.

In spite of all this, sometimes I fall under this spell myself. When I am sitting in my office chair, doing my day to day work and dreaming away to what I gonna do this weekend. In this daydreaming, I imagine perfect light, beautiful nature, no people, but a lot of wildlife.

With exactly this idea in mind, I went to the mountain range nearby to see at least one day of winter. It was mid-February. In the flatlands where I live, there has been not a single snowflake all season. The local Harz mountains did not disappoint. I had a wonderful day out, with snow and sunshine. All went to plan. I have scarcely seen any animals though, a raven, a crossbill, a woodpecker, but it was a great day nonetheless. I have been lucky. To have a day out is what really matters. If you get your image, fine. If not, consider yourself lucky anyways. It’s a process.