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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. gvca1

    Binocular motherload

    Albinos ranks the EDG 8x42 at #2, only behind the Swaro EL 8.5x42SV, and comes in at #4 in the 10x42 category, so I don't think they hate them all that much. The complaints you reference are mainly regarding the rubber goods and not the optics. I'll grant you that the objective covers are a...
  2. gvca1

    Quintana Roo birding without a guide?

    As Niels mentioned, the Zona Archeologica sites are a good place to start. If you don't mind paying the modest entry fees, the ruins sites are pretty good for birding, because they have been largely cleared, (for visibility and restoration of the Mayan ruins), which give you good access to the...
  3. gvca1

    Age of Nippon kogaku binoculars

    Hi, John, I think what you meant was "Nippon Kogaku" on the above... Jim
  4. gvca1

    Trying to decide on the best of the best

    (corrected for Zeiss SF) Well, you have a decision to make. Many, many pages, on this forum and elsewhere, have been written on these alphas. As you have seen from replies to your query, you can find advocates for any of these, and a few responses for 'none of the above'. What makes this fun...
  5. gvca1

    Zeiss 8x42 HT

    Maybe because the SF exists? Product Marketing is not an exact science. There are a number of reasons why product life cycle decisions are made. Competitive pressures (both internal and external), bill of materials costs, component availability, supply chain problems, manufacturing issues, etc...
  6. gvca1

    Bird/wildlife guided tour for 1 day

    We had a great experience with Eduardo at EcoColors tours. His driver, Lugo, was also an excellent bird guide, so we had plenty of local expertise at our disposal. I don't know if you need transport to be arranged, but they can handle that, as well as multi-day tours, lodging, etc. We were in...
  7. gvca1

    Nikon 10 x 42 SE

    Can't argue with that. Waterproof-ness and modern twist-up eyecups are the biggest reasons to switch to the HG or something else. Too bad it's not practical to retrofit the eyecups. Regarding the need for parts to do collimation-- maybe the in-house procedure involves cutting off the rubber armour?
  8. gvca1

    Request for Road Trip Advice - California, Nevada, Arizona

    G'day, Derek, It looks like you've done your homework, and you have a fairly ambitious trip planned. To your specific question about inclement weather: The biggest challenge, travel-wise, is your transit between Monterey and Las Vegas. If you head south, thru Bakersfield, and take 58 to I15...
  9. gvca1

    Sacramento Area: Advice for 2 days of birding

    Hi, Funk, Just perusing eBird for Mountain Plover, looks like the best bet is HWY 113 South, towards Rio Vista. That looks enticing-- maybe I'll head down there this weekend. As far as must-see destinations in the Central Valley, I think Gray Lodge is worth a trip, for sure. Should be good for...
  10. gvca1

    Experience new birding

    Rather slow to load (US site) at: http://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_us/home.html
  11. gvca1

    World Migratory Bird Day/Folk och Fåglar

    Looksharp, Thanks for your comprehensive trip report. It's too bad that the Nikon M7 8x30's were not available. I would have liked to have seen your response to them, particularly with the 'veiling glare' firestorm going on over in the Nikon subforum.
  12. gvca1

    Zeiss service - terra binos

    I doubt that it is that nefarious. At the price point of the Terra's, and China manufacture with a somewhat long supply chain, it might make sense to just swap out all warranty claims. Since the build cost is quite low, just ship out a new unit. The defective units get collected, processed thru...
  13. gvca1

    San Francisco early/mid July

    BART won't be of much help, (although I'm not sure where you're staying). Assuming you are at a hotel downtown, you could take the N Judah streetcar, which will take you pretty close to Golden Gate Park. You can catch the N Judah at the same station as one of the downtown BART stations, like...
  14. gvca1

    Places to look for shorbirds in the area of Los Angeles

    Ballona Wetlands is one. Just south of Marina Del Rey. There is fairly good viewing, considering that it is in a relatively small patch of wild land, surrounded by Los Angeles. http://www.ballonafriends.org/ Where do you expect to be staying in the L.A. area? Will you have a car? Any target...
  15. gvca1

    New Nikon 1 camera and dedicated 75-300mm lens

    I'm not too sure this 70-300 is that well thought out. There appears to be an add-on tripod foot, but it does not appear to connect like a tripod foot with a rotation collar. This means that a) the lens cannot be used in portrait mode without flopping the rig sideways on the tripod head, and b)...
  16. gvca1

    First camera and lenses - Nikon d3100?

    I think what you have described is a decent first kit. The Nikkor 70-300 is not known to be particularly sharp at 300-- some reviews call it a good 70-200 which actually can zoom out to 300. If it were me, I'd give the Tamron a good, hard look. For some of us, (I won't name names) once you...
  17. gvca1

    Dragonflies

    I'm not much of a dragonfly photographer, but I believe the Nikkor 300 f/4 is hard to beat for this purpose-- hand-holdable size, close focus, excellent optics. The standard disclaimer for this lens is that it is due for a refresh, but the new version, which many hope will come this year, will...
  18. gvca1

    Reticle Sight for wildlife photography ....

    There is a forum member over on the Digiscoping sub-forum who posted some photos of very nice astronomy scopes set up for photography. He has reflex sights mounted on several of those. (See "Ultra High End Rigs"). It seems like it might be useful on very high magnification setups, like beyond...
  19. gvca1

    Replacement foot for the Nikon 600 mm f/4 VR

    As the OP states that he is OK with an add-on plate while keeping the existing foot, then something like the Wimberly P50 should fill the bill. As Duke L. kindly implies, there are advantages to replacing the entire foot, but at $58.00 US, the P50 should get you going. Replacing the entire foot...
  20. gvca1

    Got a 300mm f2.8...........what next 5 or 600mm

    Not an easy decision! I think it comes down mostly to how mobile you are. If your bird photography day is an 8K walk in the woods, with your rig over your shoulder, the 500 is much more comfortable than the 600. There's not doubt that the reach of the 600 helps, but 3.88 Kg vs 5.06 Kg, plus I...
  21. gvca1

    Ultra high end rigs...

    Changed my mind. I'll go with number 3, if you throw in the C300. PM01- What do you use for storage on the C300? Onboard CF cards, or external storage? regards, Jim
  22. gvca1

    Ultra high end rigs...

    Nice gear porn. It's really not an apples-to-apples comparison, of course. The 'n' and 'c' lenses have things like AF, IS, etc. They are made for a different application completely, namely close-in sports, action and wildlife. That's why you don't see a lot of Takahashi, TeleVue, or...
  23. gvca1

    Manfrotto tripod leg locks work loose

    Blue Loctite should be fine. The Blue version is designed for dis assembly/reassembly, and as long as you use the correct size screwdriver, it should be no problem. I would be more concerned that there is something else going on, however, since I would think replacing the nuts with 'nylock'...
  24. gvca1

    Comment by 'Guest' in media 'Leucistic House Finch'

    I got a short video clip of him, but it's 35 MBytes.
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