That’s a good idea. I think in that situation the fancy stuff matters less than the magnification so the “cheaper” telescopes might make more sense. I’ll have to look into it!

I actually was using my 200-600 with a 1.4x teleconverter. For photos it was a little easier but particularly for video was harder. But honestly it’s all great. I don’t do crazy hikes with a lot of gear so I’m happy to lug my 200-600 around. And it usually gets me the shot or close to it. I’m not a professional so it’s not like anything depends on me getting the shot. It’s more about the journey anyway haha

Main thing is my a7iv no longer feels like it’s limiting me like my d3300 did and more often than not, it is my own limitations

I started with a used Nikon d3300 a while ago, and then upgraded to an a7iv when it came out. I was mostly starting to feel the limitations of low light performance and slow autofocus on the d3300. For me the a7iv seemed like the right choice at the time, and I’ve been very happy with it. But I think if I were making the same decision now, I might choose the a6700. It’s smaller, similar specs, cheaper, and most importantly for me, the apsc crop would be better for wildlife as it gives better reach. I recently went to Yellowstone and the number of times cool stuff was happening just a little too far away was a bit frustrating. If I had something like an a7riv or a7rv, it wouldn’t be a problem because of how high resolution they are. But those cameras cost a ton more. But I’m still very happy with my a7iv and will not be changing cameras any time soon.

I would say that unless you have a lot of nice glass for the d3200 already, don’t worry about switching to Sony. I think it really is the best brand for hobbyists because of how much affordable and excellent 3rd party glass is available for the system in both full frame and aspc. Just cannot be matched with any other system. Also, if you do want the crazy fancy stuff, the Sony G and GM lenses are some of the best in the game, and definitely have the most variety of lenses.

I would avoid m43. A lot of the newer cameras aren’t particularly light or small. I think the Sony apsc cameras are often more compact and more affordable.

Which coaster is that? It looks terrifying!

Glad I could help! The zoom ring really is perfect. It’s so easy to go through the whole range from 200-600. This makes it much more comfortable to hand hold since you never actually have to take your left hand off of it.

And yeah, you’re never gonna regret a photo that looks too good haha! As for wraps, I really like the alphagvrd vinyl wraps. They even have a Lego one that the kids might get a kick out of!

I take it on walks for wildlife and usually hand hold there. If your subject isn’t very far and tiny, you can hand hold relatively comfortably. I did get a small rig baseplate to make my a7iv’s grip tall enough so my pinky fits comfortably. I’m 5’11" and kind of chunky, but if you’re a lot smaller the lens may not be as easy to hand hold. In that case even a monopole is enough to make it easier to use the lens, I think. I used to feel shy about carrying my big lens around, but once I got over that, I realized I should use the best thing I’ve got to take photos I enjoy taking. I just got back from a Yellowstone trip where every dude over 55 years old made some comment like “now that’s a camera/lens” when they saw me, but I just laughed and carried on. I wouldn’t be too worried about how you look. Just carry on with the things you enjoy, and get those overly profession photos of your kids’ sports.

I was only slightly kidding about that sigma haha. I have the Sony 200-600 and it is a great lens. Not one you’d regret, though it is bulky and attention grabbing, so maybe not exactly what you’re looking for either. There is also the sigma 500mm prime for e mount which is pretty small and light.

Sigma 60-600. The one lens to rule them all.

Never too old to learn. I think Python is a great beginner language. It has fairly broad applications, and easy to set up an environment (don’t have to download/install a thousand things, you just install python and can run the text files in terminal). I also learned by doing starting in late middle school/early high school. I always found YouTube videos to be the most engaging way to get started. I used to like thenewboston. Once I had a handle on the basic programming language, I would do easy programming challenges where you have to solve some sort of basic problem. The challenges helped me learn basics like taking in input, changing the input based on the various rules and conditions of the challenges, then outputting the proper results formatted in the right way. Also helped me to think about algorithms, etc. After that, I started learning programming through a textbook. This was helpful for understanding some of the more technical aspects, basics of memory management, what different variable types are really for, OOP, abstraction, algorithms etc. I found that leaving these advanced topics till after I had a working understanding of the programming language helped understand the concepts better, and helped me understand why it’s important to learn the concepts in the first place. I was using Java for learning most of this, which might also be a good place to start for you, but I feel like python has simpler syntax to start with. In the end once you learn one language, I recommend learning more and not being stuck to any particular language. Every language has it’s own strengths and weaknesses, and understanding the commonalities and differences will only make you better in the long run.

Edit - now I use Go, python, JavaScript, R, Java, Julia, rust based on what I’m actually doing. It’s fairly easy to switch languages once you get used to basic syntax.

I might’ve missed the bee if it wasn’t for the title haha. Nice shot

Like others have said I would either try to lift the shadows or go for a high key style photo and make the bird more of a silhouette

No Microsoft Access is/was a GUI software actually meant to have databases instead of how everyone uses Excel/spreadsheets as databases. It is a part of the office suite. It works pretty much like traditional databases but has an easier to access GUI for non programmers I guess. I don’t think it’s used a ton nowadays except for legacy processes that haven’t been updated.

Yeah based off of some other comments, those are prominences. The big arc that’s at 5 o’clock in the photo was actually visible to the naked eye as a red dot, which was pretty cool.

I used my Sony a7iv with the 200-600 (took all my images at 400mm f8 iso 100). I made a solar filter from baader film for getting the partial eclipse images (they’re in the video I posted to /c/space, but took the filter off during totality to get this image and a couple of others)

Oh I also used a star adventurer 2i for tracking during the eclipse so that I could just use a timer to take intermittent images rather than having to continuously readjust the camera.

Edit - for the future, if anyone is looking for what I used for the filter, I made this holder for Baader film: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6573400

I think I want work to end an hour earlier in the winter because of how early the sun sets, and care much less about the summer. So however it’s done, it would be great if office jobs could happen when it’s dark outside and we could live our lives during daylight.

No the longer evenings are achieved by work starting and ending an hour earlier. And it’s literally easier to change the time zone than to change corporate culture.

I used to have a Nikon d3300 (bought on Craigslist with 2 kit lenses, plus bag, and accessories for $300) for 6-7 years. Then I wanted to do nicer portraits so I got the 35mm f1.8 for like $200. Then switched to the Sony system 3 years ago because I wanted to do more wildlife which would’ve required a new camera body because d3300, while an awesome camera, was not it for autofocus and fast shooting. Because I’d need to invest quiet a bit into whatever I chose next anyway, I decided to go with an a7iv, and have been really happy with it. It’s perfect for all the stuff I was doing with my Nikon, along with the wildlife capabilities I was looking for, and for my needs I probably won’t need another camera body (unless this one stops working).

I’d recommend if all you’re looking to do right now is macro, your current body is likely sufficient and you’ll probably find nice used macro lenses for it on a budget (<$500). I’m don’t have experience with canon so I can’t recommend anything specific, but I’m sure Google can help with that part. If you do decide that you are ever hitting the limits of your current body or are thinking about more expensive professional lenses (think >$1200), that is when I’d consider switching up a mirrorless. Either way, I definitely don’t think you should invest in a new DSLR body right now.

Also - if you’re looking at new mirrorless, the canon system right now is kind of expensive when it comes to nice lenses. I think Sony is the cheapest because of a lot of 3rd party options. But the price for the bodies is more or less the same. Then there are the m43 brands which I don’t know much about but might also be a nice option.

Awesome thanks!

Do you know how motherboards split up this 1amp spec? Does each USB port on a motherboard have 1amp, or do they often end up sharing?

I’ve actually found that I cannot add too many more ports without it being a powered USB hub. Expanding 3-4 is fine, but if you’re trying to add on like 10-15, it won’t work unless the hub is powered.