Shoulder trouble

[Ralph]

Only yesterday 9-8-2021 I went out and took some bird shots while we are still in lock down but this was on the way home so I thought I could get away with it.
I have got a good little area where at most times I can get a good lot of small birds.
Only problem with this is most tend to like the top of the trees or are over shoulder height.

My problem is I get a build up of calcification in both shoulders and I have had 5 operations on them 3 to one side and 2 to the other side.
But it keep coming back and is a form of arthritis which is what I am covered in.
Well after getting a good lot of shots I came home and being on continuous mode I had a lot of shot.

Many of these shots did not turn out due to the pain I was having in my shoulders and I think as I took a shot my arms would lower.
And I had a lot of motion blur in most shots. I was angry with me as I didn't understand why at that time.
So I got a few things together to test and these were okay. So over to the wetland for a real test.

And the start was good but as I went along in my downloaded shot some started to get bad.
As I made a metal note of what I was doing it worked out that this is down to my shoulders.
So both need a clean out to help me get better shots. But this isn't always the case , as I have to pace myself better.
And then I hope I am back to getting better shots again as its not the camera its me.

Oh please no you poor bugger or things like this. I just think I need you all to understand that sometimes
things that go wrong with your photo's are not the camera's fault. All you have to do is find the cause in yourself.
Thanks for reading this even thought its long winded but I just want to let you know what can happen.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I have found that I need to make sure I’m using a fast enough shutter speed these days. 1/2000 seems to be working well for me, even for birds in flight. I also tend not to use the 200-600 all that much - the 135mm is a lot lighter, and sharp enough to crop heavily.

 

[Ralph]

I have found that I need to make sure I’m using a fast enough shutter speed these days. 1/2000 seems to be working well for me, even for birds in flight. I also tend not to use the 200-600 all that much - the 135mm is a lot lighter, and sharp enough to crop heavily.

I have been using Manual mode and I then just took a few shots of nothing so I knew where I was when I downloaded my shots.
I switched to Shutter mode to see if this can help any and when I get up to these numbers the shots seem to get darker than I like.
I will post a few of them up later today once I have done the editing of them. So I am not sure of the numbers on them.
And I hate playing with the ISO as well if this will be your next thing. I am sure I was on I think an ISO of 200 but if its needed then I
might have t make this change to adjust the ISO but really I know very little about it.

But as for this all I am unsure how it is going to help out too much if you seen how bad the motion was in the ones deleted.
Thanks for your reply as well.

 

[Deepsky3539]

I rehab shoulders for a living (including my own) ... It might be difficult while in lockdown over there but I would be glad to share some ideas on how and get strong enough to reduce the pain. Let me know.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Hey Ralph, you may have said in another thread, but what are your thoughts on using a lightweight monopod for giving you a bit of additional stability without the full commitment of a tripod w/ gimbal mount?

 

[Ralph]

I rehab shoulders for a living (including my own) ... It might be difficult while in lockdown over there but I would be glad to share some ideas on how and get strong enough to reduce the pain. Let me know.

In all honesty I think with mine and the build up of calcium that happens slowly of a few years is what it is in a nut shell. It's comes to the point where I just put up with it now as pain is a full part of life. But pointers are always good. So thanks.

Hey Ralph, you may have said in another thread, but what are your thoughts on using a lightweight monopod for giving you a bit of additional stability without the full commitment of a tripod w/ gimbal mount?

I like the way of thought is going with this and it is something I have looked at but never real serious. But now it is there infront of me I will give it a lot more thought as I know these gimbal heads are by far better and anything out there and with the plus of getting older it could very be the way I might have to train myself into working with. Thanks for this as I will head off and do a lot more research now.

 

[Brownie]

I do a lot of shooting in museums and dark settings like caves and abandoned buildings. I dislike using high ISO. If I had my druthers everything would be shot at ISO 100. That usually isn't possible in those settings, so I started taking a lightweight monopod with me to stabilize the camera and allow me to use as low an ISO and shutter speed as possible, usually somewhere between 320 and 800. The monopod I used was so light that I could simply let it hang with the camera on a strap.

The monopod works very well. Once you get used to it you'll be able to deploy and collapse the leg quickly. And if you want to use the screen to compose a shot at waist level, you can deploy the leg to whatever length you want.

About a year ago I stopped taking the monopod and bought a super lightweight tripod. My idea was to use it with a single leg deployed like a monopod for most shots, but if needed I can extend the other two legs for very long exposures and low ISO. Now, bear in mind this is a very small, compact, and super lightweight tripod. It's not going to hold a large lens very stable. But for this kind of shooting I'm usually using something small/wide and reasonably fast.

A few weeks ago I took the A7IV to a small museum near my home to test it out, as I haven't had much time to mess with the camera due to crummy weather. I also felt I wanted to refresh my memory with regard to DOF on a full frame, being so used to M-4/3. I shot at ISO 100, 320, and 500. The shot below at ISO 100 was off the 'monopod' setup. Of course a 1/20 SS with a 28mm lens is no big deal, shouldn't even need IS for that, but this was all part of sorting out a new camera.

DSC00244 by Shotglass Photo, on Flickr

This monopod/tripod system works well. Another advantage is that when collapsed, you have a nice long grip sticking out the camera, another way to stabilize.

 

[AlphaWorld]

Worth learning which ISO is the “gain switch“ on a dual gain sensor. On the A1 it’s ISO 500. On other models it’s 400, or 800, or …

The reason is the this ISO is usually close to as clean as ISO 100, and just below it (eg: ISO 400 on the A1) is noisier. So if you are at ISO 400 on an A1, you are better off taking it to ISO 500. If you are working in dim light, just set the ISO to that, and leave it.

 

[Brownie]

On the IV it appears to be 400. Good tip.

Interesting that there's a third low noise point at ISO 50.

https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm#Sony ILCE-7M4_14

 

[AlphaWorld]

Below ISO 100 is not real - it’s overexposed and scaled. I’d use 100 unless you have too much light and don’t want to stop down. I have, on some occasions, been glad that the electronic shutter on the A1 goes up to 1/32000 - gives 3 more stops in really bright light over the 1/8000 on the mechanical shutter. (Of course, you have to be somewhere that gets that bright, so definitely not Dublin!)

 

[Brownie]

Below ISO 100 is not real - it’s overexposed and scaled. I’d use 100 unless you have too much light and don’t want to stop down. I have, on some occasions, been glad that the electronic shutter on the A1 goes up to 1/32000 - gives 3 more stops in really bright light over the 1/8000 on the mechanical shutter. (Of course, you have to be somewhere that gets that bright, so definitely not Dublin!)

Yeah, I get that anything with hollow points on the graphs is extended. I doubt I'd ever need to go that low, but at an airshow shooting into a bright sky? It'll be interesting to see.