Neil Khandke Bird Photography

I have been photographing birds/wildlife for about 2 years. My wife suggested I take up a hobby (she has regreted it ever since) and I had been interested in wildlife photography when I was younger but could never afford the equipment. I therefore brought a Fuji Finepix s5500 and a 1.5 srew converter and off I went.

I do most of my photography in Bedfordshire and Northamptionshire with Summer Leys may main site. There are several very good photographers here as well as birdwatchers who are very happy to help and advise. All in all a very friendly site.

I have upgraded my equipment several times and my current gear is:

Camera

Canon 1D Mark 3

Canon EOS 30D

Canon EOS 40D

Lenses

Canon 500mm F4

Canon 400mm F5.6

Sigma 70-300mm Zoom

Canon 1.4 teleconverter

I have been very pleased with my new camera, the Canon EOS 40D. I find it much quicker and more accurate in the autofocus and find I hit more flight shots than I did before. I do still find however that I need to leave the camera on single point focus as it struggles with all 9 active. The resolution and image quality is very good and for portrait work the Canon 500mm f4 lens with the 1.4x converter and 1.6x camera crop give me 1120mm focual length at f5.6.

I have just purchased the 1D mark 3 and have taken it out a couple of times. Very different from the 40D but I am please with it for action and got Birdguides Photo of the week on my first outing. I will probably keep using the 40D for portrait work as the little bit of extra reach from the 1.6 crop (1d has a 1.3x crop) helps.

I hope you enjoy this site, please leave a comment in my guestbook. Also check out the links to some great photo sites.

Neil

I recently visited Gigrin farm in Powys to see the Red Kite Feeding Station. A fantastic spectacle with over 100 Red Kites and Buzzards feeding for nearly 2 hours. The birds were so close I had to take my 1.4x converter off my 500mm lens. I took over 700 photo's, see the best in my Red Kite and Buzzard folders.

Kestrels are one of my favourite birds. So compact and neat and I just love their small faces.

I wanted a kingfisher for a long time and this one turned up out of the blue in front of the hide.

See more shots of this beautiful bird in my Barn Owl Folder.

Red Kite swooping in to take some food, Gigrin Farm 2008.

The Ringed Plover was taken on a beach in Norfolk. We sat quietly at the seafront and waited and gradulally the birds came close. A low viewpoint helps with the shot. Taken with the Canon 40D which is great for portrait work. I do try to get the eye sharp for these shots.

Questions or comments? You can send me e-mail at:

s.khandke@ntlworld.com