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Other equipment

Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary Lens
I bought this lens in the hope that it would be useful for taking photos of butterflies that don’t descend from the trees, as happens with some of the species that congregate on hilltops; I also intended to use it to photograph birds during the winter when there are few butterflies around. I’ve found it difficult to use at full zoom as it’s a big, heavy lens so it’s hard to keep the subject in focus, particularly when pointing it upwards at a butterfly perched in a tree. Its greatest moment so far was taking a shot of a male Ogyris ianthis (Golden Azure); it’s not a great photo but getting any shot of that species is special.

Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM Lens
This was my first longer lens, which has become redundant since I bought the Sigma 150-600mm. It’s a really good lens but its purchase was something of a mistake since it only gives twice the reach of my Macro so it’s really not that much better at getting shots of distant butterflies.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 bridge camera
Much of the time I take this in my backpack instead of lugging about either of the big lenses mentioned above. Its 24x optical zoom gives it the equivalent of a 24-600mm range, so it can zoom as far as the very heavy Sigma 150-600mm lens whilst weighing a fraction as much. I read a lot of very positive reviews camera before I bought this, and watched a number of instructional videos on YouTube, but I’ve never really liked it much. I’m rarely happy with the image quality or the colours. I have no doubt that the fault lies with me; I think perhaps I’m too used to Canon cameras and never really came to terms with something different. When looking at getting a superzoom camera I wish I’d gone for the Canon Powershot SX50 HS instead; it has a 50x zoom and I’ve seen photos a friend took with one and they looked much better than I’ve been getting with the Panasonic. Unfortunately the SX50 has been superceded and its replacements don’t have such a good reputation, so I think I’ll have to wait a while before I look for another superzoom.

Canon EOS 400D camera
My first DSLR. At first I was very disappointed with the photos I was getting, because I had got used to using a point-and-shoot camera and was using auto-everything when taking butterfly photos. This generally resulted in quite long exposures, with the inevitable motion blur. I had to learn the rudiments of actual photography, such as the interaction of the f-stop, the ISO and the length of the exposure. Armed with this basic knowledge I started experimenting until I came up with some default settings which would allow me a reasonable chance of taking a decent photo under normal light conditions. All of a sudden my photos improved by leaps and bounds.
After several years of use and abuse this camera began to disintegrate. First the onboard flash stopped popping up unless I got my fingernails underneath and pulled it up. Later on pieces of the camera exterior began to fall off, leaving the inside open to the elements. I was still able to take photos but I decided the time had come to retire my trusty 400D, though I still keep it as a backup just in case.

Canon Powershot A70 camera
This is where it all started! Though it was just a little point-and-shoot camera I thought it was great, and in more capable hands it would have been. I was just a beginner and so I made every beginners’ mistake possible, plus a few that should have been impossible. I used the mighty A70 for almost all my photos up until early March 2007, when I finally dropped it one time too many. It had had a hard life and managed to survive a lot of knocks; even the time I dropped it into the muddy water at the edge of a swamp. After the last drop – on a busy road I was crossing – it struggled on for a few weeks, becoming increasingly erratic, before I finally bit the bullet at the end of July, sent the A70 to Camera Heaven.