Kowa

In my previous report, I introduced tips for capturing the autumn scenery of the mountainous Shinshu region of Central Japan using the PROMINAR 500mm F5.6 FL (known below as the PROMINAR 500mm). This time I report from the same Shinshu region where I photographed Japanese macaques. Many of Japan's wild animals are nocturnal, particularly those living on the main island of Honshu. Very few species can be photographed in the daytime when it is bright, so there is a better chance of photographing medium and large-sized mammals such as Japanese macaques, serow (a kind of goat-antelope), and deer. Various lenses can be used depending on how close the photographer can get to the subject, but lenses with focal lengths between 300-500mm will generally be the most suitable. When using the PROMINAR 500mm, the two mount adapters TX10 (500mm F5.6) and TX07 (350mm F4) will be ideal. As wildlife photography requires a great deal of walking in the mountains, the PROMINAR 500mm will be perfect as a super-telephoto lens that is compact and highly portable.

When photographing wild animals, it is best to use a tripod if possible to prevent camera shake and to stabilize the image in the viewfinder to allow careful focusing to be carried out. However, in order to make the most of the portability of the PROMINAR 500mm, I did not take a tripod this time and photographed hand-held during the entire trip. In hand-held shooting, it is essential to prevent hand shake, and often it will not be possible to search for the optimum focus when the image in the viewfinder is unstable. In these cases it is necessary to devise various measures for preventing photographs from becoming out of focus or blurred due to shake, such as by pressing the lens up against a tree to brace it or by sitting with your knee drawn up and supporting the camera on top of it. Of course, using a monopod instead of a tripod is also a good way to reduce the weight while still preventing shake. Fully opening the aperture to allow shooting at the fastest possible shutter speed will also effectively suppress the influence of camera shake and subject movement.

It is a basic principle of wildlife photography that the focus should be set on the subject's eyes, due to this you should utilize the fine focusing ring of the PROMINAR 500mm and aim to precisely focus on the animal's eyes. This time I originally intended to capture the expressions on the monkeys' faces from a close range of 5 meters, but the resolution of the PROMINAR 500mm was so good that I was surprised to be able to capture crisp and sharp images of their eyes and each hair in the fur around their faces. This resolution quality compares favorably with that of the camera manufacturers' own 500mm F4 lenses costing around 1 million yen. The overwhelmingly high 24-megapixel resolution of the Nikon D3X digital SLR camera which I used this time allowed me to take great photographs.

Digital SLR cameras that are currently being sold are broadly classified into two types, consisting of full frame and APS-C cameras, which differ in the sizes of their image sensors. Full frame digital SLRs have sensors that are 24x36mm, which is the same size as 35mm film (the full frame size of 35mm camera systems) and their large-sized image sensors realize high resolution in digital cameras for general users. In contrast, APS-C digital SLR cameras have image sensors that are close to the 23.4x16.7mm size of the APS-C silver halide film-based camera system. Since the image sensor size is smaller than that of full frame cameras, these sensors are utilized in beginner and medium grade digital SLR cameras. The cameras which currently have the largest number of pixels are the Nikon D3X and Sonyα900 full frame cameras with 24.5 megapixels, and the Sonyα77 APS-C camera with 24.3 megapixels. Although both types have nearly the same number of pixels with approximately 24 megapixels, the larger image sensor size of full frame cameras will generally be able to realize higher resolution, since the area of each pixel is larger and will capture a greater amount of light, thereby reducing noise. Although the trend to incorporate more and more pixels in digital SLR cameras once seemed to stabilize, it appears that pixel numbers have recently begun to rise again. Due to this trend, the performance of camera manufacturer's lenses that in the past were able to keep up with the change to higher resolutions are now unable to do so. In addition, cases are appearing where despite having high resolution cameras, photographers are unable to make the best use of them. Lens performance is clearly very important for realizing the performance of these high resolution cameras and using the Kowa PROMINAR 500mm F5.6 FL makes it possible to capture remarkably high resolution images even when combined with high resolution cameras. I believe that this is a lens that will allow you to fully appreciate the effectiveness of its fluorite crystal elements.