io6 Bird -Lore 



5x7 Reflex is so bulky and heavy that it is a burden to carry it on long, hard 

 tramps, so that I prefer t(j carry a 4x5 Retlex, using the doublet of an 8 x 10 

 lens in it. This is a handy instrument to carry, but, of course, some of the pic- 

 tures have to be enlarged. Even the long-focus 5x7 Reflex has not bellows 

 enough to use the single combination of an 8 x 10 lens. Moreover, pictures 

 taken at anything faster than one live-hundredth of a second with the single 

 combination are sure to be under-ex[)osed; therefore, I prefer to use the doublet 

 and enlarge the negative. 



When I want to obtain large images of birds at a distance, I prefer to use 

 a long-focus 4x5 Premo camera. It is rather a bulky instrument, but it has 

 the longest bellows of any camera of its size; mine has twenty-eight inches, 

 and I frecjuently need the whole of it when working with the single combina- 

 tion of an 8x10 lens. The two Osprey pictures — both contact prints — serve 

 to illustrate the advantage of this camera. Both pictures were taken from the 

 same point, the smaller one with a 4 x 5 Poco, and the larger with the long-focus 

 Premo and the front comljination of the large lens, the exposure being one four- 

 hundredth of a second. 



This camera is erjuii)ped with a Thornton-Pickhard focal-plane shutter 

 and has all the modern improvements, but its use is restricted to short trips 

 or places where it can be carried in a boat or a wagon. Even then, it has so 

 much comj)licated machinery about it that I have to handle it very carefully, 

 and am very liable to make mistakes. I have done some good work with it, and 

 have also made some discouraging failures. 



But the bird photographer must expect many failures — more failures than 

 successes at first. On my second trip to Florida, every picture I took with this 

 camera was hopelessly fogged, because the camera-maker failed to fit the focal- 

 plane shutter jjroperly; I had the work done by a reliable firm, but did not have 

 time to test it before I started. It was a costly but impressive lesson. 



So far, I have not said much al^out lenses, and j^erhaps I had better not, as 

 most photographers will not agree with me. I am not a strong believer in the 

 value, to the bird ph()togra])her at least, of the high-])riced, much-advertised, 

 and, .so-called, high-speed lenses. The regular lenses that come with the cameras, 

 or, at most, the medium-grade lenses, are good enough and fast enough for the 

 bird photographer's recjuirements. The high-priced lenses may be a shade 

 quicker or work at a little larger ajK-rture, but they are not worth the difference 

 in price. The small camera should have a 4 x 5 lens for working at short range, 

 but the other cameras should have as large len.ses as they will take. The tele- 

 jjhoto attachments, or telesco])e lenses, are not worth bothering with, as they 

 will not work satisfactorily e.xccjJt with the highest grade lenses, — and even then 

 it is a very diflkuit matter to focus them ])ropcrly. If there is the slightest vibra- 

 tion from wind or other cause, the results are disastrous; moreover, it is very 

 seldom that a bird will wait long enough to set one uj) and focus it. I prefer 

 to take my negatives in some other way and enlarge them. 



