Today is my birthday - and I am now the proud owner of a Panasonic Lumix FZ 1000. It's very exciting, since I've never had more than a point and shoot camera (in the dim and distant past) and an Iphone for happy snaps more recently.
I visited Lackford Lakes (near Bury St Edumnds, Suffolk) for an hour or so this morning with my hubby, and just missed some bramblings. The Volunteer at the visitor centre was most excited about seeing them. But I did see a siskin on one of the feeders and a lovely grey wagtail stalking about on the ice at the edge of a shallow pool - however I had hardly switched on my camera before he had disappeared again. I did get some shots of the siskin and a few blue tits, but they looked quite blurred through the viewfinder (I had it set on IA - Intelligent Automatic - something I am not!!).
Luckily for me, I was able to find a 10 week beginner's course running at the revered and well established Ipswich Institute and attended my first session on Wednesday evening. Getting to grips with all the acronyms on the dials, plus function buttons - not to mention puzzling out why turning the focus had no effect (I had it on autofocus, so I guessed that disables the manual focussing) is a challenge. I came away from the session with head spinning, but am hoping for gradual Enlightenment over the weeks and months.
We wandered off to a hide and I saw some Egyptian Geese, Teal, Tufted duck, cormorants, coots, swans etc - so that was a delight. I even managed to get a few shots of the scenery, though light levels were pretty low!
Many thanks to all the friendly folk (Angus, Mike and others) who helped me find the right camera (see the thread "Bridge camera for a complete beginner").
Sorry for not replying back Karen, I have been missing a lot of post but the site is looking better now and I have a new computer to work with so things are a lot faster and glad you found the tip handy.
You're welcome
I am quite proud of this little egret photo - it's not been cropped! I sat in the East Hide at Lackford Lakes last Friday afternoon, and this egret came up so close, and stood so still for me - it was a gift! I like the contrast of the feathers with the reeds and debris in the water. Somehow he (or she!) looks a bit supercilious!