Using Birdwatching Scene Mode - not just for the birds!

Looking at the settings that Birdwatching Scene Mode sets up on my camera, I wanted to view the difference in the settings as I zoom out.  The only thing I have against the Nikon P610 is that the lens is variable in that I can set it all I like at 3.3, but when I zoom out it changes according to what focal length I end up with.  That doesn't happen with the Panasonic FZ200 but hey, not camera is perfect.  Anyway, when I zoomed right out, there weren't any birds outside the window at the time so I aimed at a hibiscus bud.  Oh - the leaves behind it blurred out and gave me a good clean shot.  Aperture down to 5.6 but still nice and clear.

Then
I aimed at a much smaller flower, a seaside daisy.  The aperture went out to 6.5 and I found I really liked the result, with the large ginger lily leaf going right out of focus and leaving the seaside daisy and a few stems (I did crop this a bit because a lot of dead stalks were to one side).

Bokeh

Purple Swamphen

I was pleased with the bokeh effect - blurry background setting off the sharper image of the bird, particularly in this case the eye.  Discovering some of the Scene modes in the Nikon P610, there is one called Birdwatching.  In this Scene mode, the ISO is set on auto, F/3.3, shutter speed 1/30, and the only choice being single or continuous frames.  Generally speaking I have found this setting to be much the same as if I had set up Aperture Priority with continuous frames, which would normally be my go-to choice for bird shots.  So I have been trying out both, and while often both give the same result, occasionally one or the other will produce the better result.  In other words, it's always worth taking lots more than one photo of any subject, from different angles, different distances, different zoom lengths.
Another shot I was pleased with is a pair of pelicans cruising down the Torrens.  This is also in Birdwatching mode.  I cropped it back to one pelican for this purpose, to show the frondy feathers on the back of the neck.

Pelican on the Torrens

My Nikon P610

I have tried to post a new page about my new camera (twice), but it won't show.  Apparently I'm not alone in this so I will just have to continue my news about it here.  I bought it for the zoom 60x, and I have had some lovely images with it.

Black Swans on Linear Park at Fulham

Another great close up was of a Koala, up a gum tree on Linear Park at Klemzig.  He was hiding behind the leaves but still not a bad shot.  I was impressed that I could see the details of his fur when he was so high in the tree.

Koala, Linear Park, Klemzig

I've also been looking at ripples and reflections - with the sun low in the sky, I am delighted with the appearance of the river, with the ripples and reflections appearing exactly like when we dyed the Fortuny scarf at college.  This was just one image - I ended up with a couple of dozen, kept finding more beautiful reflections.

ripples and reflections looking like a dyed scarf

More on my experiments soon.

I love my Panasonic FZ200 - it is easy to use, it has f/2.8 available throughout the zoom range, and many other reasons.  It is also the first camera I have had that I ventured outside "everything auto".   But I found I was looking for a longer zoom; this one is 24x, which has been great for me as a beginner.   But when I started looking for more zoom, and found the extension zoom for the FZ200 was going to cost nearly as much as a new camera with a 60x zoom, I did my research and decided to get the Nikon Coolpix 610.  Only had it a few days but I'm finding it just as easy to use; there are diffferences of course - each has their own pluses and minuses, like anything in life - but the 60x zoom is giving me what I wanted, the fine detail on feathers on those too-far-away birds.

Crested pigeon - look at the colours, and then see how the texture of the feathers shows up too.

from a distance - look at the feather edges