Spoony

I know a few follow on Flickr anyways, but I got my camera back after 2 months (insurance damage repair), so interesting has been re-sparked. A few updated for the past little while. Shot at Striker's Agility clubs (B.A.D) comp on the weekend Brisbane Agility Club Comp by dPphodography, on Flickr Trying to get some creative hair flick water sun light thingy happing with the misses while camping, haha Hair flick Jess by dPphodography, on Flickr Striker and his boyfriend Zeus Happy Hounds by dPphodography, on Flickr OzFreeRide - Jetski's at dawn by dPphodography, on Flickr Striker posing as 'The Gorge' - Clarence River by dPphodography, on Flickr Ozfreeride - Jetski's at sunrise by dPphodography, on Flickr Jess just cruising on the spot against the flow and loving it -Camping on the Nymboida River NSW by dPphodography, on Flickr Christmas Fun! by dPphodography, on Flickr

Delayed response I know doesn't change how cool the event, idea and pics are! Great shots!!! I've taken Striker down some mild rapids in a raft, perhaps its about time he stepped up to this! haha.

I'd personally start with the Nikon option. (Non bias, personally shoot Fujifilm gear) They seem to have better sensor tech and image quality for the money vs Canon. So i feel lends to easier system growth. Ie can keep using a D3200 while spending money on better glass to get sharper picture yet the body still having better sensor image quality vs a more expensive higher Canon model. There are mirrorless on dlsr options but not really this cheap for what you'll get.

Cool shots!! Some of the facial expressions are funny as!

I'm noticing nice lack of water droplets on lenses in this thread, any tips for young players? Could just be my crappy camera likes to trap water on the lens cover lol. I did consider using Rain-X or something.

haha, did have a chuckle at Piper saying only got the camera for the hounds. Crazy dog person? haha, no not at all. It's no different to get one to stick on top ones dirt bike helmets, they're all just there to capture personal interests we enjoy. Tay, dunk it without fear. That camera is way better than my old Panasonic one, and it's lived in water for days at times, been smashed on rocks abseiling etc, still works 100%. A mate through his off a 25m waterfall then realized it was on the outside of his pack, screen cracked but still works and in water, if only phones were built like these things! haha. Noticed some flash fill shots on your Flickr too, works pretty good.

Haven't been there but we drove past it. It's good having places like that that accept dogs. Seems far more common in NSW vs QLD, not sure if it's legalities or businesses are more accepting/intouch with travellers etc. Yeah it's a great spot, heaps of camp sites, 2WD is fine for some of them also. There's some awesome spots on the Nymboida river also in state forests, so one can camp anywhere and take the hound(s) too! Need a capable fourby though, places where there is no one around for 50+ kms, awesomeness! Here we camped right on the river bed, the water was flowing that nicely that mates Sheppard ( a good swimmer) could only just hold position against it. Harley & Striker - Camping on the Nymboida River NSW by dPphodography, on Flickr Further down stream where we rafted too and extracted. Lovely spot we rafted to on the Nymboida River NSW by dPphodography, on Flickr Her bow wave indicates the flow, best sort of place to camp in summer for sure. Jess just cruising on the spot against the flow and loving it -Camping on the Nymboida River NSW by dPphodography, on Flickr Hmmmm sorry for the thread hijack! lol Smiling right? lol Striker showing self control at Christmas by dPphodography, on Flickr

Goregous photo! Where were you camping - it looks amazing! A property called 'The Gorge' on the upper reaches of the Clarence River NSW. It's magic there. A quick tinny trip, longer canoe paddle or even longer walk up river and you get to this. Still on private property. Not many places like this in Aust. one can take their dog too. Striker posing as 'The Gorge' - Clarence River by dPphodography, on Flickr

haha some cool shots there! I should try using my P&S waterproof more........painful adjustment after using a proper type camera though haha. Closest I've got is me in the water with the camera, but his 1/2 under haha Striker fishing for tossed rocks, haha by dPphodography, on Flickr He endlessly tries to 'fetch' rocks on the river which obviously just sink, entertaining for all involved at least. Striker endlessly trying to catch tossed rocks by dPphodography, on Flickr

Is this a smiling face? I was snapping of shots while he was rolling over camping earlier this week. Striker Rolling around at 'The Gorge' by dPphodography, on Flickr

Krislin, haha yeah they can put on some good poses. Zahra, the white alpine pup (now about 6 months old) can't get enough of playing with camera gear. Neoprene wrist straps make good tug toys it seems haha. Teekay, all the shooting info (EXIF) is on the Flickr site if you click on the pics, but the camera is FujiFilm X-T1 (apsc mirrorless) and the lens on all of the last batch of pics is the 35mm 1.4 . The earlier shots also use the Zeiss 12mm 2.8 and the cheap 50-230mm slow lens I have too in a few of them.

Cheers again :) I put together a little video with some of the pics and some video footage I took also.

A few more pics while I've updated the Dingo thread also :) A friends legged sausage Ziggy by dPphodography, on Flickr A rescue looking for a home with ARQ Seven - Fox Terrier Mix http://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/299523/feed_show by dPphodography, on Flickr Another ARQ rescue Hamish - Irish Wolfhound x Aussie Cattle Dog http://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/322528/feed_show by dPphodography, on Flickr And this fella looking for a home with QSAR Ace, adoptable rescue. His still a pup but was surprisingly pretty chilled and fairly polite. http://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/324556 by dPphodography, on Flickr

Such cool looking dog! Love the bowing pick in the park!

^ I was thinking the exact same thing. Shooting raw Is always safest then sometimes pushing up some detail in the shadows as required. Good shots though!

Have been busy and time behind the lens and especially on forums has been limited. I was back up at the Dingo Sanctuary with a mate helping with some construction (concreting in 44deg heat is hard work it turns out haha). Zahra Chamberlain was actually on TV again Sunday morning while I was up there. https://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/watch/25528270/protecting-sisters-murderer/ Got a few more shots. Durong Dingo Sanctuary - Eli by dPphodography, on Flickr My favourite Durong Dingo Sanctuary by dPphodography, on Flickr Zarha the pup, now past 6months Durong Dingo Sanctuary - Zahra by dPphodography, on Flickr Eli letting them know who's boss in the enclosure. Never any 'snapping' just mouthing, interesting to watch the differences vs domestic dogs. With people a large percentage of domestic dogs could perhaps learn a thing or two, they are more gentle, precise and well mannered than many surprisingly, despite being so cautious an wary of us. Durong Dingo Sanctuary - Eli showing who's No.1 by dPphodography, on Flickr Durong Dingo Sanctuary - Zahra by dPphodography, on Flickr Durong Dingo Sanctuary - Moon by dPphodography, on Flickr Dad and the kids, Durong Dingo Sanctuary - Dingo Simon & The Crew by dPphodography, on Flickr My mate slowly coaxing a few in close, Shaking for treats is best haha Durong Dingo Sanctuary by dPphodography, on Flickr

Awesome shots, saw them on Flickr earlier. Not easy capturing in flight like that, well done!

I quickly flicked past these on Flickr the other day! Nicely captured, such awesome birds!

I'd imagine how costly 4 dogs would be vs one. Good points on 'is it worth it' vs just putting cash aside or keeping the ability to pay. I think it comes down to luck, historically I've been unlucky, 2 dogs with cancer both dying a month apart costing 10's of thousands. Surely my current dog can't be as unlucky but his a very active boy (already smashed one of his 3 month old grown up teeth haha) so accidents do happen too. The amount of money paid to the various insurances I have 'just incase' is a bit sickening really, not just because it's cash out of my own pocket but more so that money could be animals and people in dire need instead of making multinational companies even richer and more powerful..........so guilt involved also personally.

Cheers for the response, that sounds like good response. $62 is interesting to know at 12 years, not too bad, I'd imagine some of the others would be over 50% or higher than that.

Did a bit of a comparison of the X-T1 and the a6000 yesterday using Striker as the moving target. The lenses were fairly similar cheap entry jobbies, 50-230 4.5 - 6.7 on the X-T1 and 50-210 4.5 - 6.3 on the a6000. Firstly, despite the claims of many reviews and what is still stated on FujiFilms own website, with regards to subject tracking, in my opinion it does not. Yes it has C-AF and can continually follow focus on a moving subject, but that requires you to keep that subject pretty good in the selected focus area. However statements like this to me indicate otherwise? " Using phase-detection autofocus, combined with high-speed subject predictive, the AF accurately follows your subject through the frame, even at the highest continuous shooting speed of 8.0 frames/sec." to me claims the subject is tracked (or followed) i. Already had this argument on Fanboy forums haha. Anyways the a6000 can actually track. My mate was not experienced or had really used the camera in this way, but I was able to work out how to first identify the subject (which is a bit fiddly and annoying) and it would box it and then do it's best to keep tracking (boxed) it across the frame. So how does this all work in use. Tried two different setups, dog running straight on, and dog running across at and angle (eventually completely side on) Straight on the both struggle, and I do wonder if most cameras will with dogs. The head/eyes you want in focus but the body often is the hit point. IF one keeps the X-T1 on spot it seems better than the a6000 at getting some sharp keepers. So it's a little more work keeping on point but can get better results. The same can be said at the other angle, IF i was able to keep Striker in the focus area it did well, had a number of pin sharp hits where the a6000 had lots 'in focus' (or very close to) but not as sharp. Where the a6000 helps is the subject and move back and forward in the frame as my lack of ability tries to follow the crazy little nut, and generally keep reasonable focus during this (not pin sharp though, maybe part of all this is better optics with the Fuji too? ) . It did how ever have a moment where he was 'boxed/tracked' but focus was so far off he was beautiful bokeh blob! lol. The X-T1 on the other hand with the side/front angle shots if I lost him panning could back focus on something else, but seemed to do pretty good at snapping back to focus when I got my panning skills back together. Testing was far from scientific as you'd imagine, human error and dog in consistency doesn't make it easy. Overall I don't think the a6000 is any betterr bar the tracking ability. It does have more focus options for constant focus as you'd imagine with these abilities. In single point focus X-T1 is quicker as the light drops than the a6000, in bright light nothing in it. If Fuji added at least some tracking ability in firmware coming out later this year I'd say it would possibly be better. It's better (but also more expensive) in other areas, ie the EVF is leagues ahead of the a6000, the back screen is a bit better also. Less menu diving due to so many controls on hand is certainly a better thing too. The Samsung NX1 is looking like it's going clean up the mirrorless market with regards to focus ability and quite a few other things, sensor and processor tech well ahead of the others (and the includes DSLRS)

PIA replied and is below. So the chronic condition cover now seems similar. Didn't ask but also can't see a cause anymore stopping re occurrence of same injury/illness being covered bar swallowing. " I can confirm that we did have a clause called the chronic condition limit, however this has since been removed from our policies and will not be applied to a brand new policy. The only limit that is applied to injury/illness claims is the annual benefit limit that will renew each year."

I emailed PIA to quiz this so will update when I hear back, could be helpful for others. BWM seems to get good reviews on here and online though

After loosing my last two dogs to cancers and my expenses getting up near $30,000 in under 2 years, insurance is something I'm considering. I know there is only Hollard and Allianz as the underwriters. Pet Plan being the most comprehensive (100%) but also most expensive (not 100% true some of the Hollard ones come in nearly the same). The other major difference when I looked last year was Pet Plan would cover a condition (ie Lymphoma as my dog had) to the maximum amount each yeah ongoing, but none of the others would. However looking again now at Pet Insurance Australia I can't find anywhere now in the current PDS that they don't cover an illness ongoing. Bow Wow Meow (at tad pricier than PIA) which is also Hollard underwritten has the same cover in this regard as Pet Plan so my guess is they advertise it as a selling feature wher PIA hasn't but the underwriter now covers this way? If this is the case $37/month for PIA ($31 for the first year) vs $56/month for Pet Plan makes PIA a consideration. (I know they all go up over time with age), Dog is Kelpie x Stumpy Tail Cattle, so one of the cheaper insurance breeds I think. Curious if anyone else has looked into this lately?

A few more shot over the weekend just south of the Tweed River, Striker and his Boyfriend Zeus. His facial expressions are pretty funny at speed. DSCF7425.jpg by dPphodography, on Flickr Striker & Zeus by dPphodography, on Flickr Zeus & Striker by dPphodography, on Flickr DSCF7534.jpg by dPphodography, on Flickr Striker at Speed by dPphodography, on Flickr Zeus by dPphodography, on Flickr DSCF7618.jpg by dPphodography, on Flickr Bam - 5 Year old Staffy boy, quite a shy and submissive fellow, very chillled and quiet http://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/315658 by dPphodography, on Flickr Bam, a rescue staffy up for adoption Bam - 5 Year old Staffy boy, quite a shy and submissive fellow, very chillled and quiet http://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/315658