The tele zooms are useful lenses in many branches of nature photography: they allows to photograph action and wildlife, to isolate a detail of the landscape, or to photograph small subjects as butterflies and flowers, thanks to their good macro ratio and long focal. On paper, the 100-400 seems one of the best tele-zooms: it has good reach, image stabilization, fast AF and it is a Canon L series lens (professional). In practice, it is not perfect as you might expect, but still a very useful and versatile lens.

The in-depth review is online: Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM field review

I added new photos to the galleries: Aix galericulata (Mandarin Duck), Anas platyrhynchos (Mallard), Netta rufina (Red-crested Pochard), Callonetta leucophrys (Ringed Teal).

Other than that, I did some minor updates to the articles The essential accessories.

Publishing the photos on the web is the best way to share experiences and to learn with other photographers, and it is a great way to publicize your work. To create an effective web presentation, it is necessary to follow some basic steps top resize, sharpen and save the photo.

The new article is online: Processing and saving the photos for web

A good tripod is the essential to take sharp photos. Of course, in some situation I handhold the camera, but whenever possible I prefer to use the tripod: a stable support is very important, in particular for landscaspe, flora and macro photography. The tripod eliminates the blur due to hand shake, and it allows to compose carefully the photo; other than that, it is a great help for heavy telephoto lenses as the 400 f/2.8, 500 f/4 or 600 f/4.

I have updated the article: Tripods and heads

I've added new photos in the Dolomites gallery. Some of these photos had been taken with my new Canon 100-400, that I'm going to review in next weeks.

I've added new photos to the galleries: Ailurus fulgens (Red Panda), Gallinula chloropus (Moorhen), Phalacrocorax carbo (Great Cormorant), Vanellus vanellus (Northern Lapwing), Anser erythropus (Lesser White-fronted Goose), Anas clypeata (Northern Shoveler), Mergus merganser (Common Merganser), Anas platyrhynchos (Mallard).

Other than that, I updated the biography and the equipment page (I'm going to publish the Sigma 12-24 and Canon 100-400 reviews next month).

The image quality is the first thing to consider when you are choosing a camera. Of course, there are also other very important features, as FPS, sensor size, autofocus, etc, but a good image quality is essential - would you buy a super fast, sturdy and advanced camera if it had a crappy image quality? I guess the answer is no. When I choose a camera, I want both features and image quality: for this reason, I pay much attention to resolution, noise and dynamic range...

The new article is online: The image quality

I'm just come back from a two-days trip in the Dolomits...it has been a fantastic trip, and I've brought for the first time my new Sigma 12-24 in the field. I already love this lens :-)

I've added a lot of new photos to the Dolomites gallery.

I've added new photos to the galleries: Ardea cinerea (Grey Heron), Anas clypeata (Northern Shoveler), Podiceps ruficollis (Little Grebe), Egretta alba (Great White Heron), Aix sponsa (Wood Duck), Ciconia ciconia (White Stork), Cygnus cygnus (Whooper Swan), Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (Oxeye Daisy).

Other than that, I corrected the identification of the photo 3294-Cattle Egrets (previously identified as Little Egret). Thanks to Arthur Morris and to the friends of NaturaMediterraneo for their help!

I've recently tried the interesting Canon 70-300 DO, the only zoom lens with a diffractive optic elements, and I've added the short review to the Canon Lenses page.

Other than that, I've finally bought the Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM - I plan to post the first photos taken with this lens next weeks, and the in-depth field review in mid november.

I've updated all the photos of my portfolio to the new "standard size" of the photos on JuzaPhoto (720 pixels on the longest side). Other than that, I've processed the photos with a better JPEG compression to preserve more detail.