New Film To Be Available Late Sunday

The new 2 hour wildlife documentary, "Running Wild in Pennsylvania Elk Country" should be available at Benezett Store by late Sunday afternoon.

The film gives a close look at many wildlife species one may see in Pennsylvania Elk Country, with elk receiving the most attention. Whitetail deer and the eastern wild turkey are also given an in-depth look.One of the most noteworthy features is a bull fight from 2011 filmed by John T. Koshinski.  This was between the bull known as "Earhook" and a superb 7x8.  A brief sample is posted below.


They should be playing the film on the televisions in both the restaurant and store.  If they are not and you would like to see it,  please ask them to do so.

Also be sure and check out my first film, The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd, if you have not already done so.

Thanks to all for their support, and I hope to see you in elk country.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country

Magnificent Pennsylvania Bull: From the opening scenes of "Running Wild in Pennsylvania Elk Country"

 It has been a difficult past few weeks, trying to bring the post-production process to a close on a new film about Pennsylvania Elk.  In the four years that has passed  since I released  "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd", I have spent countless hours afield in pursuit of elk.  It has truly been a pleasure to document these magnificent animals through the seasons of the year.

I had originally intended to title the film "Pennsylvania Elk Country", but after input from others it was decided to go with, "Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country".  I decided to include a lot of other wildlife in the film that one can expect to see "running wild" in elk country.  I will say up front that most of this other wildlife was not filmed in the Pennsylvania northwoods, as I spend a relatively limited amount of time there and of course concentrate on the elk when I am there.  With that being said it is wildlife that one can reasonably expect to see in the elk range.  The film is 2 Hrs. long, which many will say is too lengthy, but it should be looked at as a modular film.  One can easily break viewing up over multiple evenings.  There are not nearly as many chapter breaks as in "The Truth About", but it is broken up between the four seasons of the year, with some further division in cases, which makes for easy viewing in segments.

Sadly I have not successfully filmed any sustained bull fights since the fight between Bull 36 and The Test Hill Bull in 2001, but I did film a lot of brief encounters.   One of the most exciting was on October 1, 2010, which is included in the section on fighting in "Running Wild"



I arrived at a meadow before dawn to a spine chilling serenade as several bulls were after a large herd of cows. Several mature bulls were in the area as well as a large number of young satellite bulls that were hanging around the edges of the harem.  I positioned the XL-H1, which has an excellent shotgun microphone and recorded several minutes of the bugling in the pre-dawn darkness.  It was frustrating, as in time one could see the dim shapes of the animals.  A lot of exciting action was going on, but it could not be recorded.

This was my first year with the Canon 7D and before I had a 300mm f2.8 lens, so at that point my best choices were the 70-200mm f2.8 or the 300mm F4, but the 70-200mm did not give satisfactory image size at that distance, so I used the 300mm F4.  The video was shot at 1/30 sec. F4.  IS) 2,000.  The amazing thing is I could not have recorded this a year earlier as the XL-H1 simply would not work acceptably in that light level.  The most exciting part of the action was over by the time it was bright enough for it.  To me the amazing thing is that this clip would have been a piece of cake for the Canon 5D MKIII as one can get extremely good video quality at esoteric ISO settings such as 6,400 and 12,800.

I hope you enjoy the clip and look for more information soon.  Hopefully the film will be available at Benezette Store by the end of the weekend.  I will try to post later today or tomorrow with an update on the situation.

Originally posted by Willard C. Hill at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer.

Pennsylvania Elk Rut Gets Underway

Elk Rut Peaks Last 2 Weeks Of September: Canon 7D-Canon 300mm f2.8

According to reports coming in from Pennsylvania elk country, the rut is now underway, but activity is very spotty and sporadic.  Things should improve once a strong cool front comes through, but I never  go north until the middle of September and if I had to pick one week, it would be the last week of the month.

For those not familiar with the area, there are almost always a lot of cows and calves on Winslow Hill, but bull sightings can be spotty at certain times of year.  Winslow Hill is the traditional breeding grounds and bulls travel from far and wide to visit the hill during the rut, so the chances of seeing bulls increases exponentially.

Activity is usually best as soon as you can see to photograph in the morning and usually slacks off somewhere between 8:00 and 10:00.  Fog is often a problem in the early morning, although a certain amount of it adds wonderful atmosphere to photographs.

Late Evening In Elk Country: Canon 7D-300mm F2.8

Activity usually resumes in late afternoon.  The elk stay out later in the morning and  emerge to feed earlier in the evening in cool or unsettled weather.  In addition to being the best times to see elk, early morning and late evening usually present the best photographic light.

In a change from previous year, there is now a no parking sign along the right side of Dewey Road, shortly after one comes off of Winslow Hill Road.  I assume one is required to park only in the parking lot.  In recent years a lot of people parked there at peak times.  Also you are not permitted to walk down the bank there and watch the meadow where the pond and the green water treatment tower is.  In past years the restricted zone ended at the end of the Gilbert Meadow and it was permissible to do so, but now the restricted signs go toward Winslow Hill the entire way to the Game Commission Boundary.  It had been freshly posted when I was there in August and I assume it has remained that way.

Restricted Zone Signs Along Dewey Road

There are many more signs than usual across from the ponds on Dewey Road also.  It is not quite clear how this is to be interpreted as the signs line both sides of the dirt and gravel road going back through the meadow to the tree line, and they are posted quite thickly.  As usual there is a restricted sign on the gate when it is closed. It has never been clear if one is permitted to walk the road or not, but some do so.  I have heard conflicting answers from PGC officials, so it is best to stay off of the road.  At least one full time resident lives back that road and they and any other property owners and guests may drive this, but elk watchers may not and it seems that each year several people have to try  this if the gate is open.  If you do be aware that you can catch grief either from the landowner or the PGC.

Originally Posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard C. Hill.

Elk Calves'-The Spots Fade- Using the 5D MK III & GH2 in Elk Country

Spots Fade on Calf Elk: Panasonic GH2-Canon 500mm F4

 During August, most visitors to elk country may be focused on the bulls and the shedding of the velvet and the first stirrings of the pre-rut, but other important changes are occurring in the herd as well.  Like whitetail fawns, the calves are spotted at birth, which creates a camouflage pattern that helps them escape predators, but the spots start to fade in late July and this process continues until the coat is a solid color. The process begins at the top of the back and gradually works down.  By mid-August most of the calves are only partially changed such as the one in the photo above, but a small number have only a few spots still faintly visible. By the time the rut peaks in mid to late September most of the calves will have completely lost the spots or will have only a few faint ones.

Cow and Two Calves at Gilbert Viewing Area- one with spots almost gone: Still capture from video Panasonic GH2-Canon 500mm F4

 Two Calves at Gilbert Viewing Area- one with spots almost gone: Still capture from video -Panasonic GH2-Canon 500mm F4 -extended telephoto mode -35mm equivalent focal length approximately 2,000mm

This is the second trip to elk country that I have used the Panasonic GH2 as my primary video camera.  I was very unhappy when Canon did not include  the 3x crop mode in the 5D MK II or the new Rebel T4i.  I have no personal experience with The T4i, but I am told that the it does not have a better picture quality than the T3i.  I do have a fair amount of experience with the MK III in video mode and it is significantly better than the T3i in either still or video mode.  I am very happy with it when one can get close enough to the subject, but I missed the reach of the old Canon XL-H1 and the big L lenses, so after extensive research, I decided to try the Panasonic GH2 hybrid camera.

The GH2  uses a micro-4/3 lens mount and the sensor has a 2x crop factor.  The camera also has an extended telephoto mode, which takes the 2mp of resolution required for video from a small central portion of the sensor. This is how one can "really reach out and touch them" in video mode.  A decided down factor to this equation is that to use the Canon mount glass, one must use an adapter, and one that will electronically control the aperture costs almost as much, or more than the camera body--depending on which particular adapter one buys.  The bottom line; however,  is that the 500mm F4 , which is just that on a MK III becomes a 1,000mm F4 equivalent focal length on the GH2.  This is true in either still or video mode.  It becomes a 2,000mm focal length equivalent  in video mode when the extended telephoto mode is engaged.  The image is degraded somewhat , but it is still very usable.  I understand that unlike the T3i, one can also use this mode while shooting stills, but it will no longer utilize the full resolution of the sensor and as this is primarily a video camera in my case, I have not tried this yet.

Although one may not be able to tell from images posted on the internet, the bottom line is the GH2 cannot compete with any of the later Canon DSLRs as a still camera, but it is very usable and when one is concentrating on video it is an acceptable option to switch to still mode and take photographs.  Stills captured from video after the fact will be only 2MP resolution and will not be nearly as good as stills actually shot in still mode.

Calf Near Winslow Hill Road: Canon 5D MK III: Canon 500mm F4-ISO 400 1/640 sec. F4

A decided plus for the GH2 is that this is the first DSLR with which I have been able to follow-focus on moving animals or birds, in video mode, with any degree of success .So far manual focus  must be used in filming with a DSLR to have any hope of success and the LCDs are simply too low in resolution to reliably maintain sharp focus on moving subjects, even with the Zacuto Finder attached(the Rebel T3i did work better in this aspect than anything I had used previously).   The GH2 works better, because it has a blistering sharp electronic view finder in addition to a decent LCD.  I prefer to shoot video with the camera slightly above waist level and the LCD swiveled out and at a 45 degree angle, so I am standing above the camera, looking, down, and bent slightly forward.  This often gives a better perspective on the subject than standing erect, and using the eye-level finer, and it  is a good position to follow action from as one's head is not bumping the camera to disturb smooth camera motion, but the downside is of course the focus thing.  I find I am using the eye-level finder on this camera more and more, simply because I no longer have so much problem focusing.  

The bottom line is that one needs to keep an open mind about some of the options out there with the new high end Canon video cameras costing $16,000.00 without lens. 

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.