Thank you for visiting SteveNanz.com! (Updated 2011)
I very much appreciated your interest in my nature photography project. I've been at it since around 1995 and can't begin to describe how fascinating and fun it's been. The purpose of this website is to share the images of all the plants and animals that I've photographed over the years and, in so doing, encourage the naturalist in all of us. One of my hopes is to show that wildlife exploration can be experienced by anyone, just about anywhere, and it can begin in one's own backyard. Nearly half of the approximate 7000 photos were taken within a few miles of my home in Brooklyn, NY. A trip to a rain forest can be a real eye popper but for myself, so can a ramble through the neighborhood park. I think that discovering just how rich the environment is and having fun exploring it, makes it easier for people to want to preserve it. All the images on this website are made available to organizations for science-based educational purposes. Of course being credited is appreciated. -- When I started photographing birds and insects, I was using a Pentax K1000 camera with a Phoenix 500mm f8 lens. In the Spring of 1998 I switched to a Nikon F3HP with a Tokina 150-500mm f5.6 zoom. I mounted this set up on a Gitzo carbon fiber tripod with an Arca-Swiss ball head. In 2000, I upgraded to a Nikon 400mm f2.8 with a 2x converter. I also upgraded from the ball head to a Wimberley. I never used flash because the flash sink on the F3HP is a 1/60 of a second, which I found to be to slow at long focal lengths without image stabilization. At the beginning of 2003 I took the digital plunge. I switched to Canon to take advantage of its image stabilization system, which Nikon at the time still lacked in its big lens line up. Here is my current equipment list:
Canon: EOS 5D Mark II Digital Camera Body EOS 1Ds Mark II Digital Camera Body EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM Lens EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro Lens MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Lens Extender EF 1.4x II Extender EF 2x II Extension Tube EF 25 II Extension Tube EF 12 II Speedlite 580EX II Flash Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX Compact Battery Pack CP-E4 Off Camera Shoe Cord OC-E3 Walt Anderson: Better Beamer Flash Extender Gitzo: GT-3530 Carbon Fiber Tripod Wimberley: Tripod Head, Gimbal Type Head Flash Bracket Leptraps LLC: 12 Volt DC 24 Inch - 40 Watt 365 Quantum Black Light (F24T12) (UV Light for attracting nocturnal insects)
For insect shots I usually hand hold either the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens or the EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro Lens with extension tubes and the Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX or a Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX. I prefer the Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX as it is more rugged and less likely to fail. For very small insects I now use a Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro Lens.