Month: September 2007

Flickr!

Flickr!

About a year ago I created a Flickr account and thought it would be another way to share my photos and get feedback from other photographers. However, I created it, uploaded 2 images and then just seemed to forget about it for some reason.

Was it really a year! Well, now I have revived it and added over 50 images. Some can also be seen on my website and others are just on Flickr. Its a mixture.

One of the features I like on the site is the map. Whether is has any really use or not remains to be seen, but I am trying to add images from different places I have visited, so it builds up an interesting picture. I have a big map at home that I am doing manually, so this is possibly why I like it so much.

You can visit my Flickr page by using the links shown in the blog links section.

The NCC Trip to London

The NCC Trip to London

Sunday was the NCC trip to London. So with an early train, we all meet up at Waterloo station and headed off on our walking tour of London. The idea was that is was an open day at many of London’s buildings, so you got to see lots of places you wouldn’t normally get in to. Sadly most were booked, but we still made the most of it.

Along the way we visited The Gherkin building

Gherkin

St Pauls

St Pauls

and the Millennium Bridge

Millennium Bridge.jpg

and finally ended up at the houses of parliament.

HP

Of course on the way back to Waterloo, we got to see the Millennium Wheel.

Millennium Wheel

Hawk Conservancy 2

Hawk Conservancy 2

This was my second trip to the Hawk Conservancy, and it didn’t disappoint!

HC2.jpg

I had a lot of problems with the Barn Owl and didnt get many good ones.

The eagles proved a bit more successful, but sadly couldnt get the Bald Eagle flying in over the field as before.

HC3.jpg

One of them did however circle overhead

HC1.jpg

Then give a victory call!

HC4.jpg

Still Trying Out the New Camera!

Still Trying Out the New Camera!

Today is the day of the Nokia Camera Club, so I have taken my camera along to work. This also gives me a chance to use it some more at lunch time.

I didn’t get to see much wildlife but did some a few dogs playing in the water.

It seemed to cope quite well with the metering, especially in this one.

dog3.jpg

and the light and dark works well here,

dog2.jpg

but the last photo I did have to lighten.

dog1.jpg

My New Toy – Canon EOS 40D

My New Toy – Canon EOS 40D

I was surprised on Friday to get an email from my local camera shop to say they had a couple of 40Ds in stock. I couldn’t get to the shop on Saturday, so finally got to pickup my new camera yesterday.

And this is it!

40D

Ok, not the best of photos of it at that scale, but thats not what counts!

So yesterday I took it for a test over Farnham park to see what I could find. I managed to try it out on some Dragonflies so it was a good test.

So what did I think. Well firstly, reviewing the photos is now so much easier with the large screen, instead of tiny on on the 20D. The screen is now 3″ increased from 2.5″ on the 30D, sadly though, it is the same pixel resolution. It could have to increased a bit to see how sharp the images really are.

Speed and Focusing. Wow its quick! I found that I was accidentally taking several photos, whilst concentrating on the subject with my finger held on the shutter. I’m not sure if it was just me, or the shutter pressure is less? Focusing with the AF points also was a lot more precise, although some of the images did seem to focus slightly off were I thought it was focusing. Saying that, I was trying to focus on a dragonflies head at 3-4 metres and it seemed to focus on the body. So that could have been me.

I found the colours to be excellent on the standard setting. The Auto ISO useful, however why restrict it to 400-800? Also, why not allow you to go backwards from Auto to 1600 on the dial instead of having to turn through the whole range (maybe there is a custom function). ISO 800 seems to be a bit better than the 20D, but the 1600 is a big improvement.

The ISO in the viewfinder is great, but I needed to remember the shutter speed is on the left! Where its always been! Just a little distracting at the moment. The ISO on the display all the time is also great, as is the extra battery lights (not sure if the 30D had that). The warning on the CF door is of course great, but I never had any issues with that problem, but I guess if I had lost images, then this is a god send!

The erase all feature seems to have gone from the erase button and is now in a menu. (was the 30D like that, or is this because of the 1D menus?) I added it to the user menu, but I admit I tend to use format these days as it takes ages to delete a 2gig card in the 20D. Also, a lot of people recommend formatting the cards regularly to avoid card errors, although I haven’t had those problems.

So with the increased megpixels and fast burst with a bigger buffer, this is going to be a great help with my wildlife photos.

40D with 100 - 400 L IS

I have ordered a new San Disk extreme III card as I think my card needs to be a bit quicker!

Goodwood Revival – The Results!

Goodwood Revival – The Results!

Yesterday I went to the Goodwood Revival meeting with my Dad.

rev2.jpg

I had chosen to go yesterday instead of the Saturday as it had a Tribute to Roy Salvadori. I hadn’t told my Dad about that until we got there. The reason that Roy had a meaning, was that in the late 60’s Roy was Team Manager for the Cooper Formula 1 Racing team where my Dad as a Mechanic and Roy made him Chief Mechanic for the 67 season.

We got to the event with no really problems and walked around for about an hour before finding the Formula 1 cars of the sixties. The cars are located in paddocks with some being around the sides and other located in the middle. Unless you have certain tickets, you cant get close to the cars or into these paddock areas.

My Dad was really surprised to see the Jochen Rindt 67 Cooper Maserati that he had built worked on. He didn’t think it still existed. Luckily the owner was there and we got chatting to him and found out the car had been rescued after rotting away for 36 years.

1967 Cooper-Maserati T86.JPG

We got invited into the paddock by them as they were interested in talking to Dad about the car and learning more. Dad asked if he knew Roy, and the owner, Ben said he’d met him for the first time yesterday. Later after Ben had been to the drivers briefing, he’d spoken to Roy and we got invited into the drivers enclosure and given tickets, which meant we could follow the Cooper into restricted area and out onto the grid…

rev4.jpg

and into the pits …

cooper2.jpg

and stood at the end of the pit lane as the cars came back in.

rev3.jpg

cooper3.jpg

I even managed to get a photo of Stirling Moss and Roy Salvadori in an Aston Martin in pole position on the grid

What a day it turned out to be. We have a wonderful day and meets some really interesting people and Dad was reunited with the Car and friends from that time.