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Hi all... back from my holiday in the NZ South Island... comments welcome.

Neve of Franz Joseph Glacier - 3000 metre altitude with 200 degree FOV. The original image is over 30 megapixels.



Hooker Valley - MtCook National Park



Mount Cook Summit



Alistair

Brilliant!!!!

You got soooo much better weather than us for your visit to franz!

Excellent work Alistair.
Show us some more whenyou can.

The last pic is awesome - would love to see more of your trip when you have the time

cricketfan wrote:Excellent work Alistair.
Show us some more whenyou can.

Like this one...

AWESOME!

What company did you fly with, mt Cook line?

MHD wrote:AWESOME!

What company did you fly with, mt Cook line?

Helicopter Line... although the chopper had "WestCoast Helicopters" on the tail. I thought it might make a good publicity poster for them?

LOVE the forth one....just brilliant!

This was actually taken from a puddle near the carpark at lake Matheison... photos from the reflective lake were crowded with people at dawn and I actually got a better sunrise with this pic 10 paces from the car.



Alistair

These are great, will be heading to NZ next year in Jan/Feb hopefully for a work conference.

Damn the pictures says it all, must have had a real ball there

love the 4th pic

Waw, that's real breathtaking landscapes! The 4th one is simply perfect IMO, really love the curved patterns on the snow.

Link

The 4th one is absolutely wonderful. I also like the second.
My girlfriend and I are planning a visit to NZ soon and from the looks of these I cannot wait to get there.

Well done

Great shots AlistairF.... !!!

cheers

That sure is a photogenic place. And you've captured it well Alistair.

Fantastic shots Alistair. That first pano is amazing and great with the helicopter. You sure have an eye for landscapes.

Great shots,

I head over to NZ in 7 days.

Did you take a tripod with you? Are the shooting conditions easy over there? I just intend to take my kit lens and the D70, and 2gb of CF memory.

Cheers,
Tommo.

I wish I were there.
One day I'll make it to Zealand.

You have some great photos to show the grandeur of that land.

Cheers
CD

Been there - done that, but not seen it like this before......Alistair, these posted images are all exceptional. This is very good work on your part. I believe you have got 100% value for money with those Heli- trips!

Thanks so much for sharing these, they bring back fond memories of past trips..........

Cheers,

ps. best wishes for your upcoming trip Tommo! The weather should be on it's best behaviour for you.

Tommo wrote:Great shots,

I head over to NZ in 7 days.

Did you take a tripod with you? Are the shooting conditions easy over there? I just intend to take my kit lens and the D70, and 2gb of CF memory.

Cheers,
Tommo.

Tommo, You'll love it!... where are you going over there?

I use a Manfrotto 190pro tripod and my home-made pano head. Go as wide as you can. I mostly used the Nikon 12-24mm for most of the shots, although a couple of times I used my Nikkor 105mm and 50mm...using polarizers 90% of the time. After using the 12-24, the kit lens never made it onto the camera for the whole two weeks. I shot in RAW and carried my laptop and backed up images every evening from 2 x 1gb CF cards. Oh... did I mention a couple of trips to the chiropractor when I got home? The price of lugging all this stuff around on hikes.

Blue skys at this time of year are just luck in some places and was told that winter is the clearest time of year to photograph. I found that the South Island's weather almost erratic as Melbourne's, but be patient and it will clear, quickly at times, although our trip to Milford Sound was like looking at a wet grey wall all day. I alwayscomfort myself and rememberred that the shitty weather created these beautiful landscapes.

Alistair

Those are wonderful shots Alistair! I'm all the more excited now about my upcoming trip to NZ this winter. I've been there twice before but not with my D70 so I'm hoping to get some nice shots...

Did you find you had to do anything different with the camera in the cold conditions? I haven't checked the manual but I would assume it could handle a fair range of temperatures? Did you have any problems with your CF cards and the cold?

Cheers,

Stephen

I know what you mean Matt. I've been to NZ before but never to the South Island. Ever since I've seen Willow and Lord of the Rings, I've wanted to go to the South Island. I will get there one day!

AlistairF wrote:Tommo, You'll love it!... where are you going over there?

North Island for two weeks. South Island for a week... haven't booked any accomdation for my South Island trip really, but have a plan and a hire car Should be good.

Thanks for the tripod info.

Hybrid wrote:Those are wonderful shots Alistair! I'm all the more excited now about my upcoming trip to NZ this winter. I've been there twice before but not with my D70 so I'm hoping to get some nice shots...

Did you find you had to do anything different with the camera in the cold conditions? I haven't checked the manual but I would assume it could handle a fair range of temperatures? Did you have any problems with your CF cards and the cold?

Cheers,

Stephen

I didn't have any issues with cold as this was summer snow and actualy was quite hot... but a few of my friends have shot digital in very cold climates and recommend that you keep you batteries (or at least a spare) on your person to keep it warm, as they will most likely fail in very cold temps.

After being to NZ several times before, but first time to the south, we decided to spend two weeks only touring the middle third as there is so much to see and you really have to wait around to get sunrise, sunset etc for the best vantage points. We had a hire car, but still managed to clock up just under 3000km, so do the math on mow much time you'll be spending in the car if you're going to see the whole of NZ in three weeks.

Alistair

Thanks for the tip about the batteries - I think I might look into getting a spare, although so far I have been impressed by the D70's battery life. Depending on price, maybe I'll get some of those smaller batteries that can act as a once-off replacement... We'll see.

On our previous trips to NZ, we also did quite a bit of travelling, even though we were concentrating on a smaller area like you did. This time around we will be staying around Queenstown for the whole time - planning on doing lots of snowboarding since my sister will be working for NZSki rentals and we should be able to get free stuff

Anyway, it should be awesome!

Stephen

Some of these shots are absolutely stunning, very worthy of a travel brochure... The exposure in the first pano would have been tricky and you've done an excellent job on that... Thanks for sharing...

Cheers,
Mudder

Alistair, that part of the world is my #1 photo spot of all time, your shots are outstanding! Keep on posting,

Max

Great shots! - Snow just looks lovely.