80-400VR at the beach

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80-400VR at the beach

Postby gstark on Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:32 am

Minimal PP, and a little nudity.

http://www.redbacksweb.com/Photography/ ... 027%202004

Still just playing with the lens.
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Postby birddog114 on Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:39 am

Gary,
Great shots! I wish I have the 200-400VR today! :x or the 300VR
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Postby sirhc55 on Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:50 am

Nice range of shots - with some PP they would be even better - the boat entering the wave could do with the people being removed. Interesting how the the yellow in the deck chair shot is blown (by the way I think this shot is fantastic - but did you set it up?)

Nice lens for being where you are not. . .
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Postby birddog114 on Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:01 am

sirhc55 wrote:Nice range of shots - with some PP they would be even better - the boat entering the wave could do with the people being removed. Interesting how the the yellow in the deck chair shot is blown (by the way I think this shot is fantastic - but did you set it up?)

Nice lens for being where you are not. . .


sirhc55,
do you know that our Gary is still young and very nice bloke? i'm behind him!
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Postby sirhc55 on Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:29 am

Compared to me you are all young. . .

Cheers

Chris
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Postby gstark on Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:55 am

sirhc55 wrote:Nice range of shots - with some PP they would be even better - the boat entering the wave could do with the people being removed. Interesting how the the yellow in the deck chair shot is blown (by the way I think this shot is fantastic - but did you set it up?)

Nice lens for being where you are not. . .


Chris,

Exactly.

These were all just grabs; and handheld.

The three chairs - no, not a set up. At least, not by me. The guys who do the rentals of those set them up like that every week. There's another that I didn't post with two chairs, but the angle from which I shot it there's a third, different chair included in the background.

Have a look back through the shots I did at the beach at the start of the month and you'll see a couple of similar ones there as well.

As to the yellow being blown; I also think there's some fading there to help give the appearance of it being blown.

As to removing the people, yes, I thought about that too, and I thought about getting Birddog to do a straffing run along the water's edge, but I figured that some might consider that a tad extreme. :)

What I did notice through these though is that - and this is the first time that I've tried shooting surfers - the water shots all appear to be about 1 1/2 stops under. I was using spot, and perhaps that's a part of the issue, but I also suspect that the high reflectivity of the water is playing a part here.

Finally, I need to talk to Birddog and get a filter set for this lens - a CPL would have helped a little, I suspect.
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Postby sirhc55 on Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:04 pm

I agree Gary I think the spot metering would not have helped.

I don’t know if you are like me but I find it difficult to be in peoples faces with a camera and as such the lens you were using is superb, especially for candids.

The reason I liked the deck chairs is based on my being in the graphics industry - so I liked the composition and the colours.

I think you are on the right track as regards a CPL and a ND might even help.

You must just love the lens.

Cheers

Chris
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Postby gstark on Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:28 pm

Chris,

sirhc55 wrote:I don’t know if you are like me but I find it difficult to be in peoples faces with a camera and as such the lens you were using is superb, especially for candids.


In public places such as the beach, this is very much the case. What pisses me off though are the goody-goodies who think they know what you're photographing without having access to your camera, lens, and viewfinder.

They're projecting, of course, but the amusing side of that is that they're too hung up to accept the reality that that simple fact imposes upon them.

The reason I liked the deck chairs is based on my being in the graphics industry - so I liked the composition and the colours.


Yes. Here's one of the others I refered to.

http://www.redbacksweb.com/Photography/ ... C_4397.jpg

The next one from this is also good, and I think that these two, together, make a nice pair of photos because of the effects of the breeze upon the chairs. These were shot with the 24-120VR, btw.

I think you are on the right track as regards a CPL and a ND might even help.

You must just love the lens.


CPL, absobloodylutely. ND - I'm not so sure. Even with the VR, I'm finding that the sweet spot for this lens is around f11. F8 is great, and I certainly need to explore this aspect more thoroughly, but considering that I don't want to drag even a monopod around (I'm lazy in the extreme) I'm happy for as much light as old sol can throw on the subject , and I'll just dial in a faster shutter speed as needed. :)

I think the boat was shot at 1/1000, and (upon looking at it here) I would have liked 1/2000 or perhaps 1/4000.

I'm certainly enjoying the lens, but carrying it around in the summer heat reminds me of why PHD cameras have become so popular.
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Postby jdear on Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:30 pm

out of curiousity which beach? (bondi? referring to my post on thunder girls - images and critiques) ill remember not to go nude on whatever beach it was, and you frequent with this incredible lens! :P

with the 80-400 VR, Im assuming that its not DX format right so in 35mm terminology its more like 120-600mm ?? (1.5x focal multiplier?)

*lens fetish!*

must.... *drool*.......have...*drooooollss*.......... leeennnnssss......

Now how many images of topless women did you exclude from your online gallery??

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Postby gstark on Sun Nov 28, 2004 12:44 pm

jdear wrote:out of curiousity which beach?


Yes, Bondi, and yes, your calculations regarding the focal length equivalency are correct.

Now how many images of topless women did you exclude from your online gallery??


Not that many ... now I have to go through them all and count them! What an arduous task.

79 images shot in total. 12 of topless women; I didn't count the number of images of topless men, but there were a few of those as well, and about 6 of dogs, one of a seagull, and one of some other feathered animal.
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Postby jdear on Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:01 pm

hey wow!
with the VR whats it claim, up to 3 stops lower than a normal lens?

is there anything you cant do gstark *looks admirably*
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Postby gstark on Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:21 pm

jdear wrote:hey wow!
with the VR whats it claim, up to 3 stops lower than a normal lens?

is there anything you cant do gstark *looks admirably*
JD


LOts.

I've been able to handhold the 24-120 at 1/2 sec and get an acceptable image. There's no way I can do that with this puppy; it's way too heavy.

I doubt I'd be able to handhold her at anything much below 1/200, VR notwithstanding.
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Postby Raydar on Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:48 pm

gstark wrote: There's no way I can do that with this puppy; it's way too heavy.
I doubt I'd be able to handhold her at anything much below 1/200, VR notwithstanding.


O but what a piece of glass to play with this theory on!!!!!!!!! :shock:

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Postby Nicole on Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:56 pm

Great photos Gary and what a great day to go out taking pics by the looks of it. What VR setting are you using? I'm finding the setting where you can actually see the VR adjustment in the viewfinder more helpful.

I tried mine with VR on and off :shock: at the zoo this morning. Light was really poor before the clouds cleared. I used a tripod when the VR was off and will be interested to see how it performed.
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Postby gstark on Sun Nov 28, 2004 2:18 pm

Nicole,

Thanx, and yes, I'm using the "almost always on" (TM) setting too.

And yes, yesterday was a glorious, super-sunny but stinking hot day, today is much the same.

I'll probably look to tripod/monopod shooting with this lens towards the end of the week.

This afternoon and tonight it'll be the 24-120 at the Empire Hotel in Annandale where I'll be running the jam session.

All Sydney members are welcome to come and snap some images/enjoy a cold ale/ listen to some great blues ...
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Postby birddog114 on Sun Nov 28, 2004 2:28 pm

gstark wrote:Nicole,

I'll probably look to tripod/monopod shooting with this lens towards the end of the week.


Gary,
Ananadale is not far from my base, stop by and pick up the Gitzo 1588 Carbon Fibre Monopod as Matt demonstrated yesterday
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Postby gstark on Sun Nov 28, 2004 3:18 pm

Birddog114 wrote:
gstark wrote:Nicole,

I'll probably look to tripod/monopod shooting with this lens towards the end of the week.


Gary,
Ananadale is not far from my base, stop by and pick up the Gitzo 1588 Carbon Fibre Monopod as Matt demonstrated yesterday


Birddog,

Thanx, but not for today.

The stuff I'm doing today is all handheld, and that's how I want it. And the 80-400 is really too long for the venue anyway.
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