photos and other things…
Sony Nex and Jupiter 8 lens in hand, we headed out for a walk after a long day at work, to catch the last of the days light. In stark contrast to the heavy rain and wind yesterday, today was clear blue and still. I was amazed how still it was on the water, mirror clear and still. Looking down the cliff from where we walked, I captured the fallen tree, sitting so softly in the water, it almost looked like the sky.
Making the conscious decision to take the Nex and Jupiter 8 out for some after work shooting today, I found myself struggling to get anywhere before dusk set in (I thought I had said summer was coming). Coupled with a blistery cold wind and temperature I cast my eye out to the ocean, which looked/felt to have a storm brewing.
Snapping some images I tried to capture the cold isolation the ocean can arouse, and imagined the relief of early discoverers as they sighted land in the distance.
Taken from North Head, on the North Shore of Auckland – its a great spot (but dress warm on cold windy days) to get a panoramic view around Auckland and its harbour.
A misty rainy day today left the sky a washed out white, and the constant drizzle was less then ideal for my walk after work with camera in hand. I took a stroll down Cheltenham beach in Devonport from dusk to dark looking for some interesting images. Again with the Ricoh, I used my mini tripod, found some semi-sheltering foliage and took some 30-60second exposures with the lens stopped down. I love the effect long exposures have on the ocean, or moving water. As the sky was washed out I decided to convert the image to B&W in post processing, and cropped the image to give us more of a panoramic feel.
My new-old Juipter-8 arrived in the post today. It looks and feels pretty good, so I will hopefully give it a test out on the nex some time later in the week.
We had some more great weather today, so after some tidying around the house I managed to go for a several hour walk. I brought along my Nex 5N and two of my old legacy lenses – the Industar 61 and Jupiter 11. Todays image ‘Air Brakes’ was captured on the Jupiter 11, a 135mm soviet lens, which equates to about a 200mm lens when coupled with a APS-C sensor like that on the Nex. For the price, its a nice old lens that I have spoke about before. I think I will take it apart and re-lube when I get some time as its a bit stiff to focus, which makes all the difference when focusing on moving targets.
In post editing, I did crop the photo, both to remove a branch in the left, and also to give a larger shot of the bird. Shot in .jpg, I wish I had been also saving in raw as it would have given me some more detail to play with.
I have a Juipter-8 on the way from Ukraine also and cant wait to give it a run on the Nex (and some 35mm rangefinders) as I have read some positive things about it, most suggesting its a better lens then the Industar 61 (which I like anyway).
MikeHawkey.com 