I see Nikon has released new firmware for their lens in the Nikon 1 range, I will be waiting a few more days before I update.
Nikon say the updates correct incorrect aperture reporting and an issue with VR on the 10-100mm Power Zoom.
Back to Normal
Today saw us back to the usual daily commute. I had missed the bike, its definitely my favourite form of transport. With the previous week concentrating on Landscape Photography, we had to use car, its just not practical to take Landscape photographs without a tripod, and I have yet to work out how to carry safely a large heavy tripod on a motorcycle.
At the sea side
We spent today on the beach, photographing details by the sea.
It became quite a challenge, the light was changing fast, and we had a rapidly rising high tide. There were a number photographs that I had pre-visualised; and today we had the potential combination of weather and tide to try and capture them.
The weapon of choice, my lovely old Hasselblad, 80mm f/2.8 lens and Lee Polariser.
Setting up with the camera on my heavy tripod, I had very little time to meter the scene, determine the black point, white point, work out the dynamic range and set my exposure. I took a quick shot and had to retreat rapidly as the water started to lap at the tripod legs.
Sometimes the light and situation can last for just a few seconds, you have to have your camera technique and metering down pat, practice, practice and practice.
With any form of photography, a compact, SLR, Medium or Large Format, you need to practice and know your equipment well.
Many people blame their equipment, and use that as an excuse to buy a new camera, often it’s just that we’re not fully conversant with our equipment.
People, Birds and Boats
Yesterday and today was quite a mix photographically.
We first headed off to Southwold Harbour to catch the early light.
Here I undertook a number of studies of the old fishermen’s boats and huts. I used a mix of medium format and small format shots using my Medium Format Hasselblad and my Small Format Nikon 1.
Later in the day we headed to another small coastal town of Aldburgh and after a sausage, bacon and egg sandwich we headed to the beach to photograph the boats and some of the more interesting buildings and people in the town.
We ended the day at the RSPB Reserve, Minsmere, SLR’s and long lens were a must. A much more speedy form of photography then the medium format landscapes and architecture shots we had been taking earlier.
A cracking day out
Did you get the Wallace & Gromit quote, now I will admit this is a very tenuous link but we are about to go out to the local village pub and we are are both looking forward to a fine cheese board.
Now what has that to do with photography. Well nothing really, but I am in a silly mood, and it has been a cracking day out.
The early part of the morning was spent photographing Blythburgh Church, in the glorious autumn sunshine. I hope to have captured a number of rather nice medium format images. There were one or two shots that would have been ideal for either a large format technical camera with full movements, or a Nikon D3x with the tilt & shift wide angle. Unfortunately I only had my medium format Hasselblad and Nikon 1 to hand.
The afternoon saw us visiting Wickham Market, they have a nice tea-shop, but far more importantly they have a quilt shop, where Caroline was able to indulge in some fabric buying.
To finish the day, we headed back to Southwold where we photographed the Pier as the sun quickly set. It was quite challenging, the meter readings were changing by about a stop a minute, and shooting medium format, with filters and a handheld spot meter is not the fastest form of photography. Under the rapidly changing conditions I only had time for one shot before the best of the light disappeared.
Orford Castle
Today saw us exploring the east coast of Suffolk.
We found ourselves at Orford Castle, from the top there are some delightful views to the south. The weather was a little overcast but I still thought it worthwhile to take a few black and white shots of the castle.
Medium Format – a Pier Study
I enjoy photography in all it’s forms, but the man made landscape and model photography are definitely my favourite two.
Today we spent the day in the lovely sea side town of Southwold. I seemed to be in a black and white mood, and spent time looking for shots that would suit.
Most of these shots were taken with the Nikon 1.
In the late afternoon as the sun started to sink we headed over to the Pier and the big tripod and Hasselblad came out.
The shot I really wanted was not possible due to some building alterations that had taken place, but I am going to re-think it and try a slightly different version at low tide, but I got a number of what I hope will be good shots once developed.
The best shot of the day was taken by Caroline, I’ll leave you with that.
Coffee and Shopping
Today we went on a shopping trip to Norwich, clothes and quilt shops for Caroline and for me a visit to The Window, the smallest coffee shop in the world.
The shopping and coffee went well, though Caroline did not buy any quilting material we did manage to get some clothes and Coffee.
Hayley our champion Barista served me one of the best Espresso I have had this year.
I’ll certainly rate Coffee Aroma in Lincoln and The Window in Norwich as the top two coffee shops I have visited this year.
While walking round the city I also did a little street photography, always fun.
Photo Trips
We are off on a Photo Trip soon, there are some images that are fixed in my head, that I want to achieve. I have the camera, lens, filter and location all sorted out, I just need the weather to pull it off.
What to take on a trip is always a vexing question. When in the car, which is what we will be this time, makes the choice easy. We will be after some landscape shots (Hasselblad medium format kit), we will be near some RSPB reservers, so SLR’s, heavy tripods and long lens. Then there is opportunistic shots. Well for these it is what every you have with you, so on this trip it will be either an SLR with a standard consumer lens or the new Nikon One.
A few more shots from the Nikon V1
Yesterday Adobe released a Release Candidate for Lightroom V3.6, with Adobe Camera Raw V6.6, so last night I was able to give the RAW files a good tryout.
These are not all straight RAW conversions for the Landscape shots, after converting them to Tiff, I imported them into Nik software’s Colour EfexPro4 and Viveza2 as a test. For the shot of the birds on the lake, nothing was done except a bit of sharpening.
Also here is a near 100% crop of the bird shot. As you can see quite impressive for such a little camera.
