Lens focal lengths from 16mm fish eye up to 420mm telephoto

On a fine Summer's day last year in my village, I decided to see what the range of every lens in my collection was. I took a picture with each one and combined them into this 50 second clip. . .

At the start, I used my EOS 5D MKII and the Russian Zenitar 16mm fish eye. After the 300 mm  I switched to my EOS 7D to make use of the crop factor which gave me an effective 420 mm focal length.

Since doing this test, I have sold my old 300mm and my 70 - 200 zoom. They've been replaced by the Canon EF 100 - 400L  zoom so I may have to repeat it again!

Thanks for reading.

On location. Olten

A quick snap taken yesterday whilst on location doing interiors at a doctor's practice in Olten. I used the EOS5D MKII with a 17 - 40 for the room photographs and my EOS 7d with a 50 mm f1.4 was used for detail pics.

Through fresh eyes.

I've noticed that when I go somewhere new, I see and photograph things that the residents often overlook.

You may remember my blog post "Back in time" when I photographed Herr Alois Zäch who was on the development team that created the World's first watch with built in illumination.

At the end of that piece, I said "On the way home I spotted a lovely little shrine beside the road and made a mental note to return and photograph it."

One week later I found the time to return.

From the outside, i.e. when you pass the shrine in a car, it's pretty unremarkable. Just a small bleached white building with a red tiled roof under a tree.

It's quite easy to miss 
(screenshots from Google Earth)

Parking proved to be the first problem. There was no space beside the shrine itself so I parked in a lay-by about 500 - 600 meters away from the shrine. (Number 1 on the screenshot)

I was a baking hot day so I was travelling light. Taking with me only the Eos 5d MK II together with a 70 - 200 and the trusty 17 - 40.

The first thing I wanted to do was to photograph the shrine with no road beside it, to try and lend an air of tranquillity to the image. I found a spot on a hill overlooking the shrine (number 2 on he screenshot) and used the 70 - 200 at the low end to get the composition I was looking for.

1st image from position 2

Not too pleased with this view because of the tree obscuring the shrine.Unfortunately  that was the only place where the road was hidden so I decided to do my photography around the shrine itself.

Both images here were taken at 17mm focal length. I simply moved further away from the shrine for the second image.

 Same viewpoint but with the camera in a horizontal position

This is the front of the shrine. I didn't have a flash with me so I used HDR to bring out the shadow details

This, however, is my favourite image from that day. There is no trace of the road (although cars were whizzing past me all the time) and I think it has a tranquil air about it. I converted the original image from RAW to a JPG and further processed it in Snapseed.

Feel free to leave some comments and thanks for reading. 

Progress photography

Before and after. Seven months passed

One of the services I offer to construction companies is that of progress photography.

Whether the images are needed for the design team, the architects, the insurance companies or simply as a record of what is happening on site, progress photography can be invaluable and is something I enjoy doing.

From November 2009 until May 2010 I documented the building work going on at a large supermarket project in Basel. 

My brief was simply to cover as much as the work as possible from as many different angles.

I was lucky enough the be working with a team who knew exactly what they wanted. I took a walk around the building site and we discussed the various viewpoints needed. These viewpoints were then transferred onto a technical drawing of the site.

Thirteen shooting positions

I had the idea to do a time-lapse of the project but this unfortunately not doable. Instead I resolved to use the same focal length for every position on the same camera body at the same height on my Benbo tripod. I also made notes reminding me of where exactly the camera was aiming. Before each shoot, which at the beginning took place every three weeks, I would print out the pictures from the last shoot to help me visually to place the camera.

Although I had thirteen viewpoints, I eventually settled for ten or so towards the end of the project. This was for two reasons. Firstly, new obstacles such as counters or walls would appear where there was previously nothing and secondly some of the viewpoints overlapped and didn't offer anything new.

Images were always mailed to the clients after every shoot together with a Powerpoint presentation. At the end of the project another Powerpoint was made showing all the progress made from the beginning to the end.

For myself, I made a couple of small movies from the still images to show to future clients. Here's the first.

.. and here's the second



Feel free to leave some comments and thanks for reading. 

Extasia 2012 - Switzerland shows its naughty side

It's that time of year again. The annual Extasia erotic fair (Erotikmesse) was held in Basel at the end of November.

The event is held inside the ice 

hockey arena in Basel

This time I was taking pictures for a website that must (at the moment) remain nameless. 

I photographed the same event last year. 

The only difference between this year and last year, apart from some of the acts of course was the fact that I was able to "field test" my new 24 - 105 lens.

I attended on the Friday opening night which, in my opinion is best for photography as it's less well attended meaning more space to move around and photograph.

On my EOS 5d MKII I mounted the flash and the 17 - 40. This lens is ideal for close up action and when you can't move amongst a throng of photographers*. On my 7d I mounted a Speedlite and the 24 - 105 which, due to the crop factor gave the equivalent of a 38 - 168.

I was really impressed with the autofocus speed of this lens. It focussed quick and silently. The image stabilisation also worked like a charm for the few occasions when I wanted to shoot without flash.

Here are a few impressions of the acts from the evening. I've kept them sfw (safe for work).

   

Get knotted. Japanese rope tying

This is German pornstar Lena Nitro who later 

produced a flag from seemingly nowhere.

 

 Marcello Bravo and his real life

 partner Hally Thomas

 The Annex fashion show team

 Hally Thomas with her solo act

For these images showing  two of the pole dancers from the FKK club in Basel, I switched the Speedlites off. The image on the left was taken with ISO 400 at an exposure of 1/400sec @f9 on my EOS 5d MKII. The image on the right is a happy accident. I used 1/2 sec @f4 on the 7d. I  personally like the blurring.

I saw this table on the way out full of flyers. Anyone want to buy a swingerclub?

Thanks for reading.


* what exactly is the collective noun for a group of photographers? Answers in the comments please.

DIY telephoto

Supertelephoto on your smart-phone

I was recently thinking about upgrading some of my lenses. This made me think about what I photograph the most. 

Looking through the images that I've been making for the last year or two led me to one conclusion: I don't really need anything long. My most used lens seems to be the excellent 17 - 40 F4L zoom from Canon. After that, it's the 28 - 135 IS zoom which rarely gets used beyond about 70mm.

My last lens acquisition was the Canon EF 50mm f1.4. I absolutely love this piece of glass. It's small, fast and very sharp. It's now my de facto "carry around" lens. Ideal for everything from portraits* to copy work.

In my cupboard I have a 300 mm f4L and the 70 - 200mm f4L. I cannot remember the last time I used the 300mm. The 70 - 200 last came into service at the Streetparade in Zürich in 2011*

Also on my "least used" list is my 24mm f2.8 and my Russian Zenitar 16mm Fisheye which last saw service in 2010*.

I think that the reason I don't use these last two lenses is that A: I only rarely need a fisheye effect and B: The 24 mm focal length is covered by my 17 - 40.

There have been the (very) rare occasions when I've been out and wanted to photograph something in the distance. When this situation occurs I normally have either my Canon G9 or my Samsung Galaxy phone nearby. The Canon is OK as long as I don't use the digital zoom (which I've permanently disabled)

So what can you do if you are out and about with only a pair of binoculars and your (camera enabled) smart-phone and you need to take a telephoto image?

I was looking at the accessories on sale for mobile phones last week and noticed a telephoto attachment available. I wondered what would happen if I tried to shoot through binoculars?

I dug out of my closet, an old pair of 10 x 25 binoculars and made my way to the kitchen. The view from said kitchen is ideal for testing lenses as there is lots to point your optics at.

Using just the standard setting on my Samsung Galaxy III I pointed it at a farmhouse where I knew that there was a Ronald MacDonald statue.

Hardly visible on this shot 

but the  clown is more or less 

in the centre of the image

Then I used the digital zoom to take another picture.

He's just coming into view 

I then reverted back to standard mode for the lens and held the lens against the eye piece of the binoculars and got this shot.

As you can see there is a lot of vignetting but this was due solely to the fact that it's damn near impossible to hold a camera together with a pair of heavy binoculars and press the shutter at the same time. I'd recommend a tripod or some sort of stabilising device.

The handymen amongst you may be able to come up with some sort of bracket that aligns perfectly.

Here's another example of the binocular effect that I took in Basel.

Normal field of view

Shot through binoculars

Of course if money is no object and you really need a telephoto, I can recommend this little beauty.

Canon 800mm f5.6 Fr 17.600

Not expensive / powerful enough? Well how about this? It is a 5200mm f14 lens in Canon fit. It has a lenscap the size of a dustbin lid and was sold on Ebay for $55000. It weighs in at 220lbs (99kg)

You can read more about it here

* As seen here

Thanks for reading

UK 2012 - Busman's Holiday - Top of Penshaw

I've just returned from six days in the UK. The trip was a present for my birthday and I went to see my mum's new house for the first time and to work through a "bucket list" of images that I'd been thinking about for some time.

My visit coincided with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

This is my take on the Jubilee celebrations.

 Taken in a "greasy spoon"

Highlight of my trip however was a trip to the top of the Earl of Durham's Memorial, known locally as Penshaw Monument. 

From Wikipedia:

On Easter Monday, 1926 a 15-year-old boy, Temperley Arthur Scott, fell to his death from the top of Penshaw Monument. The boy was with three friends and 20 other people when the accident happened. They had got to the roof through the spiral staircase situated within one of the pillars. Witnesses said that the boys went round the roof walkway twice before deciding to make a third circuit. However, Scott fell trying to avoid the other visitors by passing around an open end where there was no protecting wall. Afterwards the spiral staircase to the roof was closed and remained so until a special opening on 29th August 2011, when the public were granted access to the spiral staircase and views from the top of the Monument. This was an initial test to see if it was popular enough to open again for future one-off days. The National Trust did not take bookings, the public simply turned up on the day. It was so popular (over 2000 people), not all those who turned up got to go to the top of the Monument.

I was excited when I heard this as I'd always harboured a desire to go to the top.

I emailed the Trust and was told that the time slot I would like was OK and off I went.

The Monument itself is a folly and is a half-sized replica of the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens The Doric tetrastyle monument is 30 metres (98 ft) long, 16 metres (52 ft) wide and 20 metres (66 ft) high. The columns are each 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) in diameter. It was designed by John and Benjamin Green and built by Thomas Pratt of Sunderland, based on the Doric order.

I arrived with plenty of time together with my a good friend Michael who also expressed a wish to get to the top. Due to very windy weather, and it being the Queen's Jubilee, there weren't many visitors. Each visitor must wear an LED headlight to help with navigating the narrow staircase and must leave all bags down below. There are 75 steps to the top and I'd recommend holding cameras close to your body or else they'll be banging off the walls.

 

 The steel doorway and the narrow staircase 

The trip to the top is well worth it, especially if the weather is good. It was very windy when we were at the top (as can be heard on the video below), but this had the effect of making the air a lot clearer with no haze etc. I shot all my pics using the EOS 5d MKII and my workhorse 17 - 40.

75 stairs later...

 Great views of the English countryside

 The narrow walkway

Happy photographer

Panoramic view. Three images stitched together. Lens set at 35mm

After about a half an hour at the top We descended again and I took the following view whilst lying on my back. The lens was zoomed right out to 17mm.

My final shot was this one as we were walking back down the hill.

As mentioned earlier. here's a quick video I took at the top. You can hear how windy it was!

Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a comment.

Tom