Category: Photography

Old and new.

Been eyeballing some new prime lenses for my camera for quite some time, but just couldn’t pull the trigger for the pricey things. So, I watched and waited, and searched. In doing so, I stumbled on the means to unlock older lens useage on this camera. (why the feature comes locked out by default is beyond me)

Armed with this knowledge, I’ve been watching for someone to offload some of the old lenses. Finally happened last night, and I got myself a set of primes, finally. Sure, they’re 30 years old and only work on full manual mode. I have to shoot in full manual for my low light situations anyway.

The real star of the set, for me, is the 50mm F1.7 lens. Most folks would view this as a portrait lens, and it sure works pretty well in that capacity. (no, there is no flash being used anywhere here)

What it unlocks for ME, however, is a superior ability to take low light photos. The f1.7 makes the viewfinder much brighter and thus easier to focus on the subject (yes, OLD camera I actually have to use the viewfinder, not a live video screen, the horror). Not to mention the lower F stops than my current kit camera allowing this to be shot freehand, no tripod.

The next lens is a 28MM F2.4. This offers a small change from the 50MM at the end of the day. The wider angle allows for some more close up work.

The final lens is one I could pull out next time we go camping. 200MM F3.5. Really not going to be much use to my low light photography, but it sure took some fine pics of the moon even through the hazy sky.

It even works with my doubler, which tends to be picky which lenses it likes.

Pics and a present.

The road home…

Wish I would have packed the better camera.

Glen Canyon.

Come home to see, oh, my present came…what in the world did UPS do to it???

well, I don’t know HOW you would ship it anyway…

Journey to Bethlehem

Last year, we attempted to get out to Journey to Bethlehem put on by a local Baptist church. They improved the logistics this year, advertising groups leaving ever 5 minutes instead of every 15.

So, when it returned this year, we decided to make one more attempt. After all, how often do you get to see a Christmas themed haunted house? (yes, that is the best way I can describe it)

I was under the impression it started at 5PM. And, I was not alone in that impression. There was a small line that arrived at 5, or shortly after, surprised the doors were still closed.

Talia describes our feeling when we found out opening was 6.

From JTB

Unfortunately, this pic also illustrates my issues with the camera, as somehow, somewhere, it had gotten set to ISO 1000, and everything was going to be grainy. I didn’t notice until after, and am still wondering how the setting got changed as I never go over 400…

Anyhow.

We went in, got our passports, and new names, and were to be in the first group. I was pleased to see the groups also increased in size this year. This should allow them to pump roughly 5x the numbers this year.

Journey to Bethlehem uses a guided tour format. This is a lesser used format during the October season due to lower numbers, but allows much better story telling and interaction with patrons.

Our guides did a marvelous job.

From JTB
From JTB

Soon enough the ‘evil romans’ come in hootin’ and hollerin’ about your taxes.

From JTB

“The scary’s” as Talia calls them. She was impressed by the one on a horse, however.

From JTB

Along your route, you meat your normal cast of characters from the Nativity.

The Wise men (sorry only one turned out):

From JTB

The shepherds:

From JTB

Some fellow countrymen

From JTB

The Inn…

From JTB

The highlight, however, is of course the angel that appears.

From JTB

Each have a story to tell as you pass.
(Alec’s reaction at the moment the Angel appears)

From JTB

Kyle listening to the Shepherds.

From JTB

Of course it all culminates at the stable.

From JTB

All in all, it was a very fun activity I would encourage anyone capable of to attend. The production is enjoyable in and of itself. Churches around the country put on this same show. So, go get out to your local Christmas themed haunted house.

Vacation

Well, we took a short vacation last weekend.

I fully intended to be posting here about some more low light photography here. Packed my new remote for the camera just to go get some moonlit shoreline shots…and forgot the tripod.

So, you’ll just have to settle for some randomness. I did not take the camera to the beach for fear of it getting sandy, so not as many pics as I would have liked in general, either.

For some reason I was apparently in the mood for profile shots…

From Pentax
From Pentax

The sunlight was at a brutal angle as well. Still, pretty blue water backdrop.

From Pentax
From Pentax
From Pentax

Messing around, wishing I had a proper macro lens…my love of bugs may be rekindled in a new way then…

The ant mound..

From Pentax

As close as I can get, until I find me a Macro lens.

From Pentax

Don’t you just want to dig for the queen? (red harvester ants, if you’ve ever bought an ant farm, these were most likely the guys that came in it)

From Pentax

Little portrait work.

From Pentax

Candids.

From Pentax
From Pentax

So, with vacation over, and other excitement this last weekend, weather looking up finally, let’s hope I can buckle down and get some things worked on SOMETIME this summer…

Major Upgrade.

Our little slice of the internet just got a major upgrade.

Sometime following the 2007 season, my camera died.

And, that camera went from delivering such beautiful pics as this…

From Halloween 07

Crisp, clear, good depth of field….

To clunkers the likes of this….

From Halloween 2008

Dark, out of focus, no color….

Same camera, same lighting, same settings…just something was off.

Well, opportunity come for me to remedy that.

From 2010 Buildup

An upgrade….that fits all my existing lenses.

No more point and shoots fighting the lighting condition.

This was a choice that, unfortunately, is going to delay some plans into next year, but it was an opportunity I could not pass up. I’ve been down right embarrassed by the photos these last two years.

And, for the photography buffs out there, a quick rundown of the camera’s performance.