Monthly Archives: January 2018

 

Winter is tough, but graphic, our little 3″ snow was just enough to create contrast between the swing set and the ground, the border added to the grahics, or at least I think so!  I then drove down the road to photograph my church, Grace On The Hill, a Methodist church.  The sky started to have some color and I worked it for a while until my controller warned me that winds were getting to high, so I brought her back in for a landing.  I’ll keep trying!

 

On last one, coning back to land I caught this graphic sidewalk shot nd thought it was worth a shot.

 

 

If the winds die down, I may try more later, this is very addictive!!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

This drone stuff is really exciting!  I still gave a lot to learn but I went out this morning for some practice and these are the resulting images!  Winter is tough, but I will keep practcing, will be in Aruba in early February, that should be exciting!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I promise to keep practiing!!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

“We are, all of us, pilgrims, who struggle along different paths toward the same destination.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 

 

I’m not sure how you check out lenses, but I test them, shoot real world images with them and, I admit, I read the test reports too!!!  That last thing has fooled me more  than once.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some very reputable places that test lenses and, for the most part, I think they accurately portray what they have discovered!

 

There are a few things they do not take into account.

 

1.  How well made is the lens?  Will it continue to perform several years later after heavy use as it did right out ot the box?  In my 48 year photo career I’ve only found three manufacturers that, to this very day, still make metal,. highy hand assmbled lenses that remain exeptional, even after years of use! Leitz, Carl Zeiss and Fujinon.  Early Nikon and Canon lenses would make this list too, but lenses made over the last 20 years have a great deal more plastic in them.

2.       All lenses are not created equal, even within the same model dsignation.  Let’s say you buy a Fujifilm 18-135 lens.  You may get a spectacular one, or a very good one, but rarely, but still sometimes, you could get one that is not as good as the average.  Fujifilm has an excellent quality control group, but it is enevitable that a dog still slips past every once in a great while. Should you worry about this?  No, but test your new lens and if you are convinced it is not up to speed, return it and get another copy. I have a great deal of respect for the testing done by photozone.de.  I have found their assesments to be spot on!  However they really panned the 18-135,  so I did my own tests, and I’m convinced they had a bad copy.  The images below was made with the 18-135, and I’ve made many others that are tack, tack sharp, so I still believe in that lens!

 

 

The bottom line is trust, but verify!

 

The image below was, by-the-way, my first still shot from the DJI Mavic Pro, makes me excited to get to some good locations!!!

 

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

I believe that the best way to stay sharp and keep our skills in great shape is practice, study and challange yourself with the new things to learn!!!   A few months back I was asked to shoot the new Fujifilm 80mm Macro for Fujifilm and I enjoyed shooting with  it, it was not the lens I had hoped for, in terms of focal length, I really wanted the previousy announced 120mm (180mm equiv.) but it was tack sharp and worked great.   I wrested with what to do, I already had a perfectly wonderful and much, much smaller Fujifilm 60mm Macro, which I love!

 

So, as usual,  I caved and ordered one through the company.  Well that was a long time ago and all my friends already have their’s, but mine has never arrived.  Don’t take this wrong, I was buying it, X-Photographers get a nice discount, but we often have to wait until all the regular orders get filled.  I’m sure they are still trying to get those to the people who ordered them early!  So, frustrated, and wanting to try something “completely different”,  I cancelled by order for a 80mm Macro and X-E3 and instead bought a drone!!!  I got the DJI Mavic Pro because it is very compact yet extremely capable of making great stills and 4K video.  As you can see below, if I trim up my still gear, it and the controller fit great in my Think Tank Advantage roller for trips where I have to fly, when in the car, I have a lot of ways to carry it including a supplied pelican type case that holds it all, (below).

 

 

The DJI controller is made to use your smart phone, but I upgraded to a new iPad Mini 4 128gb model so I can see what the camera on the drone is seeing, more clearly!

 

I’ve taken it our to the kids soccer field once and got a little flying in, It is a learning proccess but it is coming quickly and I can already tell I’m really going to enjoy this!!!  Now, I must learn Final Cut Pro X to edit some cinamatic video!  More info coming soon!  I promise to publish some results here when I have something worth showing!

 

In Him and blessings,

 

the pilgrim