A night of cityscape photos  in Omaha and a day of shooting landscapes in the Loess Hills has produced some excellent images with my Canon 5D. When coming to Iowa I imagined cornfields and the occasional cow. I have come away with a completely different outlook. I am thoroughly thrilled with the images I have captured.

Starting in chronological order of capture is Omaha, NE. After a pleasant dinner at the Old Chicago Restaurant I took to the streets for some urban landscapes. Using my 5D I have become a firm believer in full frame sensor and its incredible image quality. Bracketing exposures of up to 30 seconds, I was able to capture detail throughout the cityscape. Using High Dynamic Range Photo to process these images enabled stunning color and detail. Omaha is a pleasant town, or at least the Old Market area I visited. I would compare the Old Market as a smaller version of the Plaza in Kansas City. Conversing with the homeless people while capturing the city lights brought some humor to an otherwise cool night.

Second photo is of an old dilapidated gas station named “Stuckeys”. I hear from the locals that this was once a bustling place to stop by, but due to various reasons it has since went under. None the less, I captivated on the stores demise. I enjoy studying these broken down buildings for numerous reasons. They provide wonderful textures, colors, and shapes mainly. When photographing these areas, I am always aware of my surroundings because it is not uncommon for another curious individual to come along.

The last image is what most people that know me would say epitomizes my photography: outdoor scenics. I love this image for the pure fact that it is exactly how I saw this in real life. Minus the feeling of the outdoor elements, this image depicts the colors and texture I saw standing there. This was captured in the Loess Hills State Park. Driving along, this barn instantly stuck out as a photographic opportunity. A combination of the diffused light and the blue sky causes the barn to look ominous yet warm. I captured numerous images around the barn, but I feel this is one of the strongest compositions. I may post more from this spot when I get the time to process the rest of my images.

The day was great! While the wind was brisk, the sun was warm. I have over 500 images to process, therefore there may be quite a few more posts from Iowa. I hope you enjoy. Remember you must only be slightly more aware than the average person, to see the extraordinary beauty. 

MT

Shooting landscapes in Pisgah, IA has tested my photographic abilities. With blistering cold winds and dreary overcast skies, one might ask why I was knee deep in snow photographing. I however was impervious to the cold and trudged on with my dedicated girlfriend. Having my new wide angle on for most of the day, I was able to achieve some acceptable images. I have been fortunate enough to witness two nice winter sunsets however. One which I have posted here. Having only my laptop, I will wait until I get back to my workhorse computer to edit all of my images. I will post more on Pisgah and the surrounding areas soon.

MT

Well, the time finally came for me to upgrade. Tonight I entered into the full frame sensor group of photographers. I bought the Canon 5D 12 megapixel DSLR. To go along with the stellar camera I bought a Canon 17-40mm L-series lens to along with it. This is a huge upgrade from my Canon 30D(still love thta camera too). Not only is the 5D more megapixels, the pixels themselves are bigger. Now for those that don’t understand what that means: it basically means better image quality. This better image quality will especially be shown when photographing in low light situations. For a landscape photographer that shoots mostly in low light, this is very important. I am excited to get this thing out on some longer expeditions than what I could tonight. Ahh tonight…thats a funny story in itself.

Well, to make a long story short I ended up driving around searching for the FedEx man who wouldn’t drop off the camera without a signature. Since I was in class and my landlord was out of the office, the package gets put back in the truck to be jostled for another day. Well we couldn’t have that! So back and forth I went, getting one place only to be told to go somewhere else. Finally I got “John the FedEx Man’s” phone number and met him in a Casey’s gas station for the drop off. I drove sixty miles to pick up my camera 8 miles from my apartment. The sacrifices we make in the name of photography.

I uploaded a few pics from tonights expedition, including my first image with the 5D. Not alot I could do tonight considering it was dark, windy, and literally ZERO degrees. My fingers are still burning and tingling as I type this. Hope you enjoy and I will post more later.

Wow! These specs are even better than I’d hoped for!

According to digital Photography School:

Here’s what Canon DSLR fans have been waiting for – the new Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR.

This 21 megapixel DSLR (CMOS full frame sensor) has an ISO range of 50 to 25600, HD movie recording (seems to be the way we’re going), Live View framing of images on it’s 3.0 inch LCD (920,000 pixels), burst mode of up to 3.9 frames per second, DIGIC IV processor and sensor dust reduction.

This beauty will set you back $2699 USD when it hits stores in November this year.

I’ve included the news release from Canon announcing the Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR below.

PS: also announced today by Canon is a new Canon 24mm f/1.4 II USM lens. Fast, wide angle which has gone through an update from its previous version.

(dPS: Canon EOS 5D Mark II)

And, from the Canon site itself:

• 21.1-megapixel Full-frame CMOS Sensor
• New DIGIC 4 Power Processing
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• Full High Definition Movie Capability
  (The world’s first¹ DSLR that can shoot full High Definition and Standard Definition movies.)
• 3.9fps Shooting
• Expanded Live View Shooting
• 9-point Autofocus
• Wide-coverage Viewfinder
  (What you see is virtually what you get with the high-performance viewfinder with approximately 98% coverage.)
• Multi-coated 920,000-dot 3.0-inch Clear View LCD Monitor

(http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/eos5dm2/index.html)

The newly designed sensor is ultra-sensitive, too, empowering you to explore creative opportunities in challenging environments thanks to a wide ISO range of 100 to 6400 at the standard setting. ISO expansion extends coverage from ISO 50 to an astounding ISO 25600. Shooting with auto ISO is also nicely responsive with a comfortable ISO range of 100 to 3200. Whether shooting outdoor scenes at night or charmingly lit interiors, you can now capture all the subtle nuances of natural lighting through the unencumbered joy of hand-held, flash-free shooting.

(http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/eos5dm2/01.html#01)

Awesome. Just awesome. I was aware of most of the specs from the pre-release buzz, but the HD movie mode is new to me. What do you think?

My previous posts:

• Canon 5D Mark II Rumored Specs and Details
• New Teaser Ad for Canon 5D Mark II, 50D compared.

]]> http://naturesimage.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/full-frame-sensor-whats-that-all-about/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:15:45 +0000 Andrew Goodall http://naturesimage.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/full-frame-sensor-whats-that-all-about/

Looking for your feedback…I have grown up with film SLR cameras, and I have been scanning my colour slides taken over many years. Finally I am starting to research my purchase for a digital SLR camera.

The first thing I found was a lot of cameras around $1000-$2000, and then a few cameras around $3500-$4000. It was explained to me that the main difference was the full frame sensor.

I got a bit of an explanation of what that means, but my question is…how much difference does it really make, and does it justify the extra cost? I would be interested in any comments from someone who knows this topic and has experience with both classes of camera.

Your feedback will be appreciated, and I am sure others would be interested to know more about this as well.

You can check out the kind of photography I do on this blog, or by visiting www.naturesimage.com.au

Wow, Nikon has been super-aggressive with new cameras. The rumored D700 was confirmed last week and it’s full frame sensor (taken from the D3) is a delightful harbinger of end of cropped sensors. Despite the really great images you can get with a consumer or prosumer DSLR, I’ve always felt it is simply wrong to offer a DSLR that doesn’t use the full angle of the expensive lenses we buy for them. The D700 is not cheap, but it is bringing D3-style photography closer to my level. Read more about it: D700 from Nikon