the Photo thread

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

That's a Somalian pirate ship on the right...

[clapton is god]

Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland with the Farne Islands left of frame. On the promise of a possible a view of the Northern Lights I was at this beach at 5.20am on Thursday morning, the only morning I had of anything like fine weather. No Lights but the sky was still pitch black and there were more stars in the sky than I had ever seen barring one magical night in Eskdale with the Milky way above me. Consequently I was drawn to the sky rather than the castle but this was taken at very first light at 6.24am. No filters in use and more or less straight out of the camera after a 30 second exposure.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Worth getting up early for, Clappers - great shot.

[TANGODANCER]

Wonders of nature. Fabulous pic Clapton, really fabulous.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Just seen that Clappers - I really like that photo.

[clapton is god]

^ Cheers all. Northumberland (or some of it, at least) is a Dark Skies designated area and I have rarely seen the sky so full of stars. It was mesmerising!

I was a bit unlucky though. My shutter release, which has served me well for at least 10yrs, began to fail shortly after I arrived on the beach and I only managed to get about half of what I wanted before it failed altogether. Having now had a look through the rest I think this is my personal favourite:

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I prefer the night shot with the moon.
One question, on the first shot (the one I prefer) there are subtle horizontalish striatiations in the sky, most obvious in the mid ground of the sky. Is this an effect on my monitor, or can you see them too, and if so did you take the shot with a camera with a physical shutter? (I once had an old Zenit that gave me a similar effect at 1/500 on f5.6)

[clapton is god]

Yep, banding. Here and on Facebook the effect appears because of compression (but it is very subtle here). It isn't on the original. Shot taken with a Nikkor 24-70 lens without any other glass mounted in front. Many advise to use at least a skylight filter if only to protect the lens glass but I always thought that if I was going to pay £1200 for a damn good lens I am not then going to degrade it buy then putting inferior glass at the front.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Yep, banding. Here and on Facebook the effect appears because of compression (but it is very subtle here). It isn't on the original. Shot taken with a Nikkor 24-70 lens without any other glass mounted in front. Many advise to use at least a skylight filter if only to protect the lens glass but I always thought that if I was going to pay £1200 for a damn good lens I am not then going to degrade it buy then putting inferior glass at the front.

I use(d) a UV filter, I just made sure it was a bloody good one from Nikon (and which was reflected in the cost, unfortunately). Which then begged the question of what I placed in front to protect the filter that protected the lens.

[thebish]

Yep, banding. Here and on Facebook the effect appears because of compression (but it is very subtle here). It isn't on the original. Shot taken with a Nikkor 24-70 lens without any other glass mounted in front. Many advise to use at least a skylight filter if only to protect the lens glass but I always thought that if I was going to pay £1200 for a damn good lens I am not then going to degrade it buy then putting inferior glass at the front.

indeed... that's what lens caps are for! when shooting - just don't throw stuff at it!

I don't use filters much nowadays - not cos my glass is expensive - it's not!! - but because it's just extra carriage and fannying about - and quite a lot (not all) filter effects can be recreated fairly effortlessly in post production if that's what I wanted to do... especially if shooting RAW (which is what I do most of the time)

[Hoboh]

I've got some decent photo's from Cornwall but don't know how to post them without leaving them in some web account for time immortal.

[clapton is god]

^ Create a Dropbox account and load your photos into there. Then right click and copy the 'public link'. Press img in the full editor here on this page and paste the link into that.

[clapton is god]

New camera ordered! After lots of deliberation I finally decided on a mirrorless Fuji X Pro1 combined with a Fuji 18-135 lens. There are lots of alternatives out there for mirrorless systems, which are the future and the changing face of photography, and anyone currently looking for a new camera would be well advised to look here. They are such good value now and they get the best on-line reviews I have ever seen as does the lens ordered. I'll be keeping the Nikon D800 but will use the Fuji as often as possible.

[thebish]

New camera ordered! After lots of deliberation I finally decided on a mirrorless Fuji X Pro1 combined with a Fuji 18-135 lens. There are lots of alternatives out there for mirrorless systems, which are the future and the changing face of photography, and anyone currently looking for a new camera would be well advised to look here. They are such good value now and they get the best on-line reviews I have ever seen as does the lens ordered. I'll be keeping the Nikon D800 but will use the Fuji as often as possible.

when you're ready to give away all your nikon glass to a good home - let me know!

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

New camera ordered! After lots of deliberation I finally decided on a mirrorless Fuji X Pro1 combined with a Fuji 18-135 lens. There are lots of alternatives out there for mirrorless systems, which are the future and the changing face of photography, and anyone currently looking for a new camera would be well advised to look here. They are such good value now and they get the best on-line reviews I have ever seen as does the lens ordered. I'll be keeping the Nikon D800 but will use the Fuji as often as possible.

Be interested on how you get on with it. I'm looking for something smaller than the dslr we've got, but similar quality and a proper viewfinder.

[clapton is god]

New camera ordered! After lots of deliberation I finally decided on a mirrorless Fuji X Pro1 combined with a Fuji 18-135 lens. There are lots of alternatives out there for mirrorless systems, which are the future and the changing face of photography, and anyone currently looking for a new camera would be well advised to look here. They are such good value now and they get the best on-line reviews I have ever seen as does the lens ordered. I'll be keeping the Nikon D800 but will use the Fuji as often as possible.

Be interested on how you get on with it. I'm looking for something smaller than the dslr we've got, but similar quality and a proper viewfinder.

So far so good....but I am hitting a couple of minor problems. For some reason I can't seem to download a plug-in for RAW (or RAF, as Fuji have it) so, so far can only shoot in jpg. I bought a fisheye lens in addition to the one mentioned above and I can't find a lens profile to de-fish the images. Otherwise though the camera is great and what I was hoping for. In total I've spent about £1100, but that includes lots of bits and pieces and the camera itself at just £320 is still a real bargain and a great quality item. I have heard the X Pro2 is due out (hence the price drop on the 1) but that didn't put me off at all. The viewfinder is either optical, electronic or electronic with extra detail at the flick of a switch, but I find myself relying on the rear screen instead, which I don't with the slr. So far I'm about 50 shots in and the quality is right up there.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

So far so good....but I am hitting a couple of minor problems. For some reason I can't seem to download a plug-in for RAW (or RAF, as Fuji have it) so, so far can only shoot in jpg. I bought a fisheye lens in addition to the one mentioned above and I can't find a lens profile to de-fish the images. Otherwise though the camera is great and what I was hoping for. In total I've spent about £1100, but that includes lots of bits and pieces and the camera itself at just £320 is still a real bargain and a great quality item. I have heard the X Pro2 is due out (hence the price drop on the 1) but that didn't put me off at all. The viewfinder is either optical, electronic or electronic with extra detail at the flick of a switch, but I find myself relying on the rear screen instead, which I don't with the slr. So far I'm about 50 shots in and the quality is right up there.

Thanks Clappers. I'm also looking at the Olympus OMD E1/5 and just not sure the best way to go. Think I'll just have to find them in a shop and see how they feel in the hand

[thebish]

Thanks Clappers. I'm also looking at the Olympus OMD E1/5 and just not sure the best way to go. Think I'll just have to find them in a shop and see how they feel in the hand

I'm told that one OMD E1/5 actually feels better in the hand than two in the bush...

[clapton is god]

The colours out there at the moment are just stunning!

[Bruce Rioja]

The colours out there at the moment are just stunning!

There is indeed no true beauty without decay. We must only get about three or four days like today in every year. I'm off out for a run around the park in it. The walk over Great Hill is utterly stunning on days such as this too.