19 June 2007

Images of Canberra - At Night

| Jazz
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I’ve always wanted to try night photography as ive seen some stunning pictures both here on RiotACT and on other sites. Last friday night in the freezing cold, Danman volunteered his time to tutor me in some of the finer points of apeture and shutter speeds. The photos here are some of the better results.

lake under commonwealth ave

I think the light effects on this next one are more a result of my sons fingerprints on my camera lense rather than any skill on my part

commonwealth ave bridge parked pidgeons civic at night

Thanks Dan

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Minolta DiMage Scan Dual 3 – goes up to 2840dpi and capable of 60mg jpgs.

Works for me – but yes – as such high res you have to make sure the negs are pretty clean…. and the inside of the scanner of course…

Just make sure is a dedicated slide/film scanner and not a flatbed with adaptors.

Danman, may I ask what type of scanner you use for your negs?

I’ve heard mainly poor things about desktop scanners for scanning film (and my results with a high end CanoScan would tend to confirm such things). And yet, when I have look into purchasing a film scanner such as the Nikon Coolscan 5000, people warn of poor results because at 4000dpi, every little imperfection shows up.

Soulman – consumer 100 fuji film – Fuji superior – just to make sure “I still got the skills to pay the bills”

Ill scan the negatives and post to riotact (not all 36 mind you)

Some people will go to any lengths to photograph pigeons (pic 3).

Really love that first shot!

When I was just starting out with photography, I used the FZ20. Magnificent camera for a simple digicam. The Leica lens, image stabiliser and a damn fine 5MP sensor served me well. But when I looked at moving up to an 8MP camera, the Canon dSLRs won. Luckily I tested the FZ30 before buying. The problem with the FZ30 was noise, the result of cramming to many pixels onto a small sensor. Poor internal software, bulky for a sub dSLR device and a relatively poor price compared to better performing cheap dSLRs were it’s undoing.

It took me ages (days!) to work out that the first one was of water. I wondered if it was concrete, or marble… a really incredible effect. well done.

As for noise, yes it certainly is still a feature of some cameras…. like the rotten Panasonic boat anchor I bought a few years back. It’s the FZ30 and the biggest lemon ever. Lots of megapixels, a really excellent lense and…. a crap sensor and weird internal processing buggers the lot. I have to get rid of the foggy film it inserts into landscapes with photoshop. And low light shots are a kalaidoscope of noise.
A very frustrating camera.

Growling Ferret8:14 pm 14 Jun 07

Lake Burley Griffin, between the two bridges of Commonwealth Avenue I believe

Heaps of people like the first photo, but I can’t figure out what it is of!!?! Is it water or a road? Looks like an old warehouse to me.

My brain must be broken … 🙂

I’ll send some images ASAP.

When you say Fuji 100 at the reject shop. Do you mean Velvia or one of the consumer films. When thinking of the pro films like Velvia and Provia, I can’t say I’ve ever really though about the reject shop.

Oh and soulman – post some shots to admins to put up – Im keen to see the local talent 🙂

I got a roll of consumer Fuji 100 from the reject shop today – just to prove to myself that I still have the ability to shoot on film each shot as I want….

Digital has played a part in making me dumber.

Soulman – if you ever wanna go out one night and trade tips a’la me and Jazz – I am all ears….

Keen to see this tripod thats worth more than my car too 🙂

sorry danman, can’t help bragging about the big expensive stuff I get cheap from overseas. And thank you for the ego boosting comments.

I do how ever disagree about ISO noise. Not a problem at lower ISOs for the most part, but a lot of high mega pixel cameras are now having increasing noise problems. The reason? The sensors are just as small, but the increased number of photo sites that make more pixels are allowing less light through. As a result, APS-C sensors with 10 or more MP are now having noise problems at ISO 200 or more. That said, the Canon 400d and the Nikons are the exeptions, very good cameras.

Also, agree with you about Velvia. I use 35mm Velvia 100 (don’t use 100f Velvia, poor colours) with a cheap Canon ELAN7 for a lot of my landscape work. Don’t buy Velvia locally though. I know I keep bragging about buying overseas, but Velvia is great film and people deserve to know where to get the good stuff at a good price. At Teds, it is A$20 per roll. In the US, shipped via FedEx, you can get it for A$10 a roll. I bought a 20 pack for A$100 from the US including shipping. At Teds, that would cost over $450!

no post processing at all alephnull, apart from resizing them.
i have another where the lake looks like it is covered in grass.

“If I had a choice – I would get a manfrotto tripod with a pistol grip ball head…”

Nothing like pistol-gripping a good man, huh, Danman??? WTF?!! You said it: “overkill”.

Very nice, the greenish tinge gives an almost cross-processed look.

Err overkill….

Look at any of my night shots here – I use a $120 no name tripod and a D70.

Works a treat.

Maybe what you have is good for commercial uses – but I cant justify that kind of dosh for a tripod.

Its obvious to me too that your penis is larger than mine as well, as your gear is more expensive….

Digital noise is an artefact of the past – just set your ISO and fstop lower and open your shutter longer…

If I had a choice – I would get a manfrotto tripod with a pistol grip ball head – all for about $600….

Simmo – How True 35mm Velvia slide film on a 200 buck minolta SLR

Very nice photos. Impressed with the lack of noise too.

Have you tried any lunar shots. I use a 100-400mm Canon L Series lens (shipped from the US for A$1600, sells for A$3000 locally) and its always exciting to identify all the detail you can pick up.

With regards to tripods, can’t go past Gitzo with an Arca Swiss Z1 Double Pan Head. Absolutely the best for moon, night and wildlife photography.
Just make sure you get these and other decent tripods from overseas. I reccomend BH and Adoramma in the US. I got the Arca Swiss head and Gitzo 3530 tripod for $1400AU from the US including shipping. Teds quoted over $3500 for the set. What a rip off!

every photography enthusiast in Canberra has to have an obligatory commonwealth avenue shot, it’s in the rules.

They were indeed taken with a tripod. theres no way i can hold a camera still for 20 – 30 seconds at a time.
I used a cannon 400D with an EF24-105 F4 L lense.
shutter speeds and apeture varied a bit on each shot.

The first one has a shutter speed settings 10, apeture 5, on iso 100

Love that first one … would look great in sepia or black & white too.

nope.. the first one wouldn’t look so cool in black and white.

Love the first one! The third one is nice, but the sign sort of ruins it for me.

The 1st one is awesome!

Just for the camera nerds lurking, can you add the details if poss? Camera, Lens, exp, apeture, etc…

The first one would probably look good in black and white.

oh Wow. that first one of the bridge is fantastic !!!!

bonfire – usually would use a tripod for night shots, based on the fact that, imo, you usually need a longer shutter time, and i dunno about you, but ihave trouble holding a camera steady as it is..

i assume you used a tripod ?

my night shots always turn out crap. i need a better camera.

what are you using ?

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