Thursday, February 21, 2008
Total Lunar Eclipse
This night there was a big show on the sky. A total lunar eclipse over Graz, Austria. But when I got up at 3 a.m. I was very disappointed. There were clouds all over. So I went back to sleep until shortly before 4 am. Again, I went to my window and looked outside. I could see the moon, but only a slice of it. Then it disappeared.
A few moments later it was back on the sky. All clouds were gone and the moon turned red. That's what I wanted to see. I kept taking pictures for more than one hour until the earth moved away and the sun touched the moon again.
Interestingly, as soon as the moon started to reflect the sun's light, the clouds were visible again.
This was one of the days where I was happy to have my Canon EOS 400D camera with all the lenses I have got. For this picture I used the Vivitar 400mm f/5.6 with and without a 2x Minolta Teleconverter and my Canon EF 28-105mm USM lens. I needed to set the ISO to 800 most of the time as I the earth turns very fast when using a 800mm lens.
A few moments later it was back on the sky. All clouds were gone and the moon turned red. That's what I wanted to see. I kept taking pictures for more than one hour until the earth moved away and the sun touched the moon again.
Interestingly, as soon as the moon started to reflect the sun's light, the clouds were visible again.
This was one of the days where I was happy to have my Canon EOS 400D camera with all the lenses I have got. For this picture I used the Vivitar 400mm f/5.6 with and without a 2x Minolta Teleconverter and my Canon EF 28-105mm USM lens. I needed to set the ISO to 800 most of the time as I the earth turns very fast when using a 800mm lens.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
My Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens
I was asking myself if I really need a fixed focal lens and if so, how much it should cost. After almost a month I decided to get myself a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. I didn't want to get the cheaper f/1.8 as I read that it's build quality isn't that good. And in addition to that I already have a 58mm filter, so the f/1.4 was a perfect fit there. Another plus was the USM focus, which I am used to from my Canon EF 28-105 USM lens. I don't want to miss that anymore.
So I decided to go for that lens. As it isn't that much cheaper on the used marked, I got mine from Amazon.
Last weekend I went on a photo trip with my Canon EOS 400D and my new lens. I tried it out in various situations. And I have to say, I am impressed by it's sharpness, how fast it is in both light and focusing speed and when using it with the 400D's x1.6 crop factor, you can use it for almost any situation.
The thing that I love most about it is that it allows digital zooming on my computer. As almost every pixel is sharp, it's no problem cropping the picture to about 10% of size and still get a good quality picture.
If you like to view more of the pictures I've taken with the lens, take a look at my flickr-page.
So I decided to go for that lens. As it isn't that much cheaper on the used marked, I got mine from Amazon.
Last weekend I went on a photo trip with my Canon EOS 400D and my new lens. I tried it out in various situations. And I have to say, I am impressed by it's sharpness, how fast it is in both light and focusing speed and when using it with the 400D's x1.6 crop factor, you can use it for almost any situation.
The thing that I love most about it is that it allows digital zooming on my computer. As almost every pixel is sharp, it's no problem cropping the picture to about 10% of size and still get a good quality picture.
If you like to view more of the pictures I've taken with the lens, take a look at my flickr-page.
by
theowl84
at
9:57 AM
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Tags: 400d, canon, photo, technology
Sunday, January 27, 2008
It's raining satellite dishes today
On Jan. 27th 2008 there was a stong storm in Graz, Austria. In the news you hear from fallen trees and people getting hurt.
When I looked out of the window this morning, a satellite dish was just dropping down from the forth floor of the building I'm living in. I don't think it will work anymore. I brought it inside, so the owner can at least pick up the remainings of it.
by
theowl84
at
4:44 PM
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
Vandalism on Hans Kloepfer
Today I was walking on Schlossberg in Graz. I realized the green head before but today I also took a picture from it.
It's so sad that there are people destroying the most beautiful things. This head used to be black, but now somebody has spray painted it green. There are also other statues destroyed in the same way near this place.
When I took this picture an old woman started talking to me about what she'd do to prevent this: she'd place police men with bats and guns everywhere. While she admitted that shooting the perpetrators isn't the best choice, she suggested beating them.
Well, I don't think that this is the right treatment, but I do not have a good alternative neither. The best thing would be giving young people something better to do or at least make them realize that there are valuable things that shouldn't be destroyed.
It's so sad that there are people destroying the most beautiful things. This head used to be black, but now somebody has spray painted it green. There are also other statues destroyed in the same way near this place.
When I took this picture an old woman started talking to me about what she'd do to prevent this: she'd place police men with bats and guns everywhere. While she admitted that shooting the perpetrators isn't the best choice, she suggested beating them.
Well, I don't think that this is the right treatment, but I do not have a good alternative neither. The best thing would be giving young people something better to do or at least make them realize that there are valuable things that shouldn't be destroyed.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Sample Picture taken with Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Rokkor 50mm/f1.7 meets Canon 400D
This week I got my lens adapter to be able to attach the old Minolta lenses that we have at home with my Canon EOS 400D. I got it for about EUR 30 at eBay. It was cheapest in a shop in Hong Kong.
It works quite nice. I can attach all MC or MD lenses (with manual focus of course). It also features a correction lens, which is important if I want to focus to infinity.
I did some tests with the MC Rokkor - PF 50mm f/1.7 lens. It performs great when wide open and the object isn't far away. For infinity I do have to stop it down a little - but for these ranges I do have other lenses.
The only negative side is that I do have to focus manually, which is quite tricky with the lens wide open.
It works quite nice. I can attach all MC or MD lenses (with manual focus of course). It also features a correction lens, which is important if I want to focus to infinity.
I did some tests with the MC Rokkor - PF 50mm f/1.7 lens. It performs great when wide open and the object isn't far away. For infinity I do have to stop it down a little - but for these ranges I do have other lenses.
The only negative side is that I do have to focus manually, which is quite tricky with the lens wide open.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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