Subscribe with Bloglines Greg's Photo Diary - the 365 project: March 2009

Sunday 15 March 2009

A Stroll Around Shoreditch

Just some shots from a walk around Shoreditch. It is weather like today that makes living in London sooo much better.

Anyway, enjoy these pics, all take with the 50mm 1.8 nikon. Lovely lens!

Four of the pics are a mural on the wall advertising a new Kia Car!







Friday 13 March 2009

2, 4 and 6 days later. A review of the Sigma APO 2x converter

Ok, ok, you must be sick of seeing my moon photography by now. I have been a bit busy at work and not really had a chance to pull the camera out that much, other than when I get home at night and that does not leave much option, other than setting up the "home studio", which just has not been an option.

I also thought the weather was going to get rubbish, but the moon managed to pop out quite a few times so it would have been a waste not to soot it. Also, the postie managed to deliver my Sigma APO 2X converter. So here are my thoughts on my limited use and only on shooting the moon.

On the way home from work last friday, the day the converter arrived, I had it on my camera with the Sigma 120-400mm os. Blue skies and sunshine and a 3/4 moon and thought, why not. Obviously, I was walking down the road and did not have my tripod, so thought I would give it a whirl handheld. The OS did a fantastic job and I am quite happy with the result. What do you think?


















2 days later the moon was out again, this time a bit bigger and this time I was a bit later, so the sky was darker. I managed to get a bit more detail on this shot and again am quite happy. I say quite, as I did not take the the convert off to compare with the lens straight. Obviously, i was shooting completely manual and messed with the settings and this was the best result. Thoughts?

















Another 2 days later the moon was out again, this time full. Now before you get to the shots, there was a very thin layer of clouds this night. Whilst shooting and looking at the lcd screen on the D90, I just was not happy with the detail. Now in the past I have not had the greatest results with a full moon, even with the 120-400 straight on. This may be because I have not got the camera settings spot on and that the light pollution in London with a full moon just is not ideal. So I thought I would take off the converter and and shoot a few shots. Guess what, you can barely tell the difference. Have a look and see. I would love an unbiased opinion on this. Let me know.
With Converter:






















Without:






















All in all I am not really in a position to give it a definite thumbs up or down. Time will tell, as long as I try it out on some other subjects. At this point though, some results are positive. We will see.

Comments welcome!!

G

Monday 2 March 2009

What a difference 3 days make!

Not too much to say. Hope you like these two shots.

First shot taken on the night of the 27th of February 09. Second one taken tonight, the 2nd of March 09. Unfortunately, the weather is turning, so I doubt I will see the moon for a while now. I can only keep my fingers crossed that I do.

Until next time....