A casual Saturday - at the City Creek Center in down town Salt Lake City. Minimal adjustments to this set - no cropping with slight exposure corrections.
Filtering by Author: John Sturr
Another one !!
I couldn't resist -- Nex-7 with Canon 24mm f2.8 SSC.
Shooting
Shoot what you have available to shoot - and sometimes that is a pet, a plant or an action figure. And so today Violet was the stand in. Try different settings - get everything in focus and work around the short attention span and the skills will follow.
CityCreek in the BW
Friday in the PM - walking City Creek at the Ann Taylor - Converted with Silver Efex Pro.
SPOILED BY AF
Close focusing is a trick with the Canon - and I find myself spoiled by AF. I have to remember when I cut my teeth on the FM-2 with the 50mm AIS - some 30 years ago.
How far this Art has come. I'm spoiled.
Native rez - flowers with the Canon 24mm.
ELEVEN AM SUN
For me it is all about the sharpness - and I keep coming back to that.
The lens which performs this task is the lens which keeps getting the attention.
Nex-7 with the mounted Canon 24mm f2.8 SSC - I hate that it is manual focus. In the wrong non contrasty light the thing is a pig - but get this in the zone at f4.0 and whoa… stellar. 24mm on a crop is 35mm field of view - so i get used to it. I have to compose, second guess my focus, and then verify and re-verify and if I'm lucky what I wanted to shoot is still there. If not -- then I'm feeling a bit empty and I move on.
Hi-Rez -- 24mp with a 40 year old lens - no crop - sharpening mask applied in LR 4
FASHION REMIX 2012 - SALT LAKE CITY
Fashion Remix gets a bit more competitive every year and a bit more over the top. This year I only brought the Nex-7 - lighting on stage was updated so exposure was less challenging. Shot in IA - Intelligent Auto - and sometimes I hate to say that I use Auto - but man -- it's a damn good setting when I don't have the ability to adjust focus and shoot. I can just shoot and it's there. And regardless of the reviews - the 18-55mm is a very, very capable and sharp lens.
CARROTS OF TWO
With the Nikon 50mm f1.4 ais lens and the Nex-7, in the front yard, wide open to get the headlights in the background.
March 28th
I'm not one to live in the past - but there have been days where significant events shape lives - and today is one of those days of which I keep close and remember what's happening right now, right this instant, would be a stretch to be as bad as this day in March, 2006.
I've posted some of the narrative before.
My time spent in Iraq with the US Army was a mixed bag of following orders and trying to figure out what we were really doing there. In the mean time, I survived - yet I always remember how lucky I am of those who didn't and those who did with their lives being changed forever.
And that - gives me perspective of present day life.
Scorch marks on the asphalt - where two buried 120mm Chinese rockets detonated and impacted the passenger, drivers side of the Humvee. The Marine is apart of the QRF.
Schrapnel impacted the Sapi plate.
HAGERMAN SHOOTER'S
Near the town of Hagerman, on the outs skirts there is a patch of land where the canyon is a backstop. Only in the West - and here the locals pull out their "Long Rifles" on a Saturday evening. The evening wear is modest - but the machined parts spare no expense as the European optics have difficult to pronounce names like Leupold and Swarovski, and the weapons have glass bedded polished stocks mated to the actions of Remington.
A matched pair of Black and Decker Workmate's are the shooter's benches, atop with weathered Outers rests - and the only hand polished part of the whole setup is the aluminum diamond cut elevation adjustment knob below the Outers logo.
Unspent cartridges sit in 4 x 5 green boxes of individual compartments bullet side up - spent sit empty side down. These are hand loads - you can't buy these in the store.
After the shot, the left hand cups the ejection port to catch the spent round - it is placed back in the green box - a future re-load.
And the process repeats.
BDay Party - Nex-7
One my favorites of the weekend - in doors, no flash with the kit lens - and bingo - it's a keeper. Light from the sliding door and the three looking like they found the Ark - but it's Cake... gotta love it. Cake.
City Creek - Grand Opening
City Creek Center - a 2 Billion dollar project with Property Reserve Incorporated, a division of the LDS Church, opened today.
I spent 3+ years on this project with FFKR Architects - as they were the Architect of record for the two underground parking garages. These garages encompass 50 acres of parking with 4500 + stalls for retail and residential use.
NEX-7 Market Street Broiler
At the Broiler - from the stability of the table, in the distance, those seated.
NEX-7 - GREAT LIGHT
There is never a substitution for some great light -- almost near sunset off the porch and the 24mm f2.8 Canon SSC lens wide open. St. Patrick's has passed - but not the decorations.
NEX-7 - Pat's BBQ SLC
Some photos from Pat's -- a great hole in the wall for BBQ and worth a trip.
Shot with the Nex-7 - and developed with a preset from X-Equals.
Nex-7 Blue Plate
A quick trip to the Blue Plate Diner - known for it's appearance in Diners, Drivin-in's and Dives, for Robert in from Twin-Falls, ID.
Nex-7 with Stock 18-55mm
I've found only one serious defeciency with the Nex-7 and that is the ability to control the minimum shutter speed in Aperture Priority. With the advent of ASA control, or Auto ASA the camera will adjust, on the fly, what is needed for a proper exposure. As ASA is on the fly, and Aperture is controlled by the user, that also leaves the shutter speed to be automatically controlled. But with digital sensors being oh-so sensitive and dense with pixels - shutter speed needs to be at least 1.5 times that of the focal lenghth. So what does that mean -- well if I'm shooting at 50mm, then my shutter speed needs to be at least 1/80th of a second. And with the current Nex-7 firmware shutter minimums cannot be set.
Taken at FFKR Architects - Roger Jackson and Steve Goodwin in discussion - March 2012
Nex-7 with Nikon 50mm
Here's some with an adapted Nikon 50mm, f1.4. I've also been able to customize the AF/MF button on the back to be specific to what is called Focus Assist. Focus Assist zooms the image 10x center frame to allow micro focus adjustment with manual lenses -- then a quick press and the view snaps back to full view.
NEX-7
I've had the Nex-7 for about a week - and it is quite a power house for two reasons. The jam packed APS-c sensor and it's size. This isn't a review but just a few quick comments about the good and the bad.
The good - Big sensor, similar look and feel of the image compared to my Nikon D3s, Small body, EVF works well and has a lot of contrast and punch, very customizable controls/buttons, manual lenses can easily be used, the panorama function is killer, and the whole thing fits in my work bag.
The Bad - expensive, playback has a bit of hesitation, the shutter has a very long throw - meaning - the shutter seems to take a long time to cycle, video button can be easily and accidentally pressed, and the hot shoe is proprietary.
Utah Sky Trials
The 37th annual Utah Sky Trials kicked off last saturday West of Salt Lake in the desert.
The birds were, for the lack of a better word - really cool. Hit the link for the results - else see the posted photos.
