Not the Pancake Project

Since the most recent blog post on 10/24 I've not used the 40mm pancake lens as my opportunities have been sunsets and sports. I used my 5D Mark III and 24-105mm lens for the sunsets and my 7D and 70-300mm DO lens for the sports.

I expect to be shooting some more sports later this week and will use the full frame 5DIII with the DO zoom as the match is a later start and I expect I will need a higher ISO than the 7D could handle without excessive noise levels.

Here are samples of the two sunsets at the Hudson River and a Women's college soccer match between Hartwick and Sage.

Pancake Project Progresses

The weekend proved productive as the 40mm pancake project progresses. Walks on both Saturday and Sunday mornings and a family wedding provided plenty of photographic opportunities.

These scenics from the morning walks are all HDR composites.

EOS 5D Mark III, EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/5.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS 5D Mark III, EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/6.7, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

EOS 5D Mark III, EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/6.7, 1/45 sec., ISO 200

EOS 5D Mark III, EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/6.7, 1/60 sec., ISO 200

With it's relatively fast f/2.8 maximum aperture, the 40mm pancake lens can also function in low natural light indoors or at night without flash. It doesn't hurt that the 5D Mark III is a fairly good high ISO camera. This shot of a wedding cake was made without flash with the indicated settings.

EOS 5D Mark III, EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, f/2.8, 1/45 sec., ISO 1600

40mm Pancake Lens Project

I've decided for the next year or so to limit my casual shooting to Canon's 40mm f/2.8 STM paired with a full frame body, currently an EOS 5D Mark III. Of course, I'm not going to use this setup for sports or documenting the Bald Eagle nest. And I probably won't use it for all scenic opportunities or events like stage productions. But for most everything else, I want to take a year and see what develops.

I've put together a small sling bag, Lowepro's Slingshot 102 AW, and some accessories including a Canon 270EX II Speedlite with omnibounce diffuser, a polarizer filter, a remote release, a screw on lens hood designed for the old Canon Powershot S1IS, a small rocket blower, a spare battery, etc. I've actually got two copies of this lens so there's a spare one of those as well.

Blog posts used with this kit will be tagged with the "Pancake Project" label. Here are photos of the setup.

Sports and Scenics

Saturday I shot a women's division 3 soccer match with my 7D and 70-300mm DO zoom and this morning shot some scenics with my 5D Mark III and 50mm f/1.8 STM lens. I'm getting used to the DO zoom but wish that the zoom ring worked more smoothly. It's a bit stiff and jerky and that's a pain following action coming toward you. Maybe as I use it more.

Saturday, it was overcast skies for the most part and post processing each file involved increasing contrast and sharpness and reducing shadows. Here are some of those results.

This morning I was walking around Peebles Island. It was also overcast but bracketing images and processing in HDR software always results in a more interesting end result.

Foggy Morning Scenics

Like many mornings lately, this morning started out with dense fog which lifted gradually throughout the morning. Here are some scenics made with my EOS 5D Mark III and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. These are all HDR composites, some with all five bracketed images and I think at least one with four, leaving out the brightest image which ended up washed out.

As usual, exposure info is for the normally exposed file.

24mm (cropped to lose dark corners), f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

40mm, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

24mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

105mm, f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

Still Evaluating the DO Zoom

This morning, I had it over on Peebles Island with my crop sensor EOS 7D body. I already know the lens does not perform as well image quality wise on this body compared to the full frame 5D Mark III. But the crop factor makes the lens act as if it were a 480mm lens rather than 300mm and for wildlife, birds in particular, that reach is necessary.

I pretty much covered the island this morning as I drove over and parked rather than walking over. The bridge construction is annoying and driving leaves two miles worth of time and energy for the island that would otherwise be used getting there and back.

I've been using a running and biking app to document my last couple of walks. Here is a map of my walk which added up to 3.5 miles.

And here are some shots. The deer shots are single image and the trail scenic is a three file HDR composite. Nothing is cropped.

EOS 7D, EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

EOS 7D, EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM at 70mm, f/6.7, 1/1800 sec., ISO 400

EOS 7D, EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

EOS 7D, EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/45 sec., ISO 200

Peebles Island Trail Scenics

Sunday morning was another of those foggy beginnings that made way for bright sunshine. I had my 5D Mark III and 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens and ended up with some more shots documenting the views on, and from, the trails on Peebles Island.

It's evident that Fall is here despite the record warm temperatures over much of the past few weeks. It's also been very dry which has left the trails dusty and the bog areas on the island without water.

Fall is a great time of year to walk around Peebles Island. As the leaves begin to thin out you can see farther into the woods and down into some of the ravines. Foliage this year probably won't be as striking as usual due to the fungal disease which hit many maple trees along the rivers and canals in the area.

Here are some of the trail scenics from Sunday morning.

College Soccer with the 70-300mm DO Lens

I had my first chance to shoot a women's college soccer match yesterday and after my lens changes, the only option was the 70-300mm DO lens. As I've written before, this lens has many shortcomings but it's a seriously well constructed lens and post processing can overcome most of the shortcomings.

I used the lens on my last remaining EOS 7D body. This camera is old (2009 design) and even ISO 400 images can be noisy if not exposed properly. I had to use ISO 800 and while some of the early images had more noise than I prefer, I think conditions brightened enough later on so that noise wasn't the biggest issue.

Conditions were wet and chilly and I think the contrast on the files would have been better if not for the misty rain. Each of the RAW files needed increased contrast and sharpness, reduced shadow exposure and a bit of increased brightness to compensate for the contrast and shadow reduction. While doing this to every file added time to processing, my MacBook Air processes files far faster than my old MacBook Pro so it's a faster process over all.

Here are some samples:

You can view a slide show of the gallery here.