Ice and High Water - 5D45

I went out this morning with my 5DIII and Tamron 45mm lens for a walk over to, and around, Waterford. Earlier this week, rain and melting snow brought river levels up with lots of floating ice. Overnight on Thursday, several boats and barges broke loose from moorings and made their way down the Hudson River to Albany.

Bridges were closed and it was a mess for the Friday morning commute. A google search for Hudson River Boats Loose will show you some photos, videos and news stories.

Two of the tug boats involved were the Benjamin Elliot and 8th Sea. I don't think either boat went very far once loose but they did get pushed onshore at some point, as evidenced by the branches and vines in their superstructure. Here are the two tugboats safely moored at the wall in Waterford.

While the sky clouded over with occasional snow after I returned from my walk, there was enough early morning sun to make scenes interesting.

Monochrome and Color - 5D45

Temperatures in the low 40's and no precipitation compelled a walk around with camera this morning. After the trip to Maine, where I mostly used the 24-105mm and 70-300mm zoom lenses, I went back to the Tamron 45mm f/1.8 prime lens.

I'm renting the 85mm version of this lens over Christmas and New Years thanks to Lens Rentals' promotion of a free 7 days when you rent from before Christmas to after January 1st. The 85mm lens is a $750 lens and the cost with the promotion, including shipping, is $82 for 12 days. My plan is to rig up a bag which will hold my two 5D Mark III bodies, one with each lens, and use that kit over the holidays.

This morning started out on the cloudy side then more sun broke through. Some of the drabber shots I processed in monochrome. In addition, the shot of Lock E2 had some green flare from the sun being in the frame but it isn't noticeable in monochrome.

Confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers

Lock E2

Old Champlain Canal

Old Champlain Canal

Waterford Town Hall

Cold December Morning - 5D45

Cold, but not frigid. I decided on my 2.7 mile walk which, from home, takes me through three counties, two cities, a village, a state park and has two crossings of each of two rivers. As I started, the hymn Cold December Flies Away popped into my head and I couldn't get rid of it.

In a kind of frosty haze, I carried 5D Mark III body number 2 and the Tamron 45mm image stabilized lens. Here are some of the results.

Single Digit Temps, Below Zero Windchill - 5D45

Usually on Thanksgiving morning I like to walk around Peebles Island or up along the old Champlain Canal trail. This year, however, sub zero windchill temperatures made that an unattractive proposition.

I did manage to pop outside the car at the Cohoes Falls overlook just long enough for my fingers to freeze and to grab a few bracketed sequences. I'm going to try to get back to using the 45mm Tamron lens over the holiday period but will also carry my ultra wide zoom which covers the 17mm to 40mm range.

Not being able to zoom any further than 45mm created the compositional problem of needing to minimize the cloudless sky while also minimizing the chain link fence in the foreground. There are limits to what you can do with a standard prime lens in a scenic situation.

The second image was cropped a bit in the process of leveling out a somewhat tilted perspective.

Halloween Mist - 5D45

There was some sun early this misty morning but it soon clouded over. I walked over to Waterford Harbor for these sunrise shots and some images of the New York State Canal Corporation's tugboat Waterford as it prepared to tow the docks from the harbor up to the dry dock area above lock E3 where they rest for the winter.

Peebles Island - 5D45

Fall color is certainly taking its time arriving in New York's Capital District. It could be one of those years where you get a quick cold snap after a lot of warm weather and the leaves are gone without a period of good color.

This morning I walked over to, and around, Peebles Island with the 5D45 project gear. I hadn't been on the trails on Peebles Island in months.

The 45mm lens means I'm not going to be getting wildlife photos. I walked clockwise around the perimeter trail, taking the fire road back to the entrance area.

A New Project - 5D45

I'm beginning a new personal project for the next 12 months. I'm going to use my 5D Mark III and the Tamron 45mm lens, foregoing my other lenses, as much as possible. Obviously, if I'm going to be shooting sports or wildlife, or exceptional scenics needing a wider lens, I'll use appropriate equipment.

A previous attempt pairing the 5D Mark III with the 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens was an abject failure. Hopefully the added features of this lens will make the effort more fruitful.

I've mentioned this lens, which I acquired at the beginning of September, in a prior post. It's fast (f/1.8), image stabilized and built like a tank. The 45mm focal length is a good choice for general purpose photography as it's what the human eye sees.

Images can be viewed at https://trulandphoto.zenfolio.com/5D45.

I'll stick 5D45 in post titles and there will be a 5D45 label as well. Here are some shots from today.

Tugboat Roundup 2018 - Day 2

The two events related to the Tugboat Roundup I shot yesterday were Kayaking 4 Meso's kayak flotilla traveling through lock E6 as they made their way down to Waterford Harbor and the fireworks. For the Kayaks in the morning, I used my 5D Mark III and 24-105mm lens and for the fireworks switched over to the Tamron 45mm lens.

The 24-105mm lens is quite versatile as the photos from lock E6 show. Captions will indicate the focal length. There is a gallery of the Kayaking4Meso event at https://trulandphoto.zenfolio.com/k4m2018.

105mm

24mm

35mm

I chose the 45mm lens for the night time shots because of it's faster f/1.8 maximum aperture and yet it still has image stabilization, or vibration compensation as Tamron calls it. And 45mm is a good focal length for these types of shots.

I used ISO 800 and 1600 and f/2 and shutter speeds varied between 1/4 sec. and 1/20 sec. The vibration compensation allowed handheld operation at those shutter speeds.

Fifteen night time photos have been added to the gallery at https://trulandphoto.zenfolio.com/tugboatroundup2018. Here are a few samples.

New Prime Lens, Gear For Sale

After using the EF-S 35mm lens on my 70D body I decided that what I really need is a fast image stabilized normal prime lens for my full frame camera. As I've mentioned, Canon doesn't yet make such a lens.

After a lot of research last weekend I decided that the Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD lens would fit the bill nicely.  It's a normal focal length (45mm), is fast (f/1.8), has image stabilization (VC) and has ultrasonic autofocus with full time manual even when the lens isn't powered. It's big, heavy and metal (even the filter threads).

It gets good reviews for sharpness and other optical characteristics and it's currently discounted by 33%. My only concern was fixing chromatic aberration since the Canon software I use won't do that with third party lenses. But then the older version of the Canon software, which is the only one which will run on my MacBook Air, won't correct lens aberrations for my newer Canon lenses either.

In any case, the Tamron lens comes with a license to download a version of SilkyPix software which will correct aberrations in this lens. I downloaded it and it works.

I am selling my Canon 50D body and some lenses this lens renders unnecessary along with the EF-S telephoto zoom that was replaced by my 70-300mm zoom. Those sales are listed, along with photos and prices, on the Gear For Sale page.

After picking up the lens at the Waterford post office I headed over to Lock E2 to try it out. These are all single exposures without HDR processing as my purpose was to evaluate the lens. So far, so good.