The Sun Shines On The Righteous!

Can you tell which is the 5D II and which is the 1D4?, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

If that is the case, then I must have been blessed today as the sun did indeed shine from the great firmament whilst I was out and about with my camera. Unfortunately I was without, without my flashgun, despite a final, final attempt at fixing (fixing (seeing as we seem to be randomly duplicating words!)) the wobbly hot shoe. Initially, I have to admit I was more than a little frustrated that all attempts have failed so far, but again there must be an ion storm full of inspiration particles as I figured I’d search the Internet to see if it were possible to purchase spare parts for the flash. With one search (on a well known search engine) I was quickly able to find the part I require and as it’s relatively inexpensive I will be purchasing one though I may have to wait until I’ve sold a few photos first – it’s time my gear started earning it’s living (if it doesn’t I will start charging it rent, that should get it up off it’s backside).

I actually made two journeys out today, one with my trusty 1D4, the second with a Canon 5D II which I’m borrowing from my Dad for the moment. A workman gets used to his tools, and it’s just as true with cameras. I never think about white balance with my camera, the 1D4’s automatic setting is highly accurate even under difficult conditions however I was a little taken aback when having shot an image of some orange berries with the 5D II, the resulting image showed the seeds to have a red hue. It does highlight the fact that I will need to cover white balance during my training course, and as I’ve not had to bother for a couple of years, I’d better refresh my memory (and get that Grey Card out).

I’m starting to suspect that my trusty and much loved 150mm macro lens is somewhat holding me back in terms of sharpness. I’ve often thought that any softness to the lens has been down to my persistence at handholding when taking macro photos, rather than using a tripod but having reviewed photos taken with and without the use of said support, I’m starting to think it’s now down to the lens. I’ve seen comparable images taken with the Canon 100mm IS lens which are so sharp they could cut a web page in half, something that I don’t think you could say the same of with my macro photos. Mind you, when you review film images from 10 years ago.. hang on, that’s only 2002 I was in fully digital mode then with my Olympus E20-p, okay, say 15 years ago (“15 years ago”, the old ones are the good ones!) then – most images don’t come anywhere near close to the sharpness and clarity that can be achieved today. Having said that I don’t particularly want to compare my images with those of past times. I’m not saying film is dead, far from it (did you know that vinyl records are making a big comeback?) in fact I have been looking at a number of film cameras recently including the rather groovy Fuji GF670 (though if we’re talking old school looks.. the new Fuji X1 Pro has me totally in it’s spell.. as Sinatra so succinctly sang, “I’ve got you under my skin”)