It is that time of year

Yesterday I went to visit an old graveyard which as graves dating back to the Revolutionary War. I snapped off about 12 shots and choose which ones I wanted to keep and post process in Paint Shop Pro X2. Here are a few of the photographs.

Click on photo to enlarge

I have choose different methods and filters to give each a different aged effect. I chose both black and white and sepia. I like the result of the first photo the best it realy has great lighting.

What I did today.

Click on photos to enlarge

I set out for a round of picture taking at the lake in Princeton, as I was hopping to catch the rowing teams in practice. I got to the starting point just as they were getting ready to start, so I parked and setup near the shore line. It was very windy and there was a lot of movement of the subjects so I judged that TV mode was what I should shoot at. I took almost 100 shots in a few minutes hopping to get a few good and in focus shots. I am posting one of them. The EXIF is as follows F13, Shutter Speed 1/125 and ISO200.


I also ordered a Giottos light weight ball head from B&H in NYC. It should complement the Benro carbon fiber monopod and the Sima quick release. Here are the specifications:

Load Capacity	7 lbs (3 kg)
Height	2.1" (55 cm)
Tripod Mount Thread Size	3/8" (1/4"-20 reducer bushing is provided)
Weight	2.6 oz (73 g)

Photograph I am working on today

Click on Photo to Enlarge

This is a panorama consisting of 8 photographs stitched together using Pnaorama Plus and post processed in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.

Shoulder Stock Progress

I finished embedding the shutter release in Epoxy and just need to sand and prep it for painting. I think it will work out real well. I used a Hama monopod shoulder support and a hand grip from a flash bracket. I cut a hole in the grip and embedded the shutter release in the hole with Epoxy. It can still be used with a monopod by just un-screwing the grip.

Latest news from my desk

I have been working on a custom shoulder stock with shutter release, and hope to have it done in a couple of days. I am waiting for the Epoxy filler to set before I can sand and paint the grip. I will post some photos when the job is complete.

On the status of the Sima Quick Release for my Benro Monopod that is somewhere over the Pacific at this time, the Sima was shipped yesterday via FedEx and should be here tomorrow.

Regarding the Benro monopod and my K100D Super's shake reduction, I have posted a thread on www.dpreview.com regarding this subject as I am uncertain if I have to turn off shake reduction as I do with a tripod. I am assuming that it would be necessary to turn the SR off.

To the rescue!

I had a very serious mishap while taking photographs at the local canal. I decided to change my filter on my Tamron 18-250 to a circular polarizer, and that is when the problem began. As I was removing the filter and had the lens facing up a bird dropped a huge glob of poop on both the filter and the lens. I quickly ran home to clean the lens as I thought the birds excrement might eat into the coatings of the lens. I used my standard liquid lens cleaner and some lens tissue to gently clean the filter as I didn't want to experiment on the expensive lens. Well all the lens cleaner did was smear the junk around. The next day I attended PDN Photo Plus in NYC and went to both the Hoya & the Tamron booths and asked both what to use to clean the filter and the lens. They both suggested "off the record" that I use Eclipse Lens Cleaner and Pec*Pads to safely clean both. I ordered both as soon as I got home, and prayed that the delay would not do permanent damage to the equipment. I received the package yesterday and proceeded to clean the filter first. In a few minutes the glossy spots on the filter were gone and it looked like there was no permanent damage to the filter. I next held my breath and started to gently clean the surface of the lens. The lens took two pads and only 4 drops of the Eclipse liquid to clean the lens. After cleaning I examined the lens and to my great surprise there was no damage what so ever to the lens. I highly recommend this combination of cleaning materials to all that want to keep there equipment in pristine condition.

I was notified today that my Sima Quick Release was shipped today via FedEx and I guess i should have it in a few days. The Monopod was shipped Airmail from Hong Kong on the 23rd, but that will take a week to 10 days to reach my desk. I will write a mini review on both products.

Equipment Ordered

Between yesterday and today I ordered the following equipment which I feel is necessary for my upcoming European Cruise. The first item is a Benro Carbon Fiber Monopod Model MC-66 and a Sima Quick Release mount for the camera end. The quick release will allow a lot more flexibility in my use of the camera.

My Equipment

I thought the first post should be devoted to the equipment I have at this time.
Pentax K100D Super
Pentax 18-55
Pentax FA 50mm 1.7
Sigma 28-200 f3.5-f5.6
Tamron LD 70-300 f4-f5.6
Tamron AF 18-250 f3.5-f6.3
Lowepro AW 100 Sling Pack

My latest acquisition was the Tamron 18-250 which is my carry around lens. I plan to use this lens and my Pentax FA 50mm f1.7 while on our river cruise in Europe.

I also bought an inexpensive white balance lens cap which allows the setting of a custom white balance. I am just testing this cap today and I have gotten some promising results. to the left are two photos one with auto white balance and one custom using the cap. The photos are of my office and for baseline purposes the walls and ceiling are white.

Top photo is using Auto White balance and the bottom is the custom white balance. As you can see that there is a color shift in the top photo while the walls are white in the bottom photo. There was NO post processing other than the resizing for posting here. The lens used is the Tamron 18-250 at 18mm.