Karting

First outing for 2015! I've been a little lazy, and haven't gone on a photo outing since last year.

So for 2015, it's off to Sonoma Raceway (formerly Sears Point) for some go kart action. I tried the V1 with the 70-200mm VR and TC-14EII. A little too much reach, and AF tracking wasn't as good as the D3, but it's great if you want to get up close. The camera correctly reports the focal length with the TC attached.

The D3 lacks a bit of reach (I was too lazy to bring the Sigma 500mm), but playing with 3D AF got some good results. Panning is still not my best skill though, and the 70-200mm really doesn't like it when you're shooting into the sun.

A slow, but not bad, start to 2015.

The downside of digital

It's finally over. After almost two months, I've finished editing the final photo from the Bay to Breakers. I was there for five hours, which explains why I ended up with so many shots. Staying later means more photos of the party crowd. Not too many nude runners this year (or I missed them due to the crowd density).

The pictures came out nicely despite the sun coming out later in the day. The usual kit of D3+70-200mm VR+TC-14E. No flash this time. The usual case of eye strain after the event, and a hungry belly.

Complete set of photos can be found here

Hit rate: 566/2,510, or 23%

Now that the B2B ordeal is over, I can go back to my regular editing schedule, which puts me further back to September of last year. Sigh.

When is a parade not a parade?

When you don't have the time to attend a parade (because there's another event at the same time), you can just go to the location where the parade attendants are staging themselves before the parade. The St. Patrick's Day Parade happened to coincide with the Brides of March event a few weekends ago, so I ended up having enough time to take shots up to the point where the parade goers began to march.

 

The atmosphere is a little different. The kids are restless (as kids tend to be when they're forced to wait). The parade vehicles are being made up, and some people are practicing their routines.

 

It's also been some time since I've used the D3. The optical viewfinder is a thing of beauty after months of using an EVF. The 70-200mm VR remains one of the best lenses I've used, and it's unmatched for parades. It looks like my left forearm is OK as it didn't hurt at the end of the day (the major reason I switched to the V1). The right elbow is another story!

 


Complete set of photos are here.

Hit rate: 66/243, or 27%

Whew

After almost a month of turtle-like speed, the Bay to Breakers photos are done. I seem to be slowing down as it shouldn't have taken more than three weeks to edit the shots. There's still the photos from the Cherry Blossom Parade, Asian Heritage Festival, Carnaval, and the surfing shots from the last Hawaii vacation to go through. Oh joy.

B2B hit rate: 36%, or 280/787

I've continued my scanning efforts, but have hit a stumbling block. My ancient Epson 2450 scanner has an intermittently dead sensel that gives a nice line across the scans. I can still scan using one negative slot instead of two, but this does slow things down a bit. For the 126mm film, I've tried using the 35mm slot, but this results in heads being lopped off. Two pieces of glass work, except for the occasional Newtonian ring. I haven't tried scanning any of the 110mm film, although I am really curious to see how well that tiny negative holds up compared to 35mm film. Who has access to a machine shop so I can carve a nice holder?

The fun part of scanning old negatives is the discovery of old photos that you've never seen before. Who would have guessed that I'd find a set of images from a beach outing with the extended family back in 1969? I've also discovered colored photos from my parents' wedding that they didn't remember seeing ever.

I still have to watch "Up." The dvd has been in my possesion for over a week now, but Netflix doesn't care.

Waking up early helps

Success! After five years of trying, I was finally able to wake up early enough to make it to the Haight, find parking (tons on Haight itself), and catch the elite runners at the Bay to Breakers. I made it early enough that I had to wait almost an hour before I took my first photo (need to adjust that wake up time). And I found out that the women actually run ahead of the men, but the men catch up and pass them at the end.

Being that early in the morning, I'll blame my shots on my lack of sleep. And it's tough to watch the runner's feet to time the photo just right.

Women's winner Lineth Chepkurui of Kenya on her way to breaker her record:

Will Ferrell impersonator crosses behind the lead male runners:

Race winner Sammy Kitwara (#21) and runner-up Peter Kirui (#24), both from Kenya:

Remember to test your equipment first

Time for the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown in the city. Brought my usual parade kit, D3 + SB-800 + 70-200VR. Got to the event, started firing off some shots. Blinking highlights. Odd, but I ignored them and continued to shoot. Even more blinking highlights.

Decreased the aperture, and whoa, major overexposure. Stopped the aperture down (whoops, flash is strobing in modelling mode) and looked down the lens barrel: aperture is wide open. Removed the lens, and the aperture lever is stuck. It was easy to move it back to the fully closed position, and I moved it around just to make sure it was ok. No more blinking highlights after that fix.

Capture NX to the rescue. Of course it can't give me back the missing DOF, and some shots are just too overexposed to be of any use.

Lesson learned: always test your equipment before shooting, and don't ignore the blinking highlights.


On a side note, the Olympus E-P1 and 14-42mm lens are arriving tomorrow. New toy!