Wildflower Center II

Killed a couple birds with one trip today. I’d promise to take my wife to the Wildflower Center today. The sky was cloudy but it was a nice day. I figure the Antarctic is likely to have overcast days, so it would be a good test for exposure. I also took the monopod along to see if I could capture a panorama.

On the exposure front, I adjusted the WB and set the camera for ISO 200. The photos came out a reasonable color. I bracketed a few and set the camera for +0.3 EV on some. Those adjustments are getting more automatic, at least in terms of knowing what to push.

I may have to practice setting the controls for manual shutter and apeture. The panorama photos didn’t all take at the same speed. One is noticeably darker. When they get stiched together they’ll look funny.

I also, by accident, found a curved tile downspout. With the supporting limestone works, it is a good possible entry for the Angles assignment. I’d already taken some quilt block photos. So, I’ve got multiple possibilities.

Day Before Easter

Went to a different park to shoot a few photos. Crowded, people having Easter Picnics, I guess. Tomorrow is a 40% chance of rain. Today is clear sky and 77.

Found some kids riding around and around on their bicycles. Took some more panning pictures. A couple turned out. Better batting average than the other two outings.

Their mom came up, wondered what I was doing. So I told her and she was OK with it. I went over and thanked her when I was done.

There were some kids on the swing set. Tempting target for panning, but I didn’t want to introduce myself to yet another parent.

Wouldn’t want to post any kid’s picture without the parent’s permission. The bicycle pictures were just to see if I could do it.

View Finder

I know that conventional lenses on a digital camera take a hit, about a 1.5 crop factor. In practical terms that means my viewing area is less wide. Reviewing the pictures I took at EPCOT, last week, it was obvious.

I decided to run a practical experiment this afternoon (Sunday). I wanted to see two things. (1) How wide is my vision? and (2) How much more than the viewfinder focus box is included in the picture?

My home faces West, so the setting sun hits my front door in the late afternoon. The sun would be at my back and provide great lighting. The house has a low wall, a bit over 5 foot high, in front of the house.

I took some oversized yardsticks (4 foot) and laid them on the wall. Then I took index cards, drew a line down the center of the card, and then folded the card (line inside). I positioned a card every 1 foot, using the yard stick to hold down the card, i.e. slipping the bent half under the yardstick.

I got my 50 foot tape out and fixed one end at the wall. Then I stretched the tape out toward the sidewalk, essentially at a right angle to the wall.

I got some quad ruled paper and recreated the viewfinder focus box.

With the camera mounted on the monopod, I’d take the camera out to a 5 foot mark and look through the lens zooming between 35mm and 80mm. At the two extremes I would note the index cards visible relative to some of the focus marks, and then snap a picture. (Here's a cropped example )

I’d record on my grid paper how wide I could see in the focus box, not the total viewfinder.

Then I would repeat the process at the next 5 foot interval, i.e. 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 foot from the wall. The monopod was always at the same height. So, even though my lawn slopes down a bit toward the curb, all the pictures were roughly of the same scene and the same relative center. The index cards (i.e. the horizontal) were always visible.

Took the pictures with medium resolution. Then I took a few with small resolution, and a couple in large format. “Size” is really a designation for pixels not image dimensions.

After cleaning up my props, I downloaded the test pictures to my computer. Definitely cheaper than 1-hour photo processing. Then it is mostly a question of trigonometry.

The calculator function in Windows is a bit limited. It will do square roots but not sine or cosine. Not to worry, I have my CRC Math tables and a slide-rule for backup. (The slide-rule doesn’t have a sine scale but does have a T (tangent) scale.)

It looks like the 35mm opens up about 36.52 degrees. That works out to 6.6 ft from 10 feet out, between the focus box brackets. The resulting image adds about 1.5 feet outside the focus box, on both sides. (Distance from target x .33 = one half of the focus box view.)

The 80mm setting is a little less than half that. At 20 feet, 6.32 feet are in the focus brackets, about 18 degrees of view. The image adds about a foot to the edges, on both sides.. (Distance from target x .158 = one half the focus box view.)

The images are identical for S, M, L images. So the number of pixels (resolution) changes but not the image width.

I think my next excursion into physics will be to lay out the tape and place my markers every foot straight out, stretching in front of me like a path. Then if I focus on one marker, I should see the depth of field impact to other markers.

Field Trip

The field trip was a success. I learned a lot about the camera and the monopod. In no particular order of priority:

• The quick release worked about the way I’d hoped. I need to occasionally tighten the mounting plate on the camera, but it was easy to snap in and snap off.
• Tilt head can be a mystery for the TSA. The guy in Austin couldn’t recognize it, but he may have been new. Tampa didn’t have a problem with it.
• Had some improvement in the “shake” indicator. Found it was best when I was sitting on a bench. But I did take a few low light shots, standing up, that came out well.
• Overall weights weren’t a problem. I carried the monopod, head, camera, and extra lens in a backpack. They weren’t a burden. Didn’t always fit in the provided self/storage on a ride, but that’s a function of monopod length.
• Monopod just fits into the backpack on the diagonal. Most of the time I let it poke out between the two zippers. But, I could, in a pinch, wrap a plastic bag over the whole works and close it in the knapsack.
• I might want to get a longer hand-strap on the monopod. It was just as easy, however, to carry it in the middle, like an umbrella. I usually took the camera off the mount when I was moving to another location. This afternoon (Sunday) I was running another experiment and left the camera mounted as I moved back and forth to the clipboard, carrying the monopod.
• A pratical observation. Start extending the legs from the bottom, if you’re planning the full length. You might not be able to reach the lower leg if you have you hand in the wrist strap.

Bought The Monopod

Ran some errands today, kind of all over the Round Rock and Austin area. In the process, I picked up the monopod. I had planned on getting it Wednesday, on my way back from SCORE. But the camera store doesn’t stock them.

Instead I got out the yellow pages and checked with other camera stores. Found one that had them in stock.

What I picked up was a Bogen (Manfrotto) 676B Light Monopod.. About 19 inches collapsed. Looks like it’s going to do the job. It will certainly pack in the duffle-bag. That was one requirement.

I also picked up a Bogen 3229 swivle head with quick release. It has a mount and a release mechanism. The release part has an extra pin for locking.

I wasn’t paying attention to where the lens was pointing relative to mount mechanism. When I unscrewed the lock for tilting, the camera move forward and pointed down. Fixed the orientation and now can swing from horizontal to vertical.

And the main feature, being able to move from monopod to hand-held was accomplished. Perhaps not as fluid as I want for November. But that will come with practice.

A Third Leg

Between primaries and planning a trip to Florida, haven’t been very active with this blog. Last big step was solving the air travel.

I’m back to focusing on the digital camera and gear. I’ve starting looking at monopods rather than tripods for the Antarctic trip. Weight and bulkiness seems to me the key factors. The use of a monopod is usually good for sporting and nature events where the photographers move frequently. That sums up my impression of Antarctica.

Assuming the land visits will be like the Galapagos. A fair amount of hiking, even along the beaches to see the wildlife. I think a tripod would be too bulky. A monopod will give me some stability.

Obviously, as the weight of the monopod goes up, so too the weight it can support. The smaller compact units, while reasonably priced, only support a 10-11 pound payload. If I had a huge telephoto lens, this would be a limitation.

I decided to weigh the Alpha unit with the 30-80 mm lens, the most likely configuration. Came out 1 lb 14+ oz. My film unit, with an 80-200 mm lens was 1 lb 15oz. The lenses themselves are spec’d at 6 3/16 oz and 10 9/16 oz. So I’m only looking at 2.5 lbs on the payload.

Bogen makes a light monopod. They also have a quick release swivel “head” that looks interesting. It isn’t a ball-mount. Just the ability to tip from horizontal to vertical. But it provides a mount for the camera that can be snapped in or snapped off the monopod. That is intriguing. That would save time if you can go from mounted to handheld without a lot of extra “screwing around.”

The tilt head adds 0.6 lbs. The tilt head has a max capaity of 5.5 lbs. Still more than enough for the 2.5 lbs of payload.

If I pick the equipment up this week, I can take it to Florida for a field test. We are going to visit Epcot. So, that would be my first real use of the camera and monopod.