Tag Archives: video

Initial Impressions of the RF 200-800

When Canon announced the RF 200-800 lens, I was mildly interested but not too bothered by it. However, in an example of how easily a weak mind can be influenced, when I watched some reviews by those that had used the lens, I started to be more curious. The focal length range was always of interest, but the aperture range had initially put me off. The reviewers suggested that the excellent ISO performance of modern mirrorless cameras meant this wasn’t an issue. Also, while not in anyway cheap, the lens was very well priced for the range it offered.

I went to my local shop and placed a deposit for one of the lenses. This was many months ago. After that, things got very quiet. I was beginning to think that I would never see an actual lens. Then I saw something on a Canon rumor site that said August was likely to be a time when a lot of lenses got delivered. Whatever the blockage had been, there seemed to be some relief. The last Tuesday of July (stuff seems to get delivered to stores on Tuesday I guess), I get a phone call telling me that my lens has arrived. Hurrah!

After work, I headed down to pick it up. I then headed down to the water in Kenmore – a short distance from the store – to give it a quick go. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I got a quick feel for some of its quirks. Initially I was a little unsettled. The stabilization seemed very effective, but it did make tracking things that were moving slowly a bit jerky as if the stabilization didn’t believe that I actually wanted to be moving. I worried that this would be an issue. However, the images seemed to be rather sharp so maybe it knew what it was doing.

When I got home, I did spend a little time looking at the hummingbirds on the bushes. The light was very low, which should be a problem for a lens with smaller apertures, but it seemed to work very well and the images were surprisingly sharp and clean. I then took it to its first airshow. Again, results were really very pleasing. The 800mm reach was so helpful since the show line was quite distant and I was veery happy with the framing I could get. The jumpiness in the viewfinder is still something I find rather distracting but it doesn’t seem to be an issue for the images, so I guess the stabilization knows what it is doing. I also shot some video at 800mm handheld and, while there was initial wobbling, there comes a moment when it seems to get what is going on and then it is rock steady. Quite bizarre. I think this lens could be a key part of my shooting going forward. We shall see as my experience grows with it.

Huskie Video Since I Don’t Know When I Might Have Another Shot

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I recently posted some photos of the Kaman HH-43 Huskie doing a display at Olympia. I mentioned in that post that I also shot some video. The way in which the Huskie flies is quite different from most helicopters and stills do not portray that. I figured some video was in order. We got lucky in that, after it landed, there was some other movement on the field, so they ended up getting airborne again and flying another pattern to land over near the hangars. I hope the air show music in the background doesn’t get me in trouble with YouTube!

A Huey Trip at the Last Minute

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During our Arizona trip, Mark and I stopped by at Falcon Field. Our friend, Joe, is involved in a group, the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation, that maintains and operates historic army helicopters, and they were having a flying event that day. We wanted to see the Huey that they operate as it was taking people out on rides. We saw a couple of runs and then they stopped for a break, and we could wander around the helicopter. When they were getting ready for the next flight, they had a spare slot and asked if I wanted to take a ride. The funny thing is, while I was happy to make the contribution, I often am more interested in seeing the flying from the outside rather than being inside. However, since it was a good cause, I said yes. I am so glad I did so. I had a good spot looking forward between the two crew up front and next to the open door giving me plenty to see. I decided that video was more likely to be a good way of recording such a trip so that is the majority of what I took during the trip. I did get some stills, of course, but the video then got edited down to the following piece. I thoroughly enjoyed the flight and the brief time to see some of the surrounding landscape. I will not be so reticent in future.

EcoDemonstrator Returns in the Gloom So Video It Is!

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Boeing flew the EcoDemonstrator 777 from Paine Field for a while last year. I managed to be up there for the return late in the day, but the conditions were not that great. Having shot the plane at other times, I decided that the stills option was probably not the right one to take. They would not look that interesting. Instead, I decided to shoot some video of its return. Since going mirrorless, video shooting is so much easier because I can continue to hold the camera up to my eye as I would if shooting stills. It makes for a (slightly) more stable platform so a little less camera shake.

Into the Clouds Approaching LAX

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I have had a couple of work trips that took me to LA in the recent past (how recent may depend on when this gets posted), and the weather has not been great for either of them. The second one coincided with some pretty horrendous weather for the region and our approach to LAX was a pretty bumpy one. We actually landed from the ocean side which is pretty unusual for LAX. The crew prepared the cabin for landing early and I decided the view of the cloud tops from the storm were worthy of video rather than stills. Here is the resulting video of our approach.

Butterfly on the Lavender

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While playing with the macro lens, I have spent plenty of time watching the insects in the back yard as they feed on the flowers. The butterflies are quite fascinating as they have a proboscis that they curl up when they are not using and then extend to extract the nectar from the flowers. As I was observing them at work, it occurred to me that the stills didn’t really give a good way of seeing what they are doing. Instead, I switched to video and filmed them as they fed on our lavender bushes. Here is some video of them busily getting fed!

https://youtu.be/OpzZAb30sZs

The Return of the DC-8 and Max 10 After the Storm

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There was an evening when the weather was awful and the NASA DC-8 was out on a mission. The forecast suggested things might get a bit clearer late in the afternoon and so, while the light was awful, I thought I might take a chance and head to Paine Field after work. The sky was dark and ominous but I was there so I might as well wait. As the Max 10 was first on approach, it was the one I would try out first. There was a hint of the sun starting to punch through the cloud and it did look okay.

Then, when the DC-8 showed up, the clouds parted. The backdrop was still and evil looking sky but the sun was on the plane as it came down the approach. I had thought of shooting video but, when I saw the light, I couldn’t resist shooting stills. The joy of modern cameras is the ability to switch rapidly from one to the other. I got video down the initial approach and then stills as it was close in. Then back to video once it was by me. This actually didn’t make for a bad video edit.

A moment with light like this is very rare and you have to be excited when it all works out.

Granite Falls in Full Flow

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In a previous post, I showed the waterfalls at Granite Falls, north of us. At that time, the weather had been quite calm, and the falls were quite subdued. At that time, I had suggested I would go back later in the winter. We had a prolonged period of rain in the area, some of which was very heavy. Knowing this had come through, I figured a return trip was in order to see just how much the falls would be transformed. This was not a wasted effort!

Even as I got out of the car in the parking area up on the main road, I could hear the falls. The flow through them was unrecognizable from my previous time there. The water was the full width of the falls and was crashing across everything in its path. The force of the water was quite intimidating and, while I was quite safe where I was on the walkways, I shuddered to think what would happen to anyone getting caught up in this torrent.

Video was clearly the thing to experiment with on this visit. Sure, I was getting lots of shots. I was seeing whether longer shutter speeds would give a good impression of the motion or whether a slightly shorter exposure might actually be more effective. However, video is the tool that really allows someone to appreciate the intensity of the flow and the noise. Consequently, I edited together the footage below to give you an idea of what it was like.

As I looked upriver, I saw vehicles crossing the river and realized that the road I had come in on, continued across the river on a bridge. I had not noticed this on the previous visit so, once I had made my way back up to the road, I decided to check the bridge out. This is a country road so I wondered if there would be a safe way to walk across. Fortunately, there was a protected sidewalk on both sides of the bridge. It was quite a drop down to the river but the mist over the water and between the trees provided a lovely shot, so I was glad to have diverted that way even if I was a little uncomfortable that high up!

Draining the Porch Roof Again

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We had the roof of the porch flood a while back and I realized then that the leaf mulch had blocked it. When I saw it was filling up again, I knew what to do. That is not just remove the mulch. It is also to be ready to film it properly. Here is the start of the draining process along with the various belching noises the downspout makes, and the water covers the opening. It takes for ages to drain, and I couldn’t be bothered to film the whole thing.

Time Lapse Experiments With Ice

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I used to play with time lapses a fair bit. I would shoot a series of images and use LRTimelapse to process them. However, that software had a license agreement that meant, when they upgraded the software, they required you to update your license and the old version was deactivated. This was very annoying. I figured I would be able to keep using the old version but apparently not. I don’t do it that much to justify the cost and was disinclined to use that software after this experience.

My latest cameras have a time lapse function built into them which I had been meaning to try out. I had done this on my little M6 but not with the latest bodies. What to use them on, though. I figured an experiment doesn’t require me to be original in the subject. Just try it out and see how it works. Consequently, I thought melting ice would be good enough. My first effort was not successful. I hadn’t given it enough time to record the melting fully. Second was better but, while the timing was okay, I had focused on the ice cube when it started melting and it slid across the plate as it melted and out of frame. The mode on the camera sets focus and exposure on the first shot so this meant everything was well out of focus.

This is why you experiment with things. The last try worked pretty much as intended. (I should note that I did all of these in the evening, so the lighting didn’t change during the shoot.) I had a long enough time for the ice cube to almost fully melt, it didn’t move, and the lighting was fine. Watching the ice disappear and the cube gradually sink into the water that is progressively growing was rather fun. This isn’t some epic revelation of the nature of melting ice, but it did teach me about some functionality of the camera.