Moonlit Sonata

[Omaroo]

Well, Humayun did it again this afternoon. He drove up from Canberra (already after dark) and as soon as he landed at my place we headed off for an additional 90km run to our favourite beach haunt up the coast for some night shots under an 89.3% moon.

Here are a couple from this evening. It's difficult to obtain accurate focus given that you're in relative darkness, but I think these turned out OK. It's amazing how the 5D-II behaves at ISO400 at f/13. Not too noisy in the RAWs, with only a smattering of hot pixels to fix. The camera turns night into day.

It's surreal light under a moon at the beach...

Photos 1 & 2)

Camera Model Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Firmware Firmware Version 2.0.8
Shooting Date/Time 05/14/11 22:37:25
Shooting Mode Bulb
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 902
Av( Aperture Value ) 13.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 400
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length 24.0mm

Basic white point adjustment, sharpening and horizon rotation in Canon DPP - straight to you screen.

Photo 3: This was taken at 12:17am - yes - midnight. Looks like daytime and that wows me a little.

File Name IMG_2699.CR2
Camera Model Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Firmware Firmware Version 2.0.8
Shooting Date/Time 05/15/11 00:17:17
Shooting Mode Bulb
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 240
Av( Aperture Value ) 11.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 2500
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length 60.0mm

Photo 4) Staring into Sagittarius and Scorpius

Camera Model Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Firmware Firmware Version 2.0.8
Shooting Date/Time 05/14/11 23:24:30
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 30
Av( Aperture Value ) 4.5
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 640
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Focal Length 40.0mm

[astroboy]

Great shots Chris , love that foggy look the sea gets from the long exposure , you said that you have a few hot pixels , do you shoot with the auto dark on ?

Thanks
Zane

[spearo]

i like the first one with star trails the most!
frank

[iceman]

I agree the first one is great!

[Omaroo]

Thanks Zane :) A "few" hot pixels meant maybe a dozen. Nothing more than noteworthy I think. Two seconds fixing them and the rest of the image is relatively clean. The second image blows me away with its lack of any real noise - given that it is a four minute exposure @ ISO2500.

Frank and Mike - I thank you!

Again - can't wait to see Humayun's effort. Some looked magnificent on-camera.

[Paddy]

Very interesting photographs. Quite surreal as you say Chris. Makes me wonder how our bush might look... hmmm.

[Liz]

Great images Chris, but loveee the first. :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

It's all very surreal Chris.

[Omaroo]

Thanks Patrick, Liz & Nettie :) I appreciate your comments :thumbsup:

[FlashDrive]

Your a true artist with that camera Chris ... love the 1st photo ... has a real " smoothness " about it. :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Just incredible that those are taken by moonlight Chris. I didn't realise digital DSLR would even allow such wonderful colour. Loved it :)

[Omaroo]

Thanks, too, for your kind comment Colin and Rob. In reference to the smoothness Colin, moonlight really gives a different result to that under sunlight. As Humayun would attest to, the sea this night was quite large and rough - there were large tubes being formed as the waves rolled in. Waves were hitting the outlying rocks, creating huge splashes that actually went as high as the cloud line at times. The much lower light intensity at night results in far less reflected light from these reaching the sensor in the time they are presenting to us. A large splash lasts for two seconds or so - not enough time under these conditions to register as they might otherwise under sunlight - so the sea actually ends up looking flatter.

[bananarama]

Soooooooo Cool Chris. :thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

Thank you Deb! :) You should come along one evening! :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Awesome work. Crystal clear. #3 would be my fav because of the colors and reflections. :thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

Cheers and thanks Marc :)

#3 is just a weird image - knowing that to focus at all on that rock, I had to ask Humayun to illuminate a portion of it with a torch. It was way too dark for LiveView focusing. That kind of puts the rest in perspective.

[Octane]

Chris,

Numero uno is superb. :)

Excellent balance between light and contrast. The way the stars trail across the sky resemble meteors falling to earth. And, that horizon line -- how about that horizon line. :eyepop:

Must. Do. Again.

H

[multiweb]

That was going to be my next question. How the hell did you guys focus on anything in close proximity the dark. Makes sense now.

[Omaroo]

Thanks Humayun :) Can't wait to see a couple more from yourself. What a great evening that was. :thumbsup:

Marc - yes, that's the only way. Even at super-high ISO in LiveView - you see nothing, and all that happens is the autofocus motors go nuts hunting for a lock. Switch to manual focus, shine a bright light and manually focus in live view. Bonza sharpness. :)

[hotspur]

These are all of magazine quality-really great work,I like one the most-the smoothness,and the 'falling stars'-I'd say you'd have to win some sort of gong for that one.Like the reflection in three,four is good with constellations.

I see these taken with a 24-105.I had a look on FM reviews about this lens,they give it a 9,but the comments on the first page about this lens
are not all that flash-some call it a 'Lowly L'-how do you find it Chris?
If these images are anything to go by,look darn good!

Well done,amazing effort.

[Omaroo]

Thanks for the kind comments Chris :)

A "lowly L"? Hmmm.. not really sure about that. Giving it a 9/10 and a "lowly" label is probably a little confusing to their readers. Personally, I love it for its ability to stay on the front of my camera for most situations I find myself photographing. Terrestrially, it's just a great all-round lens. It's quick to focus and the actions are all smooth. I notice that when I open a shot in DPP and apply its table-driven aberration correction routine to the shot, the result moves ever-so-slightly at the edges on the long sides. Given that, it shows that there is a very slight correction to square, but it's hardly noticeable. A few pixels at most.

I've had it on my QHY-9, piggybacked on the Taks, and found that at the extreme corners it did seagull a little. Nothing a 90% crop wouldn't fix. I didn't buy it for this purpose though - and assert that prime lenses are more designed for this type of duty rather then all-rounder zooms.

My score? 9 too.

[hotspur]

Yes,Chris-I found the FM review on the lens a bit confusing,I have heard many say its a great lens,a friend was looking at buying one,so I was wondering what they were like.I imagine it would be ideal lens on the 5d2 for most use generally.Just not sure how it would be on a 50D.The images from your beach excursions certainly show so very fine images from it.

[Omaroo]

Come to think of it Chris, Mike Salway would be the bloke to ask. I know that he bought one for his 40Ds after borrowing Humayun's 24-105 during a shoot a while back. While I find it great on the 5D-II, he'd give you his opinion of it on a DX camera. I gather that he was impressed enough to go for it. :)

[iceman]

I love it. I did buy it after borrowing H's for a wedding shoot back in 2009.

It's always on my camera (40D).

The only time I take it off is to put the 17-70 on when I need a wider field of view.

[hotspur]

Thank you for your thoughts on the lens,Mike and Chris.

I think sometimes,on various other review forums,people look at every angle of a product,and find some sort of minor fault and tend to harp on it a bit.Rather than actually going out into the field and using it regularly,and seeing what results are gained.

Sounds like a good 'all rounder',does it come with a hood when you buy it,or is that another 'canon extra'?.I can't say I've ever seen any images of it with a hood on.

Reason for asking thoughts,I have a Canon 10-22 mm lens I bought in October 2010,and have only used it three times,its not getting as much use as I thought it would,I seem to use my 17-55 much more (I love this lens-its certainly no L,but great for wide field,its earned a permanent place in my camera bag),But the 10-22 mm great quality,but infreqeunt use,make me wonder if a 24-105 would get more use.Might think about selling the 10-22 mm.

Cheers Chris

[Omaroo]

Sounds like a good idea Chris - besides, the 10-22 EF-S isn't going to be much good on a 5D Mk-X later on.

[hotspur]

Yes Chris-was thinking that too,pondering the 7D vrs the 5d2 question lately too-looking at the 5D2 option,so that is the other reason for asking.

cheers Chris

[rcheshire]

They are really something. The creamy 'terracotta' sand against the blue sky does it for me.

[Omaroo]

Thanks so much Rowland. The colour of this sand appeals to me as well. I guess that it is basalt-based, as this is the colour of the rocks and surrounding soil on my property in Cooma.

[bananarama]

Only if you don't ask me to model. :D

[dugnsuz]

You boys are producing very nice work with those 5D MkII's
Kudos!!!

Doug

[Omaroo]

Deb - I'll wait until your leg is better. The crutches may be good props in one sense, but... ;)

Doug - thanks so much :) Yes, I took Humayun's advice some time back and bought the 5D-II. It is a stellar performer, it really is. Do I feel a pull to the Mark III? Not at all - I'll be forever reaching the limits of this camera, if I ever reach them. :thumbsup: