New lens - new photos!

[maxf]

Well, due to huge amounts of hazardous snow yesterday I took the day off and mucked about in Peterborough instead.

It should have been a cheap day but I made the mistake of going into Jessops and asking about zoom lenses. I came out with the Nikon 70-300 ED lens at a fairly decent price (London cameras quote £219 +postage - I paid £230 inc a UV filter).

Right over the road was Peterborough Cathedral so I decided to have a look round. After paying £1.50 for a camera licence I took these and more (some of my favourites):

http://maxf.smugmug.com/gallery/index.mg?logOut=1&AlbumID=410269&Page=1&ImageID=16393058

(Work safe )

Any tips or comments greatfully received

Max

[gravymaster]

I like those. Really good! Were they handheld?

Matt

[maxf]

Thanks

Yes, all handheld. I was amazed how much 'shake' you get at full zoom - I can see anything approaching a slow shutter speed being tricky

[stuh]

The first pic of the wooden carving is fantastic. The slight shadow and precise depth of field really lift the mans face from the background. Excellent!

[V6GTO]

Great! I liked the closeup and wierd ones too.

Martin.

[_Dobbo_]

maxf said:

Thanks Yes, all handheld. I was amazed how much 'shake' you get at full zoom - I can see anything approaching a slow shutter speed being tricky

I got my Sigma 70-300 APO lens today - and me, you aren't understating the camera shake thing! I think I must be permantly vibrating at some high frequency because I have really struggled to get any sharp images!

[NoisyGriff]

Excellent pictures.

Having been to Notre Dame recently, I am particularly impressed with the stained-glass window. I had real dificulties trying to get the exposure right.

Any tips (or was that a lucky forst guess)?

[maxf]

NoisyGriff said:

Excellent pictures. Having been to Notre Dame recently, I am particularly impressed with the stained-glass window. I had real dificulties trying to get the exposure right. Any tips (or was that a lucky forst guess)?

Thanks. I took quite a few pictures of various windows, all very elaborate and interesting, but no others had 'devils' in them!

The light outside was very good - not direct sunlight onto the window but a fairly good level of ambient light, and inside was dark, so I guess that helped. You are also able to get very close to the windows - my 'devil window' was probably only 7 ft off the ground which certainly helped.

I tried a few different settings, but am pretty sure the best results actually came by using the inbuilt macro function (cheating I know - 'manual' results are still a bit hit and miss).

[NoisyGriff]

Cheers Max.

I don't think it helped me much that the ND window was 1/2 mile away, dimly lit and unbelievably complex.