death valley IV
06/12/2008 19:35 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso50 - f/2.8 1/2000 sec
Sand dunes at Stove Pipe Wells.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso200 - f/4.5 1/ 25 sec
The road to nowhere.
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death valley III
02/12/2008 00:46 Filed in: photos
death valley II
01/12/2008 23:58 Filed in: photos
thanks giving in death valley
30/11/2008 23:36 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 16-35mm 1:2.8L II USM - iso200 - f/8 -30sec
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8 1/8000- iso100 - f/2.8
No Turkey for the German guys for Thanks Giving... Death Valley instead. We (the Helicopter Boy and myself) went for a photography trip, getting up at 03:30 in the night to catch dawn at Uhebebe Crater around 05:30. Death Valley is quite pleasing in winter time, only 35 degrees celsius, not the 50 during summer. I will post more images in the next days.
shift and tilt
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - TS-E 24mm 1:3.5 L - iso100 - f/4.5 - HDR exposure blending of 7 bracketed shots
First shot with the recently acquired Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 shift and tilt lens. Tilted to the right, the focal plane rotates away from the image plane, the power pole in the middle is in focus, while the ones to the left and right are out of focus. That Scheimpflug Principle opens some fascinating possibilities.
it rains in southern california
02/11/2008 22:21 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/5.6 -1/250
Yesterday, a short but heavy rain came in from sea to Venice. This shot was taken just minutes before everybody ran away from the beach to seek for cover - here in L.A. a little rain causes the same reactions as a thunder storm elsewhere in the world. I guess people are too used to their sunny californian weather. Reminds me of London: the Tube breaks down in winter, when a few snowflakes fall and people run to the streets from their offices to take pictures of that white stuff on the sidewalk...
halloween in hollywood
02/11/2008 01:22 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/4 -1/100
Halloween Parade on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood/Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.
l.a. nights II
19/10/2008 22:27 Filed in: photos
venice beach
19/10/2008 09:46 Filed in: photos
l.a. nights
19/10/2008 02:06 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso50 - f/5.6 - 1/30
Los Angeles at dusk shot from the Griffith Observatory.
back in l.a.
12/10/2008 23:57 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/2.8 - 1/640
Venice Beach - lifeguard tower
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/2.8 - 1/1000
Venice Beach - miniature sandstorm
Just arrived in L.A. a few days back, to find things haven´t changed much over here in the last decade (been working here in 1997). Just more cars, different cars than in the nineties, you see these Hybrid Priuses all over the place. Venice Beach still looks the same (except Baywatch isn´t shot anymore...). Charly Temmel still sells his famous Austrian ice cream at the Ocean Front Walk, but has closed his cafe on Third Street Promenade. Prices feel like they have doubled over the years, petrol is still “cheap” compared to our German prices. 30 degrees (Centigrade that is) in mid October is something to dream of in Germany. So I hope to find some time over the next few months to cover my impressions with the camera. But first it is: housing, bank account, mobile phone, driver licence, car, ... I do love cities with proper public transport, something that most likely won´t ever happen in L.A.
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso100 - f/2.8 - 1/4000
A Heidelberger in Los Angeles....
london calling
03/10/2008 15:28 Filed in: photos
Sony Cybershot DSC-P9
London. Drilling platform of the European film industry. Hectic. No escape. Sometimes beautiful. Sometimes carpet in the bathroom.
Some old shots from London a few years back, 2002-2004. All taken with a point-and-shoot Sony then - more likely as memories than composed pictures. Lived there for almost 3 years altogether working at a few of Soho’s post production facilities.
These images have been posted on www.grobifx.com originally, I move them over here for their proper retirement.
munich sundown
02/10/2008 17:03 Filed in: photos
| techniques
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso50 - f/4.0 - HDR exposure blending of 5 shots
First of a series: Dusk at Olypark in Munich. All shot as bracketed exposures for HDR blending and tone-mapping. HDR exposure blending together with iso50 gives a clean and noiseless image. Still the 21mp files of the 1Ds Mark III amaze me every time I zoom into the shots to reveal the fantastic detail captured. Can’t wait to get hold of a new 5D Mark II to see how the same resolution performs with iso settings from 1600-6400. Good to see Canon release some competition to Nikon’s D3 and D700, although I am not the only one, who had wished, they had developed a 12-16 mp sensor instead of another 21 mp. Imagine the possible low light sensitivity: you might have been able to shoot images at iso25.600 with the same low noise as lets say iso1600 on a Nikon D3... That could be shooting a 1/250 at f/4 handheld in a candle lit environment. Another aspect of the 1Ds Mark III will apply to the 5D Mark II as well: only the best resolving lenses will satisfy with that resolution. Most likely the Mark II will replace my 5D as second body and hopefully complement the 1Ds Mark III with it´s low light capabilities to form a great team for all shooting conditions. This series will be my last impressions from Munich this year. Moving to L.A. for a few months I´ll be posting Californian stuff in the near future (I hope a demanding job there still leaves me enough time for some photographic exploration). So after all the Indian adventures it is “from Bollywood back to Hollywood” now...
goodby germany
30/09/2008 09:09 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso1600 - f/2.8 - 1/1600
Winter is closing in, fall has taken over with cold and foggy grayness. A silhouette defying the cold october evening enjoys the last light of the sun on “Olympiaberg” in Olympiapark, Munich.
Time to leave the country for a warmer place...
Once in a while I like to name these posts after songs, this one is “Goodby Germany” from “And One”. The right music for the moment is the soundtrack to my life.
night trip
27/09/2008 17:53 Filed in: photos
indian wedding
18/09/2008 14:46 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-5D - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - is1600 - f/4 - 1/30
Canon EOS-5D - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - is1600 - f/6.3 - 1/30
Canon EOS-5D - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - is1600 - f/4 - 1/640
During my stay in India, I had the pleasure to attend an Indian engagement and wedding ceremony. Spanning over 3 days, the celebrations differ quite a bit from our european weddings. Always remembered will be the groom traditionally riding on a white horse to the wedding venue, where the bride and her guests wait. We have stuff like that only in fairy tales... The groom’s family and guests join the procession, dancing to the tunes of a “louder than everything else big band”.
You get to see the women dressed in colorful sarees and their hands and arms painted with henna. The men dressed in stylish Indian clothing, if they avoided the kind of standard business suits, that look the same all around the world.
hippies hate water
06/09/2008 06:29 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS USM - iso800 - f/7.1 - 1/4000
The Hippie-Trails to India still seem to be alive, or some of the species have survived in Goa since the 60´s and 70´s...
The image shows some grainy noise, which can easily be explained. It is a 1700 x 1700 pixel crop of a 5624 x 3736 pixel file shot at iso 800, showing the amazing detail captured, but obviously emphasizing the inherent noise.
the kids of rajasthan
29/08/2008 03:34 Filed in: photos
take off
23/08/2008 03:17 Filed in: photos
| techniques
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM -
iso400 - f/5.0 - 1/6400 - HDR composite of 3 exposures
To get the detail in the clouds and the shaded underside of the lantern, a HDR capture was necessary. 3 shots (-1.3 ev, 0 ev, +1.3 ev) were merged in Photomatix. As a fast moving object, the bird was only in the first exposure (0 ev), so that guy is technically LDR (low dynamic range), only the background and the lantern are merged. I had to wait a while and shoot a few times, to get this one. Birds tend to do what they want, not what the photographer would love them to do...
bombay boys
22/08/2008 03:43 Filed in: photos
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8 - 1/160
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - EF 24-105mm 1:4L IS USM - iso200 - f8 - 1/200
Guys having fun and showing off after the celebration of Holi. Whenever you show a camera, there are different reactions around the world, but in Mumbai you always find a group, who wants to pose for a picture.
LEICA APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100 on Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/2.8
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/4.0
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/5.6
A few months back there was the tough decision, whether to stay with Canon or switch to Nikon, as the D3 was released. I decided to buy the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III as it fits my professional needs best with its 21 megapixels. It is a great advantage to have that resolution for visual effects photography on a movie set. And Canon allows to adapt a variety of lenses from different manufacturers like ZEISS, LEICA, MAMIYA, PENTAX and others. So you can choose among the finest lenses available.
The 1Ds Mark III being very demanding with lenses to deliver the full resolution, that it is capable of, I started to look for lenses with outstanding performance. After reading a few reviews, especially Diglloyd´s ZEISS ZF lenses and his insights on the Leica APO-Summicron-R 90/2 ASPH, I bought a Contax ZEISS AE 35/2.8 Distagon and recently a LEICA APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100, both used, but optically in perfect condition. LEICA lenses don´t come cheap, when new, so it is a good idea to look on ebay. As long as you buy from an ebay shop, you have the right to give it back here in Germany, if it doesn´t meet your expectations. Something you can´t do, if bought from private party.
I choose the APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100 over the APO-Summicron-R 90/2 ASPH, as they ought to offer quite similar performance (the Summicron leading by a bit), but the Macro-Elmarit offering the welcome close range up to 1:2 magnification. Read Erwin Put´s columns on Leica lenses for details.
I won´t get into deep technical reviews of lenses with all their characteristics and performance (see Diglloyd and Puts for that), I will evaluate just the rendering of a lens under my personal shooting conditions and what they bring to the table for my requirements.
That said, today I took the first shots with the APO-Macro-Elmarit and if deeper exploration over the next few weeks doesn´t prove me wrong, I have to say, that this a truly outstanding lens. Just the one you need on a 1DS Mark III. Have a look at the beautiful bokeh (the look of out-of-focus areas) in the shots above, while the lens renders amazing detail and sharpness even wide open at f/2.8. It seems stopping down isn´t necessary to improve performance. The following 100% crops show the actual pixels: dust and a hair on a synthesizer´s keyboard.
I can´t wait to shoot more with that lens...
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/2.8 - actual pixels
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/4.0- actual pixels
Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III - Leica APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 1:2.8/100- iso100 - f/5.6- actual pixels
