New infrared camera
This summer I decided that owning both a 40D IR camera made little sense as my 5DIII lenses, although were compatible, were not needed. The EOS M had a better sensor, more resolution, better screen, and EF lens compatibility, along with an autofocus in Live View. This was the major issue with the 40D as AF was not available in live view, so I had to activate live view, then manually adjust the focus, and then shoot. The M would allow me to use AF with IR. Combined with its low entry price, I was able to trade the modified 40D to Kolari Vision in NJ for conversion service for the M. I picked up a second M as I didnt want to fool around with multiple filters and sizes (the 11-22, 18-55 and 22 f2 all have different filter sizes) by having one converted to a full spectrum or dual spectrum (Vis + IR).
This has worked out spectacularly. The images are a vast improvement over the 10mp 40D files, and with an 85A filter, and a custom white balance, I am able to get a wide range of false color options.
Some are similar to the Kodak Aero film of yesterday, like this
And yet can make beautiful orange photos in camera as well.
Or in monochome mode, awesome Black and while IR photos. All with just a WB setting and custom ‘color tuning’ through the EOS Utility app.
For $0, I am pretty impressed! Only drawback has been the touch screen which has a ‘touch shutter’ which has an enable/disable button on the bottom right of the screen which while on often gets activated by bumping into you, which then on 2nd or 3rd bump will AF and take a photo. Magic Lantern solved this by removing the button, but makes the exposure adjustment / ISO adjustment a bit more complicated. There is also the ‘shutter bug’ that causes the shutter button not to work with the 11-22 and 18-55 which is highly annoying.
Some more for my trip to colorado.
For 2015, the new hope
Well, as I posted in 2014, hopefully with a new work from home option, I will be able to spend more time at night updating my page with my images. However, I oft find that it is hard enough to get them edited. Colorado has yet to really even be begun, 5 months later. With a renewed interest in wedding photography as a hobby, it might be even harder to update.
We shall see!
Below we see a few from my trip to Colorado in Infrared.
[AFG_gallery id=’1′]
Olympic Peninsula
Spent a quick 4 days in Olympic National Park over the New Year break. Check out my photos from Hurricane Ridge, the Hoh Rain Forest, the beaches of the peninsula, and Seattle.
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We Went to Wyoming!
Last September, Kristin and I decided to go to one of the most famous National Parks in the US, Yellowstone.
It was an amazing 10 days, but we saw little wildlife until the connection we needed to make in SLC was going to be late. So we convinced the airline to let us stay in Jackson Hole for another night. And what do we see while driving to the town to take the Gondela tour? A moose and a small black bear, right at the side of the road
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Another Test of the site
Here is another test of the site, this time I am trying the Slickr Flickr api.
Ive done a lot more infrared pictures now that I have my 40D IR converted. The LiveView is a tremendous help. Cant imagine doing it with out it now.
[slickr-flickr tag=infrared]
Testing the new WordPress
Testing the new Word press, now that I have everything setup again.
So its been a while since I updated: I purchased a lot of camera gear over the past year, starting with a 5DIII to replace the aging 1DsII I had. This re-ignited my passion for photography and I’ve really been working on it since ~July last year, cleaning up my archive, sorting, deleting, editing, culling, backing up…
I did get a chance very recently to visit the Cedar Run Wildlife rehabilitation and refuge recently. I was able to get many great pictures of the birds and owls there, as they would bring them out for ~10 of us to photograph.
Here is a sample of photos I got of the Redtailed Hawk, Screech owls, Great Horned Owl and others.
[flickrset id=”72157633397730958″ thumbnail=”square” overlay=”true” size=”large”]
Gasp – An update
No I didnt die, or loose my internet, but this summer has seen a ton of stuff I’ve had to do and updating here wasnt there, plus I wasnt shooting much of my own stuff soooo.
I posted a few days (so far) of my trip to Acadia, so I’m putting my Acadia pics here too.
This is Day 1, the day we arrived in Acadia National Park. We drove up from Portland the morning before this, and from NJ to Portland the day before that, with Extremely done driver front brake pads, so at 7am, I sat in the AutoZone parking lot with new “tools” (they lend out $3K engine cranes, but a set of handtools, THOSE you’ll have to buy buddy) and replaced my pads. The tire shop I had put on my tires maybe 4 days before that TOLD me, after he VERIFIED with the tech that my fronts were at 1/4″.. yea, 1/4″ on the outside, the insides were down to the metal backing….
never listen to your “mechanic”
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Raleigh, North Carolina
Went to Raleigh this past week for a tradeshow and had some free time, during daylight hours, much easier now with DST and staying light out till 7-8pm.
Walked around downtown, and found yet another great vantage point from an empty parking garage. There were 5 visible from my hotel window, and that didnt include the one I climbed, nor the other 2-3 I saw walking around.
Didnt get all the shots I wanted, as the clouds were in that day, and of course, working Monday afternoon after flying it did nothing to prevent us from leaving before 7pm on Tuesday, when it was Gorgeous out. 
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Macro Work – MP-E 65mm be damned
Have not shot much recently, work and Granger have had me pretty busy. However, I did get a chance to fool around with the 100 macro and 50 1.4 the other day.
I realized that now that I have another 58mm filter thread lens, other than the 85mm, I could do some pretty good work with it reversed on my 100mm macro. Typical rule is that at infinity, a flipped lens will result in an mainlens:flipped lens magnification ratio. So with the macro, I would be at 2:1 from the get-go with this setup. Still waiting to find a 58-72mm reversing ring for the 35 1.4L =D
I took some pictures on the new focusing rail, which works much better after a complete tear down and retightening of the unit. Before the slide would tilt and the worm gear would fail to engage. Now I tightened it and no more issues.
I placed the 50mm on the camera, hit the DOF preview @ f4, and then unmounted the lens to increase the sharpness of the lens, to prevent abberations and falloff.
After playing around at ~2:1 with the 40D mounted for “extra” mag, I started going to 1:1 on the macro. This got me pretty close, but decided to go all out. Threw all 3 extension tubes at it, and the 2X extender. These are the results, with approximate magnifications. The 5X shots were about 4 seconds long at F2.8, so I hit it with some flash, 1/250th @ f11. Still no DOF, but F32 was worse, so much diffraction.
