October 2008:
- bought a 120cm x 120cm light cube tent for photographing
highly reflective objects
- see my photography
blog for what I've been up to with my photography and
latest photos.
August 2008:
- bought the much touted Olympus TC-20 2x teleconverter
which gives me 1:1 macro with the 50mm macro lens, and 1:2 macro
with working distance of 1.2m at 800mm reach with the ZD50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 lens. See my blog for what these combos
can do.
- created a new photography
blog to present my latest thoughts and news in a different
format and allow others to comment.
- Olympus and Panasonic announce an exciting new compact digital
camera system with inter-changeable lenses and compatibility
with larger digital SLR lens - see my views - Four Thirds
Micro System.
- added more family photos
of the Oliver Hutchesson family, courtesy of Ernest
Hutchesson from WA.
July 2008:
June 2008:
- decided to add to my gear:
- the brilliant Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens which
gives a compact, close focusing, image stabilised, telephoto
reach of 400mm f/3.5! After using the OM 200mm f/4 lens I
realised this was going to be one extremely useful lens not
only for wildlife but as a portrait and art lens when
beautiful out of focus bokeh is needed, and it fits in a
small camera bag mounted to the camera ready to shoot,
unlike the Canon/Nikon equivalents. My
photos with this lens can be seen here.
- the Canon TSE 45mm f/2.8 tilt shift lens
as the 90mm on my 1.3x crop can get a bit tight.
- a second Canon 580 EXII flash and a 28" Westcott
Apollo softbox to suit - here's my 1st demo with it: portraiture with Westcott portable softbox.
- Spyder3 colour calibration system.
- Mamiya C330f twin lens
reflex (TLR) medium format film camera - this is just a
cool camera and now that Kodak not making HIE infrared
film, the TLR may just make using 120 size IR film with
R72 filter a touch easier than with my Bronica SQ system if
I can get the focus adjustment right.
- added new pages - Creativity and Inspiration,
backpacks, bags and updated many others.
|
March 2008:
- decided I better try out the Olympus Zuiko OM 200mm f/4 lens
hand held on the E510 with IS at effective 400mm focal length on
a very overcast day at Melbourne's zoo - it was tough focusing
accurately on moving lions, etc but the ones I managed to get
look great. Very impressed with results with this and not too
heavy to carry around in one hand all day. See here.
I also included a few koalas in the wild I took in the Otways
with a loaned Tamron 200-400mm f/5.6 lens on the Canon 1DMIII.
- added new photo galleries for the tech heads - my
photos by camera and lens.
- bought a nice Olympus OM 200mm f/4 lens to add to my 300mm
f/4.5 lens.
- makes a very nice, compact 400mm f/4 lens which can be
reasonably accurately focused via viewfinder and precisely
focused via live preview with IS on the E510 even hand held
- something which requires a tripod with the 300mm f/4.5 OM
- spent a week by myself at the Twelve Apostles, Moonlight Heads
and Apollo Bay to get some beach infrared as well as coastal
sunrise photos, see photos-seascapes
and photos-new.
- updated my super
telephoto lens tests with images from the beautiful Olympus
OM Zuiko 300mm f/4.5 lens I managed to pick up on Ebay which
becomes a hand-holdable image stabilised 600mm f/4.5 lens on my E510
which can be used down to 1/60th sec with care! As expected, the
lens gives better results at f/5.6 and this would be my
preferred aperture for this lens.
|
February 2008:
- added how to lose weight
sensibly - a simple man's approach!
- had to get off my butt and try out the tripod, so here are
some 15-20sec exposures using infrared filters - infra-red photography
- I'm very impressed, a couple of my most beautiful landscape
images yet - well I like them even if my wife doesn't like
landscapes! These are going to make brilliant 20"x30"
prints. Now just need to work out where to hang them without my
wife seeing them.
- bought a Feisol tripod
online direct from manufacturers, what a nice tripod and they
were a pleasure to deal with and it was shipped to me, arriving
in just 7 days. Very impressed with service and best of all the
tripod, light & compact but very sturdy and versatile. I
bought the leveling base and horizontal arm kit and these look
like they will work very well. The build quality appears
excellent.
- substantial updates to my genealogy pages
- the
future of dSLRs - perhaps something to consider before you
spend your money
|
January 2008:
- Sony has at last produced an interesting dSLR, so thought it
is time to devote a page to Sony
even though their current system doesn't impress me much.
- Olympus has finally allowed image stabilisation for ANY lens
used on their E510 or E3 dSLRs - see here
for my first tests of this firmware upgrade.
- added photographing
Australian forests - forests must be one of the hardest
subjects to photograph successfully.
- added a new genealogy page - Ayton origins
which aims to consolidate information relating to the origin of
the Ayton name, and family trees with a scrapbook page to assist
my research Norfolk links
and info. I also created Ayton's of southern England
page to amalgamate the known trees of the 18th and early 19th
century to make researching more efficient.
|
November 2007:
- added Olympus E3 page
- added slideshow
photo album to make it easier to browse and purchase my photos but
without descriptions as are in the recent photos
format
- added Ian Potter Gallery
- some of the photos I have taken of the great 19th century
Australian paintings held in the collections at Melbourne's Ian
Potter Gallery at Federation Square, including Tom Roberts, Fred
McCubbin and many more.
- updated Grampians
with more photos.
- thanks to someone browsing this website, discovered a photo at
last of one of my ancestors who immigrated to Australia in 1848
- Abraham BATTY - a family
reunion of descendants is being planned for 2008 in Geelong,
organised by Mark BATTY.
- updated digital SLRs compared
to consider the new Canon 40D, Nikon D300 and Olympus E3 models.
|
|
September 2007:
|
|
August 2007:
|
|
July 2007:
|
|
June 2007:
|
May 2007:
- added new photography information: perspective control,
macro, portrait
lenses, image stabiliser, live
preview, travel photography,
medical/clinical photography,
Quantum flashes and batteries,
remote control of cameras
- updated photography info: buying
a digital SLR, tripods,
photographing the moon
- bought another Bronica
SQ Ai medium format film camera, this one with motor drive and
spot metering viewfinder.
|
|
April 2007:
|
Mar 2007:
- added photos drought-stricken central Victoria - see rural Vic
|
Jan 2007:
- added photos of comet P1 McNaught - see here
- added new photos to Batty
family tree
|
| Dec 2006:
|
| Nov 2006:
|
| Oct 2006:
|
| Sept 2006:
|
| June 2006:
|
| May 2006:
|
| April 2006:
|
| March 2006:
|
| Feb 2006:
|
| Jan 2006:
|
| Nov 2005:
|
|
| Sept 2005:
|
| August 2005:
|
| July 2005:
|
| June 2005:
|
| May 2005:
|
| April 2005:
|
| March 2005:
|
| Feb 2005:
|
