Yesterday, I ventured out with the 350D. Yessir, I was actually in the open air… outside, with the Canon DSLR.
… amongst other things.
Nearly two decades ago, I bought a tripod. A Slik-88. It was second-hand then. So it was cheap. It was also sturdy… only a hurricane will move this mass of metal. However, lightweight is not a word that can be applied to it, even though it’s metal is aluminium!
So, off to the beach I went, complete with 350D, spare memory cards, spare battery, lens cloth, cable release and the Slik-88. The tripod itself was swapped between arms a couple of times, thanks to its weight. The phrase “travel light” frequently sprang to mind. All that was needed was Pc Plod to stop me and point to the tripod… “’scuse me sir, did you know that that is offensive weapon?”.
True to form… no police around. And I’m digressing.
I reached the beach and began to erect the scaffold… er… tripod. Flashbacks of my day-out for an article in DCM flooded my memory… including reminders of just how easy it is to move the tripod, once it’d been set up. Of course, then I wasn’t constantly dealing with sand.
Sand. How I laughed when I remembered my cautions to people I’d sold cameras to, last century. Don’t take the camera near sand. Sand will get into the film chamber, then it’ll spread and you’ll get scratches on your negatives, a complete strip and rebuild *might* solve that problem… but then it’ll be expansive etc. Nowadays, there’s no such worries with digital cameras. Just remember to keep the media card door shut. And don’t change lenses if there’s any dust flying around. And invest in something to clean the sensor of inevitable dust.
Hmm.
Photos were taken. With the camera set on autofocus, the predictable aperture-priority mode, and with me using RAW (yes, it did happen! Pt2 to follow), I had no worries about the results.
Oh dear.
How can automatic functions go wrong? Ok, I know exposure can easily go wrong… but autofocus? Have a photo.
How did this, and other similar shots, to wrong so badly? Erm… beats me, as I’d focussed on that pierhead. That’s not just chromatic aberation. It’s not the lens itself either. It’s something telling the camera that the subject’s in focus, or the camera deciding for itself that it’s in focus.
The wonky horizon can be explained with me trying to maul the tripod into submission… and the wet sand assisting the tripod in the duel.
I have two Leica cameras in front of me. Both are laughing. Hmm.
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