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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Mare Island Buildings With Moon Shadows

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Mare Island Buildings With Moon Shadows

Mare Island Buildings With Moon Shadows. Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. February 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shadows from moonlight passing through shipyard structures fall across walls on historic buildings at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

I have shot almost this precise scene previously, and under similar circumstances – on a night photography shoot with The Nocturnes, the SF Bay Area night photography group led by Tim Baskerville. Last night we were back at Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) again, this time with perhaps 40 photographers.

After meeting up with everyone and getting organized, I wandered over near the MINSY museum to shoot some brick walls, shipyard structures, and – especially – the shadows cast by the nearly full moon on the ground and the building walls. It was to be a short shoot…

I composed this one with interest in the paired shadows on the walls – one on the green section and the other higher on the brick section – and the contrast between the brick colors and the green wall at the right. I also wanted to include the metal roof beyond and the power plant smokestack in the distance – and, of course, a few star trails above – and I was (and am) intrigued by the combinations of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal forms. I made this first exposure – nearly five minutes – and then set up a second shot while waiting for the dark frame exposure to finish.

After getting the second shot I framed another that included a different section of the brick wall and shadows plus the base of a huge steel shipyard structure. With everything ready I pressed the shutter… and something didn’t sound right. The camera didn’t make an exposure. I tried again – still nothing. At this point I checked the display and found the Canon “err 99” message that can crop up from time to time. The usual solution is to remove the battery, the lens, and perhaps the CF card and then try again – it almost always works. This time it didn’t. I tried a different lens. A different battery. I finally determined that something had gone very wrong with the shutter mechanism, which simply wasn’t opening. Argghhh. So, after making two exposures I packed up, walked back to my car and did the 90 minute drive back home.

Today I put the 5D a box and shipped it off to Canon. We’ll see what happens. I’m sort of inclined to get a 5D II and keep this body for backup after it is repaired. But wouldn’t you know it… while bodies were available last week from several vendors for about $2700, they all seem to be gone now. Double argghhh…

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: mare island, naval shipyard, historic, navy, building, structure, wall, roof, window, ladder, smoke stack, chimney, boarded up, covered, drain, downspout, wire, sidewalk, shadow, full, moon, moonlight, moonshadow, star, sky, trails, night, photography, light, urban, architecture, california, usa, vallejo, green

Commentary

Aarrgg! Broken Camera!

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Last night I joined The Nocturnes for night photography at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Things began in the usual uneventful way – perhaps 40 photographers assembled as Tim Baskerville went over the “rules” of the game, I shot a few photos of the group, and then I headed off to start photographing the interesting shipyard structures under the light of a nearly full moon.

I began by working on improving a shot that I had attempted on another visit, a scene of a brick building with an attached green building in front of a metal roof structure with the power plant smokestack in the background, this time with some very interesting shadows cast by the overhead shipyard structures. Finishing this shot, I set up another of an overhead truss structure illuminated by moonlight with star trails behind. So far so good – and I felt like I was getting in the groove for a productive evening.

I composed a third shot, again with that shadowed wall of the brick building but this time with the base of a giant steel tower in front of it. I pressed the shutter release… and something didn’t sound right. Tried again, and still no go. I took the camera off the tripod and saw the dreaded Canon “err 99” message in the display. No panic, though; I’ve seen this before and know enough to remove the battery, card, and lens and give it another try. Ah, still no go. After removing the lens and jumping through a few other hoops I figured out that the mirror was in the “up” position, more or less waiting for the shutter to open… which it didn’t do.

So, perhaps 15 minutes into this night photography session I had an inoperable camera. I packed up and headed home, where I did a bit of Internet searching and found other descriptions of exactly this issue. It looks like I need to have Canon replace the shutter mechanism.

(I’m going to bring up one odd factor with Canon. It seems that a good percentage of the people who encountered this problem did so after exactly the same sequence of events that I followed in shooting long exposures with mirror lockup engaged. A number had even been using the 24-105 beforehand, as I had been. Hmmm… Later: I’ve been contacted by another photographer who had precisely the same situation and had some dialog with Canon about the situation…)

So, at the moment I’m without a camera. I’m giving some thought to picking up a 5D II a bit ahead of my planned schedule and either keeping the repaired 5D as a backup or selling it. (It would be a good deal for someone, especially with a brand new shutter.) Of course, as luck would have it, it appears that all of the body-only versions of the 5D II that were available last week are now out of stock…

Seems like a good day to take a hike. Without a camera. :-)

Commentary, Equipment, News

Canon EOS 5D Mark II Announced

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This evening I’m seeing quite a few links to the announcement of the updated EOS Canon EOS 5D Mark II. (Here is a link to a Canon press release.) Unlike some previous Canon updates that seemed rather trivial – e.g. 20D to 30D – this one includes quite a few compelling new and improved features, and I’m sure this will be a very popular camera.

Some highlights include:

  1. 21MP full-frame sensor
  2. HD video capture
  3. The expected sensor dust reduction/cleaning features
  4. Live view shooting
  5. Some interesting software additions – a “new creative mode,” “peripheral illumination correction” in jpg modes (sounds like compensation for vignetting), and “auto lighting optimizer” (seems to try to deal with recording details in high dynamic range scenes)
  6. Continuous shooting at 3.9 fps
  7. Larger and higher resolution LCD
  8. 150,000 shutter cycles
  9. Expanded ISO range
  10. Price: $2699

For many of us who are attracted to the 5D image quality, the 21MP sensor is a good thing – this camera should compete with the 1DsMKIII on an image quality basis as long as one has good enough lenses and uses careful technique. (I doubt if there will be much IQ advantage if one hand holds the camera in most cases.) It is interesting to note that the increased shutter life is competitive with 1-series cameras as well.

Video capture is quickly going to be a standard feature on DSLRs – though the usefulness of the feature is something that will perhaps only become apparent once these cameras find their way into the hands of those who know how to use the feature effectively and creatively.

The relatively leisurely 3.9 fps burst mode is no surprise. The 5D is not a camera optimized for fast action sports photography that relies on high speed burst mode shooting. But still, at nearly 4 fps it won’t exactly be unusable in this regard either.

The pricing is interesting as well. Whether due to the recent announcement of a $3000 25MP full frame Sony camera and the anticipated competition from a 20+MP Nikon camera or something else, it seems that the prices of full frame cameras – and very capable ones, at that! – are starting to drop.

Will I buy one? I had pretty much decided that I would not buy a 5D upgrade that only provided a 16MP sensor. However, at 21MP this body provides close to double the number of photosites – and such a doubling has been more or less my trigger for an upgrade. Of course, I’m not one to rush to be the first to buy. I’ll let those who are willing to pay any price to be “first on the block” get theirs right away, and I like to see what initial problems are discovered as the first units are released. All of that being said, I think there is a fair chance that I’ll do this upgrade within the next 6 months or so.

Also: Canon announced one new lens, an upgraded EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM. The previous version was thought by some to be less impressive than its 35mm f/1.4 big brother, so it isn’t too surprising that Canon updated this lens. There is also some thought the Canon will update some lenses in order to take better advantage of the higher MP count sensors – they can exceed the resolving ability of some good lenses. It will be interesting to see whether the new 24mm L is a significant improvement over the previous version… and whether it is worth the somewhat shocking (for a prime!) $1699 list price.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Equipment

Canon EOS 5D

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Having used my Canon EOS 5D extensively for about two years, I figure it is about time for me to write up something about my experiences with and impressions of this camera. Rather than try to compete with the existing camera review sites and post a bunch of technical specifications and test results, I’m going to focus on aspects of the camera that may give a better general idea of its strengths and weaknesses and of situations for which it is best adapted. Continue reading Canon EOS 5D →