Tasmanian coastline

I've been surprised and amazed at the rock formations around the coast of Tasmania. Both the larger variety and the smaller which has incredible detail and shape. A few samples...

Close to the mouth of the Arthur River. Plenty of beach areas to walk and explore.

One of my favourites from the Arthur River area. A kind of hobbitland on the coast. Late afternoon with an incoming tide.

Not being a palaeontologist, I can't speak about their formation but its certainly a work of art.

Not being a palaeontologist, I can't speak about their formation but its certainly a work of art.

Bay of Fires

Around the shoreline at Stanley.

A "Day that earth was formed" shot. Arthur River area.

A lovely spot close to home - Gordon, Tas.

Water retreating along channel - Arthur River

Huge variety of shells washed up at Randalls Bay

Old man or Buddha?

Fossil Cove was one of the first places I visited on the east coast near Kettering. Incredibly detailed and coloured formations by the water. 

Timing is everything. Tide is out, revealing the sandbar ridges.

Timing is everything. Tide is out, revealing the sandbar ridges.

Gordon - shoreline. Taken with iPhone.

Hasselblad lenses on Nikon D800E

I mentioned how I replaced my broken Nikon 24-70mm lens with a bunch of manual focus Hasselblad (Zeiss) lenses. Even though I'm restricted to manually focusing I'd have to say I'm happy with the trade off given the quality of the Zeiss glass. Build quality is excellent with all four lenses and the tilt/shift capability is a plus whether for architectural shooting or stitched panoramas. The following is a list of equipment I've been using:

Distagon 4/40 T*

Distagon 3.5/60mm T*

Distagon Makro-Planar 4/120mm T*

Sonnar 4/180mm T*

Extension tube 35mm

Really Right Stuff Carbon Fibre Tripod

Markins Q20 Ballhead

Selens Variable ND Filter

A noticeable limitation of the manual focusing lenses which really needs to be considered is the ability to focus them in low light. A technique that helps in this is to open the aperture fully, allowing viewing of the subject in maximum light allowed by the conditions, then stopping down if necessary. Another 'assist' in this is to bring another light source to help focus.

Before buying the Zeiss lenses I searched for images taken by each of the lenses in addition to reading reviews. There's not many available unfortunately. Nearly all images posted here will be from one or the other of the above lenses. In most cases I found it a little (well, a lot really) troublesome to record the detail of f-stop or even which focal length was used for each image. I have listed details like this before but that info was readily available through the exif data where manual lenses have no such info.

Large mushrooms growing at the base of a tree trunk

Colour rendition is another reason I love the Hasselblad lenses. Its more pleasing to my eye. I have yet to enjoy its translation into print.

Back again

Its been sometime since the last post here (coming up to Anzac Day seems appropriate ; ). I've been spending the last 3 months anyway in Tasmania - one of my favourite places on the planet. After a rocky start, I really enjoyed the photographic offering on the coastline right around Tasmania. Not that I've covered every inch of ground but the places I got to had some very worthwhile features. I say rocky start as I lost camera and lens down a cliff before even starting the travel part. Lens was totalled while the body could be repaired. 

       The good news for me at least was the replacement of this very capable Nikon 24-70mm came in the form of several Hasselblad prime lenses all of which I'm happy to report are performing to the highest standard. Additionally all replacement lenses have tilt/shift capability thanks to the Mirex adapter allowing me to fit the lenses to my Nikon body.

Once broken you can see the solid piece of glass that its made of.

Once broken you can see the solid piece of glass that its made of.

A sample of the tilt function can be seen on the following photos. If used with restraint and some purpose, the effect does not detract from the appeal of the image. Certain features can be 'highlighted' leaving the rest of the image blurred. It can result in the 'miniature' look more noticeable in the second photo with a person.

The log is given prominence but effect is subtle.

The log is given prominence but effect is subtle.

More accentuated tilt creates the 'miniature' look.

Kolkata street scenes

A distracted boy watches as foreigners ask for directions. Next to him a man conscientiously does his bookkeeping. 

Girl in orphanage - Cuttack, West Bengal, India

Sleeping in the street - Kolkata, India

Waterfall and rainforest

A shot from one of the waterfalls in Mt Wilson. The rock face is almost black as coal with a blue green tinge. Tripod definitely required for this one. Specs: f13/-67ev/8 secs/ISO100/focal length 44mm

Showing two streams. Specs: f13/-67ev/10 secs/ISO100/focal length 32mm

Rainforest Mt Wilson. Specs: f13/-1.67ev/.5 secs/ISO100/focal length 70mm

Autumn in Mt Wilson

A beautiful transition of the seasons in Mt Wilson. About 40 mins drive from Katoomba autumn was in full swing. With a light drizzle, the weather was otherwise great for photography of detailed nature rich in colour and textures. Some 'scenes' due to tonal arrangements work better in colour and have an impact that does not work as effectively when converted to b&w. Objects seem to merge into one another. Generally this is the case with complex arrangements. See the two photos below to compare.

A more direct, side by side example below. This time, although more detailed than the b&w example above, the two elements of the foreground have very different tonal values and separation is apparent. ​Leaves appear to be floating below the tree.

Specs: ​f4.5/1/125sec/ISO640