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Lympa Log - Leica R lenses on Olympus E-330 DSLR

Photos and Text © Gary Todoroff  2006 All Rights Reserved

Mar 31, 2006

Rainbows Look Best Against Dark Clouds

Not too much to say today except for a thankful prayer that I remembered to take the camera gear on some errands this afternoon around Eureka. Heavy rain clouds were clearing fast as I came out of our local Costco. Their Nuritsu processor and the downloaded profiles make for well- matched 12x18 inch color Fuji Crystal Archive enlargements at a bargain price.

Outside, a quick glance at the small break between storms said to not drive far for photographs - this kind of light would not last long.

When rainbows show up, you look for whatever might be of interest before the light fades. The combination of slanting light and dark clouds makes good rainbows and also makes great light for strong, saturated photos (no enhancement was applied in Photoshop).

Schmidbauer Lumber company was just two blocks down the street from Costco. Olympus E-330, Leica 70-180 f2.8.

The lens that really defines the "Lympa" is my Leica APO Vario-Elmarit 70-180mm f2.8 on the E-330. The Zuiko 90-250mm f2.8 lens on loan from Olympus is one amazing lens too, but what a hunk! Just the padded bag that protects that expensive optic is the size of my whole camera bag. At 7 1/2 pounds, you think twice about carrying it around for very long, too. I've had the big Zuiko in the car several times for shooting birds - nothing yet, but I hope to get in a wildlife sanctuary bird-blind sometime soon. However, the Leica 70-180 fits neatly with the E-330 in my camera bag, so is always at-hand to sharply catch the special light.

The lighthouse on Table Bluff fifteen miles south of Eureka was moved several years ago to the Woodley Island Marina, just across the Humboldt Bay "Inner Reach" across from town.

This photo has only been cropped and sharpened a bit for the reduced size jpeg. God provided all the color enhancement.

E-330, Leica 70-180mm at about the 70mm setting.

All the shots this afternoon were taken at ISO 400. I really need to get faster with setting up my tripod. Light was changing so quickly that I opted instead for a higher ISO and a lot of bracing of the camera on deck railings and lampposts. With equivalent focal lengths of 150 to 360mm, you really need a fast shutter speed and precise focus to get a sharp image. In some photos, when shadows were brightened up in Photoshop, some banding showed up in dark areas of the digital file on a couple shots where the ISO setting moved inexplicably to 500.

Note to Olympus - give me a "freeze" button on the E-330. Once the freeze button is pressed, nothing can be changed on the camera except shutter speed and f-stop. Then the only way to "unfreeze" the camera would be to hold the freeze button down for at least three seconds. In fast changing light conditions like today, I get very involved in looking at the evolving conditions. So many things can get changed on a digital camera just by putting thumbs and fingers in the wrong places accidentally. The need for a "freeze" button goes up by a factor of ten for doing something really busy, like aerial photography!

Here is the 70-180 lens racked out to the full 180mm setting, which is equal to a 360mm lens on a 35mm camera. Detail on the full size image is extremely sharp, with small details even visible on the light inside the cupola of the Table Bluff Light.

The "Coral Sea" boat at the lower right is the marine science research vessel for Humboldt State University.

When light blesses you in situations like this, don't forget to look in all directions,

something worth remembering both in photography and in life. 

Backlight from the setting sun lights up the steam from the Evergreen pulp mill stacks on the Samoa Peninsula across the bay from Eureka. What used to be a really stinky factory has been converted to the only chlorine-free pulp mill in North America and is now practically odorless. E-330, Leica APO 70-180mm.

 

Who needs blue skies when black skies are so much more interesting, here along the Eureka Boardwalk at about 6 pm. Light like this doesn't happen often and I was glad that I had the 2GB CF card loaded in the E-330 for taking lots of shots.

However, I do need to get out of the JPG habit and start shooting more photos in RAW mode. The RAW converter for the E-330 has not made it to Photoshop CS2 yet. So for now you have to use Olympus Master software for RAW files - an extra step that is cumbersome.

E-330, Leica 70-180/2.8 at about f11 for some depth of field at the 70mm setting

Part of the fun of photography is the people you meet along the way. Another man was taking in the light, too. We kept a respectful distance during the hunt, vaguely aware of one another. As the light faded, we nodded, walked back to our cars together, and I met a friendly photographic colleague named Chuck.

His Canon 5D made for impressive credentials with its full-size 12 megapixel CCD. He appreciated the Leica glass and E-330, too. After a blustery 40 degrees by the bay, we enjoyed some hot coffee at a nearby shop, along with a careful study of cameras and lenses. I was demonstrating the Live-View features of the E-330, already in Mode A with the LCD at a 90 degree angle. The camera was conveniently resting on the table and needed just a slight rotation to the right to catch the scene below:

 

"Self - Portrait"

Type of camera-phone unknown.

With my E-330 in Live Mode A and on the table, the auto focus and auto-exposure did the rest to capture the moment of a moment being captured.

They were holding still for their own picture, which allowed for a sharp photo with the E-330, even at slow shutter speed.

Olympus E-330, Zuiko Digital 14-45mm

f3.4-5.6 at28mm,

1/4th second, f4.4,

ISO 400.

 

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