Photo 150 - Phil Wood

I have a Minolta 3000i - inherited from my Dutch mother-in-law when she passed. That's how I got the rotten lens. This is OK.

I'll be interested to see the landscape photo in the four seasons as you go through the year.

Week 2 - Theme 3 - Try Something Creative.

This picture actually fits in with all three themes - a landscape taken with my week's lens in a creative manner. It's a stitch of 5 handheld portrait shots. I took 9, but LR (or my laptop) can't cope, I may try again and, if I can get it to work, will change this image to a wider view.

Poplars in Winter.

Sony A99ii + Minolta AF 80-200mm f4.5-5.6 @ 80mm. ISO 500, f8 1/80s

Week 2 - Theme 3 - Try Something Creative (reprise)

I was thinking of replacing my attempt at a tele-panorama if I could get all nine shots stitched together. However, having successfully done so (in PS) I find I much prefer the tighter shot. So I'm leaving it as my Theme 3 shot of the week - but here is the wider view (about 120 deg) and a 64:27 crop for dcap.

Poplars in Winter (tele-panorama).

Sony A99ii + Minolta AF 80-200mm f4.5-5.6 @ 80mm. ISO 500, f8 1/80s

Poplars in Winter (cinemascope).

Sony A99ii + Minolta AF 80-200mm f4.5-5.6 @ 80mm. ISO 500, f8 1/80s

Edited by Phil Wood - 13 January 2021 at 11:05

Howard_S wrote: I have a Minolta 3000i - inherited from my Dutch mother-in-law when she passed. That's how I got the rotten lens. This is OK. I'll be interested to see the landscape photo in the four seasons as you go through the year.

It's an aspect I hadn't really considered, perhaps I need to find a single scene to shoot several times through the year? Meanwhile I'm enjoying the challenge of shooting winter landscapes in the perpetual drizzle.

Wētāpunga wrote: The composition and DOF is really good here, and I concur it is much better than the smaller sibling. This is looking to be a fun challenge for you.

I've been meaning to do something like this for ages and am enjoying it so far. The only problem is deciding which lens to use next - do I get rid of the dodgier lenses early, spread the quality out or pick one on a whim every Monday? Currently I'm thinking in terms of carrying on with the 1988 theme - there are three more to go. Unless I change my mind, next week will be the third worst 1988 lens according to Dyxum ratings (working my way up the rankings) - the 100-300mm f4.5-5.6. I think I prefer the 80-200, but we'll see how I feel in a week or so.

onsplekkie wrote: Great stuff! Ik know LR is not the best stitch software, but non the less, great scene

I'm impressed by the results from LR, when it will provide them. However, PS has delivered in this case and is far quicker, I guess it will be my goto stitcher for a while.

I am liking your wide views very much Phil. At first glance of this one I wondered why they had a wheelbarrow full of fire!

Week 3 - Theme 1 - Lens Extravaganza.

Continuing my course through Minolta's 1988 offerings, in reverse order of Dyxum rating.

I paid £10 for a 100-300 a couple of years back, it came with a lovely Minolta hard case. I came to the conclusion that the hard case was well worth the cash.

I have a strong belief that people buy xx-300 zooms because of the 300 - I remember taking a shot of a church clock and being distinctly unimpressed by the results - so I wanted to see how a second, similarly priced, copy worked at 300mm. To be honest it isn't terrible - just not very good, certainly better than the first copy, pixel peeping into a 40MP image is not recommended.

House (about 350-400m away).

Sony A99ii + Minolta AF 100-300mm f4.5-5.6 @ 300mm. ISO 200, f5.6 1/200s

Edited by Phil Wood - 22 January 2021 at 15:15

Week 3 - Theme 3 - Try Something Creative.

Single shot, no PP blending.

Been looking for my car for 42 years now...

Sony A99ii + Sigma 21-35mm f3.4-4.2 @21mm ISO 200, f8, 10s.