Photo Joes - Getting ready for the Reno Balloon and Air Races

Brent Dowell

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Getting ready for the balloon and air race weekends coming up. Picked up a little longer focal length lense and a 2x doubler dealy bob.

Not quite the Canon White and Red ring, but after some initial futzing around, I'm pretty happy...

Should be a couple of fun weekends of photography coming up in september... :thumb:

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OOOOOOOh...new glass. Sigma makes some good lenes. I have a couple. Brent, I'm not sure about this combination but sometimes when using the 2x converters you will not be able to use auto focus on your camera with that lens. Maybe you already knew that. :dunno: Those balloons dont move very fast so you should still be able to manually focus just fine though but air races might be more of a challange.
 
Yeah, The auto doesn't work, but a little testing and it doesn't seem too tough to do the manual mode. The AF works with the big lense alone, which is fine. But I wanted the doubler for when we go out into the wilds to do some wild life photography...

The AF might be a little slow for the air races anyway. At least the kit lenses were last year. I found it better to kind of focus to a point, and take the picture when appropriate.

Should be fun!

I'm planning on setting up my older camera to do the time lapse again, and using the T2i for doing other shots. Can't wait...
 
Ooooh I am so glad to hear you going again this year. Please take tons of pics and share if you would so those of us that cannot be there can see the baloons. :thumb: Glad to see you keeping up the tradition. Thats such a spectacular event.:thumb:
 
Perfect for wildlife photography.

At the beach. :D

:D Might have to plan a trip to the beach... :D

But tomorrow, I might have to go and hunt some chukar with a lense to see if we can find them. I saw a covey of about 8 today. They should have been down a long time ago. Be nice to grab some pics to see if they have had any kids, and just to practice with the camera...
 
I used to have a doubler on an old Cannon and it was a little fuzzy in comparison to not using it, but I am sure you will do some test shots before the real deal. Nice stuff Brent and look forward to your shots:thumb:
 
Thanks for all the comments guys. I think it's going to be a fun lens to play with. Should be a lot of fun at the upcoming events.

how is the image quality with and without the doubler?

Was starting to get dark by the time I got it last night. I'll shoot some real test shots today.

Now, what would a man of your age do at a beach with a 1000mm zoom lens :huh:

:eek::eek::eek: Does Sharon know what's on your mind?:eek::rofl:

The only beach trips we do tend to be up in Mendocino in February... Not the kind of wildlife you are thinking of, I'm sure! :rofl:

I used to have a doubler on an old Cannon and it was a little fuzzy in comparison to not using it, but I am sure you will do some test shots before the real deal. Nice stuff Brent and look forward to your shots:thumb:

Like Tom mentioned, it won't autofocus with the doubler, and I'm pretty sure I should be using it with a tripod or at least a monopod when using the doubler. Probably should use the monopod at full zoom on it anyway.
 
Like Tom mentioned, it won't autofocus with the doubler, and I'm pretty sure I should be using it with a tripod or at least a monopod when using the doubler. Probably should use the monopod at full zoom on it anyway.

I was going to ask if you were going to use Sharon's shoulder as a monopod, looks like she could get tired holding the end of that thing up. If you don't have a good tripod, I'd recommend the Manfrotto or older Bogen brands with quick mounts, very sturdy. I picked one up from the on-line used equipment area of Adorama for about $80 with the head that someone had traded in.

Probably should consider one that holds around 9 - 10 lbs with that rig you have.
 
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Can't wait to see pictures of the balloons. I'd love to hitch a ride in one someday. I got to go to the Reno air races some years ago. My son was doing a demo in the F18 Superhornet so we got in free. Got driven to them each day right out on the tarmac and parked by the jet. I got to feel like a VIP for a couple days.
 
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It's no low light lens, but I'm having some fun with it. And I'm pretty happy with it. The doubler seems to really reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor, so it will take some playing around to find optimal settings. The camera seems to really want to bump up the ISO, which makes those a little grainy.

Here's a couple of shots.

Bucky in the house at 150mm, hand held, no extra lights, no doubler.

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Picture of the moon just around dusk. Sun had set but it wasn't completely dark. Set it on manual mode and messed around a bit. Completely hand held at 500mm. No doubler.

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Nice. I've never got a shot of the moon that clear with my tripod, let alone hand held.

I'll second that. :thumb: The Bucky shot is also very impressive.

Paul, I've crewed for and flown on quite a few very cool hot air balloons, including a giant polar bear that's about 2/3 the length of a football field and a bald eagle that's 11 stories tall. It's great fun. But I doubt it'd come close to watching your own son demo an F18 Superhornet at the Reno Air Races. ;) Now that would be a blast. :thumb:
 
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