October, upstate New York
Back when digital cameras first began to overtake 35mm film in terms of resolution and fidelity, I did a weird thing – I bought a large-format film camera kit which I built from wood, glue and a bit of ground glass.
The camera used 4X5 inch sheet film and required a lengthy amount of time under the dark cloth in order to compose and focus an image.
Its design and movements allowed things not possible with any other camera type in terms of focus thanks to the Scheimpflug principle.
At the time, it did for me what QRP would later do – it got me out and about on various trails. I discovered the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey – places I would later go on QRP excursions with Sam Morse’s code. Continue reading 'The appeal of retro'»
Mark Gee is an Australian photographer I first heard about several weeks ago. In fact, it was about the time an Estonian ham was bouncing his 15m signals off the moon.
Operating at a much shorter wavelength than ES5TV, Mark decided to exercise the video capabilities of his digital SLR.
The video below may appear to be a slow-motion capture of the full moon rising but it’s actually recorded in real time. By using a very long telephoto lens, the motion of the moon was made apparent in much the same way that a close-up video of a clock would show motion of the minute hand.
Long story short, it makes a compelling video, in part, due to the inclusion of people in the foreground. “Foreground” is a relative term – in this case, it’s 2.1 km away.
Tech details from Mark:
Full Moon Silhouettes is a real time video of the moon rising over the Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. People had gathered up there this night to get the best view possible of the moon rising. I captured the video from 2.1km away on the other side of the city. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to photograph for a long time now, and a lot of planning and failed attempts had taken place. Finally, during moon rise on the 28th January 2013, everything fell into place and I got my footage.
The video is as it came off the memory card and there has been no manipulation whatsoever. Technically it was quite a challenge to get the final result. I shot it on a Canon ID MkIV in video mode with a Canon EF 500mm f/4L and a Canon 2x extender II, giving me the equivalent focal length of 1300mm.
Watch it full-screen by clicking on the 
icon:
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…with Orion overhead on a clear Texas evening:
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Earth passing through tail of Comet ISON Jan 14-15, 2014
Meteor scatter, anyone?
It’s not very often that radio propagation and photographic opportunity are enhanced by a single phenomena phenomenon but that may very well be the case in 10 months.
No doubt you’ve heard of the comet due to pass within 800,000 miles of Earth next December.
Comet ISON is expected to be visible in broad daylight with an estimated brightness range anywhere from equal to the full moon to 15 times as bright.
If the forecasts prove correct, it will become naked eye visible in November 2013. Break out the Nikon/Canon.
Then, on January 14-15, Earth will pass through the tail of the comet resulting in “the meteor shower of the century” according to one source. Get your JT65 software ready. Continue reading 'The comets are coming'»
Here’s how I could have combined ham radio and photography, but didn’t. Next time…
A three-part series of events coincided a couple of days ago: (1) the restaurant where I was eating had a section closed off where they were upgrading their lighting, (2) my waitress was as attractive as she was friendly and (3) I had my camera in my car.
The result is pictured below with the fluorescent light’s transformer and cord Photoshopp’ed out of the image. Continue reading 'I should have used RF'»
Ashley, eneloop'ed
A bit over a year ago, I ordered and tested Sanyo’s new-at-the-time rechargeable AA batteries known as Eneloops (you can read that here).
My portable QRP trips are few and far between these days but I’d been going through alkaline AA batteries in my camera flashes like a sailor goes went through beer in Subic Bay. There had to be a better way… Continue reading 'Eneloops prove their reliability…and get better'»
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