Canon 5D drama

I recently had trouble with my 5D: I’d just finished shooting the Mawson Flotilla job, and had dropped it in to our local repairer for a sensor clean ($100 bucks these days), and the next day they rang me and said “You’re camera doesn’t work. At all.” A bit peeved, I went in to check with them, and sure enough, nothing. Dead. They swore that they hadn’t dropped it or spilt coffee on it or anything, just tried to turn it on and got the equivalent of a camera blank stare. So I had it sent off to Canon in Sydney, and the quote came back at $1200 repair! Sheesh! I’d just been forced to buy a third camera (my 7D) and that had only cost me $1395. Not a 5D I know, but … eek. As it turned out, the repair cost $755, as Canon had originally thought it was the board that drives the camera that had gone “phut”, but it was “only” the upper module that required replacement. And it took 6 weeks. And they lost the battery I left with the camera. Not very impressed…

Aerial view of Bathurst Harbour and Port Davey

I’ve has a busy couple of months flying to Tasmania’s south-west, and not as much time with my cameras as I’d like. But I managed to get a shot off the other day on my way back to Hobart, just after departing Melaleuca airstrip. Opened the window and pointed my new Canon 7D outside, and blasted off a series to the west, while remaining clear of cloud… just. Seaplane VH-AQU had just flown by well below me (at about 1500′), heading towards Port Davey, and I was at 2500′.

Mawson Centenary Flotilla, Hobart

A busy day yesterday, shooting the Mawson Flotilla, as well as getting the gyro mount up and running for some aerials being shot by Joe Shemesh for Tourism Tasmania. I headed up to the top of the Tasman Bridge, which was windy, noisy, and shakey due to the trucks thundering past. My Canon 300 f 2.8 has its IS working overtime, but I managed to get some sharp shots of the approaching fleet, led by the RSV Aurora Australis (aka the Orange Roughy). I always have mixed feelings watching the AA head south when I’m not on it…

RED Epic gets a run on the Kenyon gyro stabilised mount

Had a quick flight today at Helicopter Resources with Joe Shemesh from Stormfront Film trialling his RED Epic on my mount. A very quick flight, in gusty conditions, but enough to convince Joe that it was good for the job! Joe’s assessment of the shots were that it “looks great!” He’s got an 18mm PL mount lens that we’ll try in a couple of days, and he reckons it’ll “all look stunning”.

Joe Shemesh keeps an eye on his RED Epic as it bounces around on the Kenyon gyro stabilised mount

“Alluere” by Aden Narkowicz

An evening job for Arts@Work, photographing a lighting installation at Princes Wharf No. 1 shed. The frequent interruptions from passing friendly drunk people added to the challenge of trying to document a dynamic artwork, that cycled through various lighting effects over an hour before repeating itself. On reflection, a timelapse would probably be the way to go with this one. The image below is heavily edited, as anyone who knows the area will appreciate, but I wanted to isolate the artwork from the surrounding distractions.

Gyro mount goes commercial! (TVC)

My Steady-Shot mount had its first commercial outing on the 21st November, in a Tasmanian Helicopters B3 Squirell shooting aerials for a Birdseye TVC. The mount was driven by Earle Dresner, with an Arri Alexa onboard, which was really pushing the boundaries of what the mount can stabilise. The camera and lens combo was only just under 10 kg, and the whole set-up was fairly top heavy. However, for the 3-4 seconds of aerial footage required, it did the job, and saved the producers the hassle and expense of getting a Tyler mount or Cineflex sent down to Tassie. I was pretty nervous about the whole job, with Earle being the first person other than me to use the mount. Earle agreed the Alexa was too heavy for the mount, but said they got the shots they needed and the final result would be great.

Tassie Devils

I had a great day at the Bonorong Wildlife Park at Brighton near Hobart the other day, photographing Tasmanian Devils for Conservation Volunteers Australia. Great little guys! Many thanks to Petra who was our Tassie Devil wrangler and escort, who helped make the process a real breeze.

Back from Antarctica

Just got back from another trip aboard the RSV Aurora Australis (my 19th), travelling to Davis and Casey stations, and getting stuck in the ice for a few days too. A great trip, with a couple of nights featuring the best aurora (southern lights) I have ever seen. Some teaser pics below… more soon!

Queenstown Hills

The hills above Queenstown in Tasmania’s west are infamous for their desolate appearance due to mining, copper smelting, and clear-felling for timber. When I first visited Tassie many years ago I was horrified, and didn’t spend much time there. I recently returned and was more intrigued than I could have imagined with the texture and colour of the hills. Vegetation is slowly returning, but the barren hills are strangely captivating. I spent a few hours up here, and have a load of images to work on.

Orange Bellied Parrot

I was lucky enough to get a good view of a few OBPs at the Melaleuca bird hide, in Tasmania’s South-west National Park recently. There are only about 50 individuals left in the wild of this species. This image of a brightly-coloured male was the result of good luck rather than planning, and was taken with a Canon 5D, a 70-200 IS lens plus a 1.4x and a 2x extender, through the glass window of the hide (thus ensuring the worst possible image quality!). Not too bad, considering!