Nikon D750 & D780

You could kill two birds with one stone and sell it to Jules. :D

Martin, is Wales really that rough? I would have thought the van would be safe pretty much anywhere. When we did Cadair Idris we left the car in the car park and all was good. The dark skies are absolutely awesome there. Wish i had spent 10 minutes shooting some stars when we arrived instead of stuffing my face. Living in a relatively built up area just ruins any chance of decent starscapes. I was totally amazed.
 
IIRC Nikon send technicians from around the world for major sporting events, like the Olympics/World Cup etc...... so repairs may take a little longer than usual. So maybe worth holding off before sending the cameras in, if you can.
 
T_J_G said:
Usk resevoir. We went to another place but sky shots were limited due to the the landscape getting in the way. Then we got to usk and the clouds rolled in :(
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I think that's the same one - Tal y Bont on Usk - did you drive over the dam and turn right along a thin road to a clearing area? There are mountain views across the reservoir.
 
JulesP said:
I think that's the same one - Tal y Bont on Usk - did you drive over the dam and turn right along a thin road to a clearing area? There are mountain views across the reservoir.
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Nope, we drove down but not across the dam, the dam would have been on our left looking across the resevoir. I have a photo somewhere...
 
Had an 8 hour jolly yesterday into the Peak District. Headed for Dovestone again in an attempt to find The Trinnacle. Again. Armed with a better idea of where it was this time i set about finding it in blazing sunshine. Took an hour and 45 minutes to get to it and me being me made hard work of it. :D Decided to head up a waterfall (!) to get to it. :LOL: Ended up getting there way too early so had to sit around for a while. Within 10 minutes of arriving the cloud rolled in. FML!! Managed to scout out a composition that i liked and set up the camera in anticipation of the sun shining through a small gap inbetween two banks of cloud.

No awesome sunset colours but i did get lucky with some haze (and a shed load of flare which has had to be cloned out in PS) and i obviously just had to climb up onto the top otherwise it just wouldn't be me now would it?!


The Trinnacle by David Raynham, on Flickr
 
minnnt said:
Had an 8 hour jolly yesterday into the Peak District. Headed for Dovestone again in an attempt to find The Trinnacle. Again. Armed with a better idea of where it was this time i set about finding it in blazing sunshine. Took an hour and 45 minutes to get to it and me being me made hard work of it. :D Decided to head up a waterfall (!) to get to it. :LOL: Ended up getting there way too early so had to sit around for a while. Within 10 minutes of arriving the cloud rolled in. FML!! Managed to scout out a composition that i liked and set up the camera in anticipation of the sun shining through a small gap inbetween two banks of cloud.

No awesome sunset colours but i did get lucky with some haze (and a shed load of flare which has had to be cloned out in PS) and i obviously just had to climb up onto the top otherwise it just wouldn't be me now would it?!


The Trinnacle by David Raynham, on Flickr
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Very nice, although I'm more impressed you climbed the rock (y)
 
Countryfile live was interesting, and massive! Lots of tweed on sale ... I suppose one would expect that at a farm show ;) Not much to shoot really, but met a couple of interesting folk, My new best mate, Justin Cadbury, liked my camera :D and tried talking me into shooting an installation at Blenheim Palace today WTF :eek:
Almost thought my camera was buggered, until I realised that I`d locked the focus points duh. Bought a pair of gloves too ;)

Anyway here`s a couple of snaps from the day ...

Camera Obscura Builder by Paulie-W, on Flickr

Shake baby Shake by Paulie-W, on Flickr

Ferris Wheel by Paulie-W, on Flickr
 
minnnt said:
Had an 8 hour jolly yesterday into the Peak District. Headed for Dovestone again in an attempt to find The Trinnacle. Again. Armed with a better idea of where it was this time i set about finding it in blazing sunshine. Took an hour and 45 minutes to get to it and me being me made hard work of it. :D Decided to head up a waterfall (!) to get to it. :LOL: Ended up getting there way too early so had to sit around for a while. Within 10 minutes of arriving the cloud rolled in. FML!! Managed to scout out a composition that i liked and set up the camera in anticipation of the sun shining through a small gap inbetween two banks of cloud.

No awesome sunset colours but i did get lucky with some haze (and a shed load of flare which has had to be cloned out in PS) and i obviously just had to climb up onto the top otherwise it just wouldn't be me now would it?!


The Trinnacle by David Raynham, on Flickr
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This is very nice Sir, beautiful tones and light, well composed, I can easily live with the flare.(y)

"The only thing that I wonder about this and some other shots of yours, is the chap that keeps standing on the rocks. Is he ever gonna jump ?":whistle::D:D

George.
 
A quick question for some of you guys, sometimes I find the camera is moving to a narrower apature than I want it to, even in A or M. Today for instance it moved down from 2.8 to 5 and wouldn't come back until I pointed it at a cloud and I could move it back down to 2.8, any idea which weird arse setting I've found?
 
JohnN said:
A quick question for some of you guys, sometimes I find the camera is moving to a narrower apature than I want it to, even in A or M. Today for instance it moved down from 2.8 to 5 and wouldn't come back until I pointed it at a cloud and I could move it back down to 2.8, any idea which weird arse setting I've found?
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Sounds very odd, aperture shouldn't change by itself in A or M, it's just under/overexpose if it couldn't change shutter or ISO anymore. I can't think what setting you could have possibly changed TBH. Have you tried a different lens?
 
Today I began being a bit cheesed off as it was the the first time in about two years I actually got good weather at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, and of course I'm still cameraless. However, it actually ended up being a good lesson and made me realise how much time I spend looking through the viewfinder rather than just enjoying places.

Whilst I'm not going to stop taking photos obviously I will take time to take in things rather than having the camera permanently glued to my face ;)
 
JohnN said:
A quick question for some of you guys, sometimes I find the camera is moving to a narrower apature than I want it to, even in A or M. Today for instance it moved down from 2.8 to 5 and wouldn't come back until I pointed it at a cloud and I could move it back down to 2.8, any idea which weird arse setting I've found?
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Perhaps it's the special chocolate mode that only the D750 has?
 
Paulie-W said:
Countryfile live was interesting, and massive! Lots of tweed on sale ... I suppose one would expect that at a farm show ;) Not much to shoot really, but met a couple of interesting folk, My new best mate, Justin Cadbury, liked my camera :D and tried talking me into shooting an installation at Blenheim Palace today WTF :eek:
Almost thought my camera was buggered, until I realised that I`d locked the focus points duh. Bought a pair of gloves too ;)

Anyway here`s a couple of snaps from the day ...

Camera Obscura Builder by Paulie-W, on Flickr

Shake baby Shake by Paulie-W, on Flickr

Ferris Wheel by Paulie-W, on Flickr
Click to expand...

So are you at Blenheim Palace then???
 
JohnN said:
A quick question for some of you guys, sometimes I find the camera is moving to a narrower apature than I want it to, even in A or M. Today for instance it moved down from 2.8 to 5 and wouldn't come back until I pointed it at a cloud and I could move it back down to 2.8, any idea which weird arse setting I've found?
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Do you bracketing on?
 
No bracketing but I'll try a different lens, thanks for the suggestion
 
minnnt said:
Martin, is Wales really that rough? I would have thought the van would be safe pretty much anywhere. When we did Cadair Idris we left the car in the car park and all was good. The dark skies are absolutely awesome there. Wish i had spent 10 minutes shooting some stars when we arrived instead of stuffing my face. Living in a relatively built up area just ruins any chance of decent starscapes. I was totally amazed.
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David, it was more of an issue of getting setup somewhere for the night and now I converted the middle of the van with a bed it would look like I'm camping and didn't want any worries getting moved on by police. I'd certainley feel safer on my own in the mountains than in the city's. The Milky Way is visible to the naked eye in my back garden and better down the local river but up in the Brecon's it's in a different league :)
 
MartinCornwall said:
David, it was more of an issue of getting setup somewhere for the night and now I converted the middle of the van with a bed it would look like I'm camping and didn't want any worries getting moved on by police. I'd certainley feel safer on my own in the mountains than in the city's. The Milky Way is visible to the naked eye in my back garden and better down the local river but up in the Brecon's it's in a different league :)
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Another option maybe the area around the Cray Reservoir. There's numerous parking on the main roads and if you get there in the day to have a look around, I think you should find something suitable.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=c...efox-b-ab&gfe_rd=cr&ei=i4CnV8rwDorS8Af23Y6ACw

The last time I was up that way was in 2014 trying out my XT1 and the picture below was taken from one of the parking spots. The photo is towards Brecon, if coming up from Swansea.

Brecon 17.06.2014 025 by Swansea Jack, on Flickr
 
minnnt said:
Yes, those 600mm f1.4's that people use in hides are really popular.

:D
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snerkler said:
So are those 600mm f2.8s ;) :p
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I would hate to to size the size of those! It would look like one of those Astro telescope observatories rather than a wildlife hide.

I was at the osprey hide near Rutland. Being the only place in England to have a chance of Ospreys diving only 10m in front of you it's somewhere I've been thinking of trying for a few years now.

Osprey (28)- In the water by -Rob'81-

Osprey (28)- Take Off by -Rob'81-
 
@Swanseajack Thanks for that info I'll have a look later. Looks right in the middle and a good view of the sky.

@minnnt Up there mate. Got lots of dark sites on my doorstep but got a funeral in Wales on the Wednesday so instead of just heading back down I thought I'd hit the Brecon's for a few nights as well.
 
MartinCornwall said:
David, it was more of an issue of getting setup somewhere for the night and now I converted the middle of the van with a bed it would look like I'm camping and didn't want any worries getting moved on by police. I'd certainley feel safer on my own in the mountains than in the city's. The Milky Way is visible to the naked eye in my back garden and better down the local river but up in the Brecon's it's in a different league :)
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This is an old one of mine from Tal Y Bont. If you click through to the Flickr page, it should be on the map there too. Was so quiet there - don't think you would get any trouble from police / locals etc.
Line up the Stars. by Julian Provis, on Flickr
 
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MartinCornwall said:
That looks like a great spot. Can you park overnight this close or is it on the main road?
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I drove over the dam, turned left along the bank of the reservoir and parked up there - it seemed like a dead end but looking at the map I don't think it is - I was there for over two hours in the middle of the night and never saw another soul. I would imagine you would be ok parking overnight.
Here is where I parked up. That sign however does say no camping:(
 
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MartinCornwall said:
Anyone know of any safe dark sites to camp in my van in the Brecons. Going up to wales for a funeral next Wednesday and the Perseids meteor shower peaks on the 11th/12th and 12th/13th. Two years ago I stayed at Llanthony Pryory Campsite but there's no view. I aslo found a camp field by Pen y Fan no facilities but looks dark.

PS not looking for campsites as such but more of a safe dark site where it is okay to set the van up for the night and not get moved on or hassle.
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Do you absolutely have to have wide aperture lenses for these shots? Is it just noise that comes into play or will you not get enough light for the stars and meteors to show? Kinder Scout's a bit of a trek but I thought I might try Owler Tor to see if that's dark enough, but my wide angle lens is only f3.5 :(
 
You should be ok on f3.5 but generally the faster the better. As the stars are moving, exposure time only really affects the landscape and sky exposure - the stars should always come out bright. The only part of the exposure triangle that really affects the star brightness is iso and aperture.
Try a setting of f3.5, iso 1600 and 30 second shutter speed and adjust iso and aperture from there.
 
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