The Things We See While Driving

Whenever my wife and I travel, I drive.  For once, I asked her to drive figuring I could catch some shut eye and/or snap a few photos along the way.  I wanted to test out the 70-200mm f/2.8L version II zoom and figured shooting the scenery from a moving car would be a good test.  Well, first off, it's harder than it looks because the lens is long, the car is small and the windows were closed!  I eventually was able to get the hang of it and the lens performed very well.  This shot was taken almost perpedicular to the direction the car was traveling and at highway speeds!

Dogs at Play

They look ferocious but they're really just playing.  I've been testing out the new Canon 1D Mark IV capturing my dog and her friends in action.  I'm still playing with various settings but so far the camera does an outstanding job.  The dogs change direction very quickly and so it's hard keeping up.  I've been experimenting between using all 45 focus points and letting the camera choose and lock onto the action versus a single focus point with assist from surrounding points.  I still need to play and at least for dogs in action, haven't settled on a preference yet.  Nonetheless, it's still fun to capture the action.

Canon ID Mark IV

OK, I admit it.  I love technology.  I love the latest and greatest.  I always thought that Canon's 1-series cameras were going to be just out of reach for me.  Then, a stroke of luck, some extra cash, a quick sale of an almost new 7D and here I sit with a new Canon 1D Mark IV.  I feel extremely fortunate.  It's only been a couple of days with this new state of the art machine but there's so much to love about it already:

• The new 45 point auto focus system is great.  No hunting in low light (like my 5D Mark II often does)
• High ISO shots are fabulous.  I've shot at ISO 8000 which cleans up nicely with even the default settings in Noiseware Professional noise reduction software
• The noise pattern itself is more pleasing (to me) as compared to the Canon 7D
• I think I like the 1.3 crop factor better than the 1.6 but I still like full frame (5D Mark II).
• The feature set like spot metering on the AF point
• The new AI Servo for action shots

There's much more that I have only read about but not explored.  But at the end of the day, the camera has to take good photographs regardless of all the features.  The image in this post was taken during a recent trip to Ft. Lauderdale, FL (think warm).  It was taken at ISO 6400, handheld and processed with noise reduction software.  The glow in the foreground is due to the street lights on the main draft in Ft. Lauderdale Beach.