Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/05/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Our first night in Yosemite was 3 days before the full moon. We decided to try some night shots with the moon lighting up the cliffs and see what happened. Here are my attempts. First stop was Valley View. I have never seen night shots from there. View Large. Can you see the climbers on El Capitain? http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Valley+View-0423-Edit.jpg.html Then on to Tunnel View: You can also see the climbers. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Tunnel+View-0432-Edit.jpg.html http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Tunnel+View-0437.jpg.html We then headed down to Swinging Bridge http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Swinging+Bridge-0442-Edit.jpg.html The long 30 second exposure allowed the capture of a pretty nice reflection. Last stop, Sentinel Bridge http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Sentinel+Bridge-0452.jpg.html All these except for Valley View, were with the Leica 35-70. All shots at F-4 with 30 second exposure at ISO 800. More to come of the moonbows with the full moon. Some technical info: Focusing is a pain with a modern DSLR lens. You cannot just dial it to infinity and take the picture. There is no infinity stop. You have to sight a star in live view and then try to focus on it while looking at it magnified 10x on the view screen. And if you have a zoom, at least the zooms I have (16-35/4 , 24-120/4 and 70-200/4 Nikkors) or the three my father-in-law has (24-85, 18-35 and 70-300 Nikkors) you have to do this at the focal length you are using, because if you change FL, the focus changes. So, if I can get by with a range of 35-70, which fortunately I can, I use the great Leica 35-70/4 zoom. No focus problems.... Crank it to infinity and go for it. No zoom problems. All FL's are in focus as you change the zoom. And the added bonus, wide open it is so much sharper than any of the Nikkor zooms. Comments welcome. Aram Aram Langhans (Semi) Retired (retarded?) Science Teacher & Unemployed photographer "The Human Genome Project has proved Darwin more right than Darwin himself would ever have dared dream." James D. Watson