Meme-Free Zone

Today's eclipse went reasonably well - mostly clear sky apart from a couple of intervals of light cloud. I ended up testing two lenses on two cameras - a Sigma 175-500mm f5.6 zoom on a Nikon body, and a Tamron 500mm f8 on a Sony A7 full-frame mirrorless body. I had to rule out the 28-300mm Tamron early, it just wasn't giving anything like as good results. This left me juggling two cameras and two lenses, both of which need the only 82mm eclipse filter I had, which led to a few problems as I repeatedly swapped them - fortunately I didn't quite point a lens without an eclipse filter directly at the sun, but I came pretty bloody close. There were a couple of problems with the Sony - I'm a lot less used to it than I am to Nikon and I was using it on a tripod, with the rear screen folded out, rather than at eye level, and I'd made a couple of idiot mistakes - I forgot to check that the clock was right (it wasn't) which is annoying for anyone who wants to check the timing of the eclipse, and there was a bit of grunge on the sensor that was visible in a couple of the photos. I was hand-holding the Nikon, mostly because I'm a lot more used to that and I only have one big tripod.

Results for both cameras were pretty good - the Sun looks bigger on the Nikon if I use the whole image, because of its smaller sensor, overall I think the Sony and mirror lens were slightly sharper but there really isn't much in it. Photos below are from the Nikon:

Just after the start



Maximum (some cloud)



Just before the end



Rest of the photos here

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150868539@N02/albums/72177720324741686/

I think that if I do go to Spain for the total eclipse next year the Sony and mirror lens might be the best choice, but I could get either camera and lens and a tripod into cabin luggage if I don't take too much clothing. If I go by a route that lets me take more than cabin luggage I'd take both cameras and lenses, a couple of sturdy tripods, and remote controls so I can use the cameras hands-off as much as possible.

On Saturday I went to a car boot sale (and failed to find anything I wanted to buy) then caught the tube to Waterloo to take pictures of the flypast for the Trooping of the Colour at 1 PM. Got there about 12.30 and was surprised to find a much smaller crowd than for the last two big flypasts, for the 100th anniversary of the RAF and the Queen's 70th year on the throne. Not entirely surprising in hindsight, since I think it has a lot less publicity and is the usual yearly thing rather than a really special one, apart from being the first for the king. I had no trouble finding a good spot on Waterloo bridge and didn't feel incredibly crowded at any point - last time there was barely room to swing a camera.

Weather was hot with very slight cloud, and for some reason my camera seemed to have a lot of trouble with autofocus, which I think may be down to slight heat haze, I'm really not sure. I ended up using manual focus. For that reason I don't think they're as clear as last time, though not as bad as I feared when I was struggling with the camera. Lots of examples behind the cut, and a load more on flickr

( Those magnificent men in their flying machines... )


See this album for the rest

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150868539@N02/albums/72177720309139248/page1

I haven't named all the planes in the Flickr tabs yet, there's a key to the order of the flypast here:

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/RAF-flypast-details.jpg

I'll get it done sooner or later.

Went down to Waterloo today and got some pictures of the flypast - not as spectacular as the RAF 100th anniversary a couple of years ago, but not bad.










A lot more here (link to Flickr):

https://tinyurl.com/t25bvseu

It's been a while since I posted any photos. I haven't been getting out nearly as much as usual for obvious reasons, but have had a little luck looking out of the back window...

This feral parakeet was eating ornamental cherries in a tree about eight or nine yards from the window. He seemed to be busy so I took the time to get my Nikon and 100-500mm zoom, which I got for a tenner in a car boot a couple of years back. It's a very heavy lens but great for things like this:
( parakeet )
And this young fox was ambling around on thick overgrown ivy on the roof of a shed in the garden below my flat while I was testing a 200mm lens for sale on eBay - partially hidden by the edge of the floor below, unfortunately:
( fox )

Not bad for a flat in central London!

Original photos in higher resolution are in my photostream on flickr, here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/150868539@N02/with/50145443376/

It seems a while since I've done a picspam post, here are a few of the photos (and one screen shot) I've taken over the last few months. I've reduced the size a little, but it's behind cuts because there are 10 images and one of them is a BIG (for London) spider!

( photos and a screen shot )

And (behind the next cut) a spider I found in my bath this morning:
( spider )

One problem arose when I was taking this - I discovered that the flash on my camera isn't opening out properly any more, I think that the spring that's supposed to open it has failed. It probably won't be economic to repair it properly, my first thought on a quick fix is to put a pad of plastic "sponge" cut from a sink scourer under the bit that pops up, it ought to be springy enough to work. Unless someone can point me at a repair service for compact cameras that isn't ludicrously expensive? Bear in mind I got this for £30 second hand!

Later - I've uploaded a full sized copy of the Crossrail picture to Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royaloaktunnels_01.JPG