Monthly Archives: June 2009

View from the Skyline (Drive)

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Rode my motorcycle up to Harrisonburg Sunday to check out a lawn and garden place that Amy found on the web. On the way back, took U.S. 33 to Shenandoah National Park and picked up a season pass for the Skyline Drive.

Hadn’t been on the Skyline Drive for a while and enjoyed the leisurely pace at 35 miles-per-hour (which Park Rangers were enforcing). Grabbed the shot above at one of the overlooks (can’t remember which one: So many on the drive are spectacular).

Followed the Parkway to U.S. 60 and then hopped over to U.S. 11 for the ride back into Roanoke. By the time I got home, the trip odomter said I had put 565 miles on the bike over the weekend. No wonder my butt was sore and my nose sunburned.

Downsizing…

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After too many years of hauling too much heavy equipment around in pursuit of this thing called photography, I’ve decided to lighten the load.

I’ve sold off my 400mm f:2.8 and 300mm f:2.8 lenses along with the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III. Why? Because the new Canon 5D Mark II has the same 21.1 mp sensor as the MK III and is lighter and uses a later-model processing chip that, in my opinion, produces better images.

I can get 400mm out of my 70-200mm f:2.8 zoom with a 2x tele-extender and 300mm with a 1.4x extender.  With the extended ISO range of the 5D MKII I can make up for the loss of f-stop sensitivity and also save my shoulders and damaged rotator cuffs by no carrying such a heavy lens.

I still use the 1D MKIII for high-speed sports photography but more and more of my work is close in photography of music and other events and I no longer need the long, fast glass.