Black & White

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” – Ansel Adams’

MY LATEST BLOG POST, THIS IS NOT A PORTFOLIO, JUST MY SMALL PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG 🙂

Starting a new post, it’s back to basic with simple black and white photography for a while. Going to post portraits, street photos and everyday shots.

Mostly using my everydays cameras : Pentax ME Super with a Pentax 50mm, (scans to digital from film), and my old trusty battle scarred street camera, the Canon 5D with Carl Zeiss 2/35 Distagon ZE T*.

The cat photo is from Oslo 2017.

From Asmaløy on Hvaler in August.

Heidi, from a TFP photo shoot in Fredriksatd. Norway.

Lightning hit ground. Shot at Asmaløy ( at the top of Viker ) in Hvaler, Norway.

This was shot on the 13 of July. There is a good place to swim about 5 minutes walk away from my house.

Julia

These six photos above is from Thailand. Storyes to every one of them. Maybe I will share someday. Thailand is the most wonderful country I have visited so far. The thai people are very helpful and kind.

Nora

This photo was shot @ family Christensen in Kråkerøy, Norway.

Mina

Johan, the cat man

From Fredrikstad.

Henrik.

Julia with my Pentax Su ME 35mm film camera

A friend, Johan. And one of he’s two cats.

Model Sarah, photo from a TFP shoot

My youngest daughter Julia, studying.

Stine and her son

The dog named Scot

Loved the smile on this photo

Amalie

One of my favourite shots i think from doing many shoots with this model

Very funny and great girls, Juliane & Mina

ilford delta film. Old trucker.

From Gamlebyen Fredrikstad, Norway. Old grainy ISO 800 film.

Update September 24. From Skjærhalden, Norway.

September 21. Some pictures of Black Betty. A great mixed breed dog with a big heart.

Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS

Going to continue my long road to master the Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM this month. It’s hard to only use a prime with 300mm focal lenght. It’s takes some time to fully master this lens. But it’s a fun lens to use and going to have a good time with it.

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
– Pablo Picasso

Update March 8 2017. Took the 300L & 2x extender with me for this morning walk from my house :

This shot I failed, had not set my camera settings yet as I was opening the front door this squirrel sat outside my house. 600mm @ f8 with 1/60 sec and no hand support had to go wrong. The squirrel ran off as a greased lightning when he ( or she ) saw me. Never seen anything move that fast. 🙂

A shot I was a little proud of. This was shot trouh heavy pine needles and the dark areas is actually in front of the bird. Had just a tiny hole through the branches to get focus. But nailed it. Thanks to Canon’s great focus system.

Some more form this morning :

Also had a 300mm L f4 a couple of years ago. Here is two shots from back then. No extender used.

Updated : Canon Extender EF 1.4X II +Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS testing day one.

This extender is just great. And maybe everything you need. Not so demanding as the 2x extender. The 1,4x wil focus and work on most ( if not all ) Canon EOS camera bodies. First pictures :

This is what my 300mm + 1,4 II look like with a borrowed Canon 650D / EOS Rebel T4i camera :

Updated : Finally. Canon Extender EF 2X II & Canon Extender EF 1.4X II in my house. Have started the test’s. First out is the Canon Extender EF 2X II.

To start with the downsides. On the Canon 5D mk III with the EF 300mm f/4L IS lens + Canon Extender EF 2X II you only get the center focus point. Also only f8 as largest apperture. All known things to me and no suprises.
Upsides, 600mm ( oooohh yeah..love it ) fast focus ( suprise ) and looks like I’m keeping the 1.5 meters as minimum focusing distance. This was a suprise because i tought it would maybe double as well. Very good image quality.

My Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS & Canon extenders :

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So far I love the Canon Extender EF 2X II. This thing i built like a tank and feels very solid. And here is what my Canon 5D mk III 600mm rig looks like :

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Next up is the Canon Extender EF 1.4X II. My hopes are high that it will be very good with the Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS lens.

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This was shot with Canon 300L f4 and Canon 650D. The 300 L f4 IS and Canon 650D ( named Rebel T4i in the USA ) is a very good combo. 1,6 sensor crop and very good image quality. Picture of the SAR ( search and rescue ) helicopter shot May 19 2016 at Hvaler in Norway. Norvegian name ; LUFTFORSVARET REDNINGSTJENESTE.

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A couple of shots of my actual 300mm f4 lens. All three shot with Canon S95 point & shoot camera. An old but rock solid pocket camera. Never fails, very good quality.

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Here is some images, they are all cropped. If I add images I dont have to crop I will add a remark in those photos.Not easy to get close enough to fill the frame with wildlife photography. All images shot with Canon 650D and Canon 5D mk III. The Canon 650D has the x1,6 crop advantage.

Only by using it often I get to learn to use a lens properly and find where it shines. One thing I have to learn is to fast find my object in the viewfinder with 300mm. Small birds in trees for example needs a bit of pratice to find fast with this lens. At least for me.

The dog Scot a Boarder Collie with he’s owner Inger, shot with myCanon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM. He moved fast and it was not easy keeping up with him. Learned a lot using the Canon 100-400mm L IS mk I last month. Found that my Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM is sharper and had a bit better contrast. The 100-400 obviously has the advantage of 400mm reach and that it’s a zoom. Sometimes 100mm is very good to have for wider shots. For me the 300mm is a better choice.
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I’m going to use this lens every day for a month. The Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM Lens is another excellent lens in the Canon L Series.

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All shots above done with my Canon 300mm L f4 IS. As you will notice this thing is sharp, has good bokeh and pretty good colors and contrast. The 300 f/4L IS is a partially weather sealed lens. A lens mount gasket is not present, but the switches and focusing ring have moderate dust and water resistance. A front filter should be used for full sealing.

Normally I would stop down a lens one or two stops, but this lens is razor sharp at f4.

This lens is well worth the money. Highly recommend it. And I’m 100% sure its sharper than the 100-400L mk I. Focus is pretty fast with this thing too. Also going to buy me a canon 2x or 1,4x extender this month. 300mm is actually not much when photographing birds and wildlife. Down below I’ll add some more of my shots with my 300L f4…work in progress.