“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 Pentax ME Super with a Pentax 50mm, scans from film. And my Canon 5D mk III with Carl Zeiss 2/35 Distagon ZE T*.
Johan, the cat man
Self portrait in mirror. Ulf Greger
Heidi
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
My best shot i think from many shoots with this great 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.
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 :
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 :
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
instagram edits – to be deleted these are NOT shot with Canon 300m f4 L IS :
JBL 4410
Lenco B55
JBL L150A an later and upgraded version of the JBL L150
Sonus faber Amati Futura
Conrad-Johnsen CT 5 & Conrad-Johnsen ET 250S High End Stereo Amplifers :
Wood waxing my Tannoy Prestige Turnberry loudspeakers.
March 28, have bought a used Canon 300mm L f4 IS. Again. This is the third time a buy one of these. Love and hate this lens. This is a 2015 model and looks and feel like brand new.
Here is some shots from playing around with it and get used to the long focal length again. As with all Canon L lenses this is a top quality lens.
“A photograph is usually looked at seldom looked into.” ― Ansel Adams
March 23, a picture of a duck, from Fredrikstad’s old town ‘gamlebyen’ today. Shot with my trusty Canon 5D camera.
I have now returned the Fujifilm X70. First of all because the focus points can fool you on the screen, it happened a lot when taking photos of objects near me. Looked like I had focus but it was focusing on the object behind. Took about 20 shots of this great Australian ‘mad max’ dog and they all turned out like this.So i’m going for a Fujifilm X100 again. Most likely a T or S. Also missed the 35mm focal lenght and optical viewfinder (OVF) from my old X100. At the moment i’m back to an old Canon S95 compact camera that I borrow. Also got bigger camera’s, DSLR’s of course. But for everyday use on the streets the Canon S95 will do the job nicely until a X100T or S is bought.
March 14, Went out to buy some black & white film for my Pentax camera today. Ended up with two rolls of ILFORD DELTA 100 Proffesional 36exp. The good stuff. In Norway one rolls of these cost 90 NKR, thats about $12 US Dollar.
Shot with my Fujifilm X70. Exif was F8 – ISO 320 -1/500sec – he had a small teddybear hanging on he’s jacket, had to take the shot even if he saw me raising the camera.
These walks a really good for my neck and shoulders that hurts bad these days. Photography is good medicine. Picture of my old Pentax film camera and the new ILFORD film shot with Fujifilm X70.
Love this video of Gunther Holtorf
March 12, Have done about 150 shots and some video with the Fujifilm X70 so far. I like it a lot. Going to make a small review page about the Fujifilm X70. Need some more pictures worth posting, not a big fan of posting pictures of brick walls, but here is some slightly boring everyday shots for you. Hope for a good street photo day out soon. I’m not sure if I like the X70 over the X100 and X100S just yet. The Fujifilm X100 has it’s advantages over the X70 in some ways. The X70 has faster autofocus and feels faster. My Fujifilm X70, window light. Have to mention that I never have tested the Fujifilm X100T. Just X100 and X100S.
Shot with the Fujifilm X70 :
Fujifilm X70 All shot with Fujifilm X70
Fujifilm X70 Some bokeh is possible, even if it’s only equals a 28mm fullframe lens. Fujifilm X70 John Arild with he’s Fujifilm X-M1 and 55-250mm. Fujifilm X70 Shot with Fujifilm X70, shadows on my floor, window light. Love the Fuji colors. Shot with Fujifilm X70. My Klipsch Heritage loudspeakers, the Heresy III.
As with the X100 i’m using auto ISO, 1/1000 shutterspeed and f8 aperture for street. This seems to work just fine with the X70 too. Usually got ISO 320 to ISO1600 on a cloudy day as today. This is a snapshot from today. Just to show what you can excpect from the Fujifilm X70 as a street camera.
High ISO. No problem at all with Fujifilm X70. This is JPG was shot at ISO 1600 with the Fujifilm X70 and it’s very good. Clean and the little grain there is looks almost as film grain. Wonderful high ISO files. You can shoot this all day long with ISO 1600 and no worries.
So far I think it’s a fun camera to use. It’s fast and the small size makes it easy to always carry with me. But can’t help wondering if I should return it for a X100T. Have to make up my mind very soon. Every picture yet is JPG SOOC ( straight out of camera ) Have not shot a single frame RAW yet. Fujifilm has wonderful JPG’s. Thank you for reading, notice I got a lot of visitors on my blog now. If you want to contact me feel free to do so about anything regarding my photography, ulfgreger2008@gmail.com.
Lots of inspiration to be found watching the old masters on youtube
March 9, got my new street camera yesterday. The Fujifilm X70. Not done more than a few test shots so far but the images looks great, far better than Ricoh GR for sure. ( Make no mistake, I loved the Ricoh GR ) It’s fast focusing too, even at economy mode where I left it. The Fuji X70 is pretty heavy and has a quality feeling about it. All metal and a good rubber grip, smaller than expected. Fits nicely in all my jacket pockets. I think this is going to be a good little pocket camera to alway carry with me. Going to post more images and some video samples as soon as possible. So far it’s very promising. My old trusty Gordy Strap has survived five pocket cameras so far.
March 8, took only this shot today.
March 4, some snow, wind and cold weather. Took an two hours walk in the city to do some street photography. My back and neck hurts like a son of a *** these days and walking is the best medicine for me. Took about ten shots in total. This is what I love about street photography. Some days you can get 10 good shots, other days nothing. This was not a good day but fun anyway. Had to use very high ISO to keep my shutterspeed up today. Here is some shots from this day. My old Gordy strap has survived five pocket cameras now. Love that camera strap.
This old lady was nice talking to. She lived on a farm when she was young. Talked with her for some time. Used my Canon 5D today. Can’t wait to get my Fujifilm X70. I’m getting it wednesday March 8. Also ordered a couple of extra batterys from ebay.
March 1. Still cold and windy here in Norway. About pocket cameras I placed a order for a Fujifilm X70 instead of buying a Fujifilm X100 S or T. Not sure yet if 28mm will work. But can always buy a X100 S/T later on if I miss 35mm too much with the pocket camera. Loved the Ricoh GR so I think the 28mm wil do just fine. Anyway I have my 35mm Carl Zeiss lens for my Canon 5D when I need that focal length for more serious work..
I have maxed out my storage limit on my website. With my webhotel ISP here in Norway 1GB is the limit of their cheap webhotels. Not very much and hope they raise their storage limit to at least 2GB. So from here I will firstly delete many of my old blogpost and pictures that contains large files and just post small 1000x800px images in this format as the picture above.
Otherwise I like my website as it is. Fast and simple with lot of my own code and tagging. I’m using a laptop using Linux operating system with LAMP ( linux, apache, MySql and PhP ) to make websites with WP cms. Works like a dream and even if I make big fancy websites for others with slides and colors I like my own website to be simple and clean.
Only our true friends will ever see the irony in this picture.
Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.
Going to do more street photography again. For that purpose i’m going to buy a used Fuji X100 again ( 35mm fixed prime lens ) or the new Fuji X70 ( 28mm fixed prime lens ).
The Norwegian artist Ingar Aasen, alias Art Ranger. Here in his gallery in Fredrikstad, Norway. Loved the light, and the lines.
Testing some new loudspeakers this month too. This time it’s a pair of high-end Tannoy speakers. Maybe the best loudspeaker’s ever made. They are basicly Tannoy Kensington GR’s in a 10 litre smaller cabinet that’s better built than the Kensington’s. Just awesome sound.
For the moment I’m building a true hardcore vintage stereo. A old Lenco turntable, Yamaha cassette player, Sansui amp and going to just listen to LP’s and cassettes on that stereo setup. Just waiting for my ‘new’ Sansui AU D-11 amp thats currently at service. Cant wait to listen to my LP records on that vintage stereo when finished. The loudspeakers are going to be Klipsch Heritages. Heresy or KG3. Maybe a set of old JBL L100’s if I can find a pair on ebay. Already own two pair of the Klipsch’s heritage louspeakers. Music is important to me, listening mostly to old blues, jazz, bluesrock and rock. Some classical music like Bach too.
A CD that I just love, Therion’s Vovin. Here is two track from that CD. The voice of Martina Astner is awesome. When she left the band there was nothing left in my opinion.
Shot with my Fujifilm X70. Exif was F8 – ISO 320 -1/500sec – he had a small teddybear hanging on he’s jacket, had to take the shot even if he saw me raising the camera.
My Fujifilm X70, window light. Have to mention that I never have tested the Fujifilm X100T. Just X100 and X100S.
Fujifilm X70
All shot with Fujifilm X70
Fujifilm X70
Some bokeh is possible, even if it’s only equals a 28mm fullframe lens. Fujifilm X70
John Arild with he’s Fujifilm X-M1 and 55-250mm. Fujifilm X70
Shot with Fujifilm X70, shadows on my floor, window light. Love the Fuji colors.
Shot with Fujifilm X70. My Klipsch Heritage loudspeakers, the Heresy III.
As with the X100 i’m using auto ISO, 1/1000 shutterspeed and f8 aperture for street. This seems to work just fine with the X70 too. Usually got ISO 320 to ISO1600 on a cloudy day as today. This is a snapshot from today. Just to show what you can excpect from the Fujifilm X70 as a street camera.
High ISO. No problem at all with Fujifilm X70. This is JPG was shot at ISO 1600 with the Fujifilm X70 and it’s very good. Clean and the little grain there is looks almost as film grain. Wonderful high ISO files. You can shoot this all day long with ISO 1600 and no worries.
I think this is going to be a good little pocket camera to alway carry with me. Going to post more images and some video samples as soon as possible. So far it’s very promising. My old trusty Gordy Strap has survived five pocket cameras so far.
This old lady was nice talking to. She lived on a farm when she was young. Talked with her for some time.
Used my Canon 5D today. Can’t wait to get my Fujifilm X70. I’m getting it wednesday March 8. Also ordered a couple of extra batterys from ebay.
Only our true friends will ever see the irony in this picture.
