South Bank Evening Walk

[toms]

Hi Mike,

Clocks! Good point there, perhaps we might have to save time by starting at the 19th Hole.

Sorry you won't be able to make it.

Tom

[Iggy]

Hi Tom,
I would like to come on the South Bank Evening Walk on the 2nd April.
Long term weather suggests that it will be sunny with some cloud in the afternoon.
Hope to learn a little more about golden hour photography. Rather than my Canon 70D, I will be using my street camera, Lumix FZ1000 with 24-400mm lens, which does have some built in scene settings for sunsets and night time photography that I will also like to try out.
Thanks for organising the outing.
Iggy

[toms]

Hi Iggy,

Be good to see you next weekend and fingers crossed about the weather. There should be about 6 or 7 of us going so it should be a bit of fun. Don't worry about night time settings on cameras. Your Canon 70D will be fine but you WILL need a tripod (happy to lend you one if you haven't got one). It's about composition, long exposures and colour balance. In other words we will be setting our cameras up on the manual settings.

Regards,

Tom

[Iggy]

Hi Tom,
Okay, I will come out with my Canon 70D and leave my Lumix FZ1000 for another day when I will go out by myself on the same walk to try out the various scene modes that it has. Carrying two cameras does not work for me.

My problem with the fairly newly purchased Canon 70D is that I just have the two old Sigma lenses : 17-70mm with macro through the range and the 70-300mm lens that gave me great images when I was on my Tanzanian safari 5 years ago (walking in Arusha game park, & then snorkeling in Zanzibar & later in Lake Tanganyika) Produced 5 great features for various tropical fish magazines. I haven’t invested in new lenses such as the Canon 24-105mm lens @ £425 (http://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/canon-ef-2 ... AhfQ8P8HAQ) as I am still pondering about going mirrorless.
I guess I could just come out with the 17-70 lens.
What lens will you be using?

I last saw my tripod more than 15 years ago and don’t know where it might be now, so borrowing one from you would be one option. In the meantime, I am looking at tripods on Amazon. What do you think of this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KNJ2QUA?psc=1 or any other in that price range. I guess I need a remote control release as well which I don’t have. Any suggestions?

Kind regards,
Iggy

[toms]

Hi Iggy,
[My problem with the fairly newly purchased Canon 70D is that I just have the two old Sigma lenses : 17-70mm with macro through the range and the 70-300mm lens that gave me great images when I was on my Tanzanian safari 5 years ago (walking in Arusha game park, & then snorkeling in Zanzibar & later in Lake Tanganyika) Produced 5 great features for various tropical fish magazines. I haven’t invested in new lenses such as the Canon 24-105mm lens @ £425 (http://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/canon-ef-2 ... AhfQ8P8HAQ) as I am still pondering about going mirrorless. I guess I could just come out with the 17-70 lens. What lens will you be using?]

Please don't worry too much about equipment, look at it as a learning exercise getting the most out of what you already have. If the evening works for you and you want to go further you would then have a better idea as to the type of lens or accessorises that you might want to invest in. I went on a course on the South Bank a little while ago and two members of the group only had compact cameras. You don't need lots of equipment to get acceptable results.

On that evening I took my Canon 5D with a standard 24-105L lens. It was more that enough for the job at hand. Looking bat at the metadata, the majority of my images were in the 24 to 60mm range. 24mm being the majority. So your 17-70 will be more than enough. This week I will probably take the same lens, along with a standard 50mm and 70-200mm the latter only to have a play with. What I did find very useful was a set of ND graduated filters, they were a godsend when it came to cutting down the glare from some of the buildings as I wanted to bring out the colours in the water. Mine have a 77mm filter attachment if you want to borrow them on the day.

Regarding the tripod, the one you show the link for looks fairly sturdy and quite cheap. The clam locks are better than twist locks and at £45 you can't go far wrong. If you don't want to buy one I'm happy to bring along a second light-weight tripod (not lugging two heavy tripods especially as the second one is a big old Benbo). Also don't worry about a cable release, it will not be needed, but if you don't have one and want to try one I'll bring a spare along.

As I said before, don't get too hung up over the equipment side. If you're taking the Canon (feel free to bring the other camera if you want) we can always supplement any shortfalls.

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Iggy]

On that evening I took my Canon 5D with a standard 24-105L lens.

Hi Tom,
Thanks for all your advice and looking for forward to the outing.
I have seen the Canon 24-105L lens at a major British seller for the incredible price of £375.00, new!
Does anyone know if the lens is being discontinued?
I guess I should snap it up.
Iggy

[gcluer]

I hope to make this - it depends on the weather (if skies are clear I will be at the Kenley Observatory). I have asked Tom for a mobile phone number so I can make contact if I am NOT coming.

I presume the confirmed time is now 5:30 pm at Waterloo?

Graham C

[Tina]

Hi Tom
I will be there. Are there any plans for dinner or will everyone eat before? Just thought I'd ask.
Tina

[toms]

Hi All,

It looks like our group is made up of:

Myself
Tina
Ron
Keith
Iggy (possibly)
Graham C (possibly)

The weather during the day looks fine but rain is moving in towards the latter part of the evening. That said the forecast shows it to be relatively clear over central London.

I suggest we look at the weather forecast in the morning as the weather pattern seems to be moving around at the moment and make any necessary decisions from there.

If we do go I suspect that we'll be finished by 7.30pm - 8pm. Having done it before 2 hours will probably be enough. We could then go for a snack or drink somewhere local to where we end up if that's what the group would like. I will email you all my mobile number so that you have a point of contact in the morning.

Regards,

Tom

[GrahamL]

Hi Tom,

Please add my name, it now looks as though I'll be free to come along. Will bring my new Sirui tripod to try out.

Iggy - Rose and I both bought Sirui tripods at this years Photographic Societies event in London from Camera World. I bought the ET-2004 'Easy Travel' tripod kit (comes with a small ball head) http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/sirui/sirui-et-1004-easy-travel-tripod-kit.html. I think Rose got the lighter ET-1004 http://www.cameraworld.co.uk/sirui-t-004x-travel-tripod.html with the same head. They are of Chinese manufacture but incredibly well-made, really compact and come with carrying case too. All Sirui tripods have a stabilisation hook to hang a heavy object from for extra stability, which is useful on a windy day. MUCH lighter than my rather old Manfroto Pro tripod.

Cheers,

Graham