Been away for a week

[David Kilpatrick]

So no new content! We have been in France, partly gathering new pictures for a printed review of the Tamron 18-250mm, and taking more shots with the 16-80mm CZ. I also took the 28mm f2 and the 100m m f2.8 SF. The 28mm proved very useful indeed; the 100mm f2.8, when it went out at night with me, proved just too long to get many shots.

SSS proved remarkably effective. I took no tripod, no monopod, except a very small mini tripod the size of a pen. A good proportion of shots which will be 'filing quality' were night-time floodlit stuff, hand held, and the SSS dealt with this so well there is no trace of shake in the sharper ones (I always take two or three frames).

The Epson P-5000 storage device went with us and a report on this will follow soon.

David

[pakodominguez]

Ah!
La France....
la bonne bouffe, le bon vin, les belles filles...
where in France, your trip?

[David Kilpatrick]

Plenty of bouffe, only one fille and she's 55 now but doesn't look it - fortunately! Avignon. Wonderful place for a week away. Would go back next week if it was not a) expensive b) full.

We were on the first flight to Avignon from Edinburgh ever, and got a special champagne reception with eats and gifts on arrival. Felt like celebs arriving. The CEO of the airline and the airport were both there.

David

[pakodominguez]

Sur le pont d'Avignon
on y danse, on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
on y danse tous en rond...

Did you pass by Arles for the Rencotres Photographiques?

[braeside]

Welcome back, glad you had a good trip.

Back to rainy Scotland

[David Kilpatrick]

Arles did not start until after July 1. I have been in the past, and found the exercise almost pointless. Simon and David, who now run f2, have gone and admit they just go for the parties. Arles is much changed in the 30 years since we first went - in fact, the entire region is changed beyond recognition, all the small roads and tiny hamlets are now fast highways with proper junctions and smart villages surrounded by massive property development. It's nearly as bad as the Scottish Borders.

Unless you are completely involved in a festival as a participant or see it as a genuine spectator, you don't get any idea of what it is about. The press gets the least accurate perception. I think that to cover the Arles festival properly requires about one month of work in total, including advanced research, attendance, and at least a week of concentrated writing which should be done on the spot - the chain is broken if you return to base. I don't have that leisure time (or I am not that well paid for this type of work).

Having done the Arles festival in the past, when Lucien Clergue was still in charge, and spent three festival weeks in Arles we were disappointed by the feel of the town today. In fact, we both felt that Avignon (which we had doubts about beforehand) was a better place to stay. We headed for Arles on the first day, and also Les Baux, which we used to love. But we didn't go back. Everything is charged for now. You can no longer just walk on to the castle ruins; there are gates and barriers, with a fee for everything you do. All the old artisan and artist cellars and ateliers are gone, replaced by gift shops selling mainly identical products. Les Fontaines de Vaucluse seemed to have some of the feel of the old Les Baux - more hippy, artistic, mainly free to visit. Les Baux is just a Disney version of itself now.

One thing we have realised from this trip is that our 'old' b/w and E6 work from previous trips is irreplaceable. You can't find Camargue horses looking the same, saddled properly or in the same environments. Instead of three or four horse riding places and many dozens of small 'mas' homesteads with herds of bulls, there are dozens of horse-ride attractions and hardly a single old reed-thatched mas to be seen. The horses are not all the local strain, and you can't stop on the roads as easily and take a walk. So much more has been modernised or developed and commercialised for tourism.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

[quote="pakodominguez"]Sur le pont d'Avignon
on y danse, on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
on y danse tous en rond...

It's interesting that I am sure I learned this as -

l'on y danse

rather than

on y danse

Yet most quotes/postcards etc today use 'on y danse', which is modern French not antique French - and MUCH harder to sing, with two vowels together from danse to on. I learned most of my French from my mother, who was a French teacher (and Oxford graduate - but 1934!) and she had learned hers in the late 20s and early 30s staying in remote country areas of Brittany. I can't speak much useful French but do not have to drop into English too often in normal daily transactions, but I think I use a lot of very old-fashioned words. 'Voiture' for car is an example. It's 'auto' everywhere now, and my first enquiry about car hire probably sounded like someone asking in England:

'Excuse me, my good sir, but can you kindly inform me where there are carriages to be called?'

David

[ianmiddy]

I also took the 28mm f2 and the 100m m f2.8 SF. The 28mm proved very useful indeed;

Will be interested if you use the 28/2 within the Tamron review or in comparison with the CZ - I'm unlikely to buy either in the near future, but have started using the 28 as my 'standard' on a recently aquired A100 body, to see how well it makes use of the extra mp over the 5D/7D...

Cheers

IDM

[David Kilpatrick]

I have just been processing my first night's shoot from Avignon, when I took the 28mm f2 into the main square for dinner - there are street acts, illuminated facades, lots of people, old-fashioned carousel with wooden horses etc. Apart from a tendency to back focus if there was a bit more light on anything behind the subject, it has done extremely well, generally at f2.2 and f2.8, ISO 200.

The 16-80mm has so far given a very good showing on files processed, and is looking worth every penny. This is the first trip it's done and the overall quality is looking higher than rthe 24-105mm. I did quite a lot of careful refocusing with the Haoda microprism/split screen though. I also had to work on manual exposure nearly all the time as the Haoda just would not give reliable auto metering.

David

[01af]

I also had to work on manual exposure nearly all the time as the Haoda just would not give reliable auto metering.

David, did you try both matrix metering and integral metering in auto mode? Is the auto exposure control irreliable with both metering modes?

-- Olaf

[David Kilpatrick]

No metering mode is reliable with the Haodo screen, whatever he claims. It deflects light paths all wrong for the sensors. Unpredictable and needs care. It works 80 per cent of the time, the other 20 can be so far off it's a disaster.

David

[01af]

No metering mode is reliable with the Haodo screen, whatever he claims.

Well ... he just claims metering with his screens was more reliable than with any other 3rd-party screen. So if his works fine in 80 % of the cases and others in only, say, 60 or 70 % then his claim was valid

-- Olaf