No winter here in Queensland, Australia..........

30� every day, with clear blue skies.........

It's paradise.....

I have only lived here four months; emigrated from England.  Am I going back?  Never!

Tom - this is the first time since around December 20th that I can see pavement in front of my house.  I live in Denver - they finally had some heavy equipment come by this week to clear the snow and it's also been warm enough that I'm starting to see the remnants of grass in my front yard.

Problem is the warm air is causing an inversion layer against the mountains so we've been under serious health advisories regarding the smog for the past two days.

Thanks - it is a great place to take pictures but landscapes don't do well on Micros.  I'm changing pace a little bit this year and am going to start submitting more to traditional agencies - the landscapes and wildlife do better there.

The motorhome in my portfolio isn't mine, neither is the red Toyota with the slide in camper.  Those images were taken at a State Park about 15 minutes south of my house.  My slide in pop-up camper sits on a Blue 4 door Ford Pickup and is a few years old - spending too much money on camera equipment!

I'm actually going up to Granby tomorrow morning - doing some fishing and snowmobile riding.  We'll be passing Winter Park where the train stops.  It is a great place and too many times those of us who live here take it and it's beauty for granted.

I've also discovered the Eastern Plains the past few years and their dying way of life.  Farmers are having to sell out because of drought and water prices.  A lot of people don't tend to visit East of Denver and the land is just as beautiful and the people are twice as friendly - just a different topography.

OK Ian and TGT - we went fishing yesterday on the snowmobiles at Lake Granby.  Fishing is my other passion.  We had quite an adventure but it was pretty fun.  Here's a link to a trip report as well as some pictures.

As an FYI - zMan in the report is a moderator on that board that for some reason has cursed me and a few other people into bad luck.  It may look cold, but I was in blue jeans, a t-shirt, and a light jacket all day.  At the end of the day just jeans and t-shirt.  I think it got up to 43 degrees (Farenheit) - about 6 degrees celsius

http://www.coloradofisherman.com/forum/index.php?topic=14041.0

Nice pics, just one question on the second, do you have to P in the hole before you fish?

NO - not me or my friends - that's usually done by a tree in the woods in those parts.  We do have to drill a hole - I think the ice was about 2 feet thick so the it was good a friend had a gas power auger - the manual one would have taken a lot longer to get through with (and more work).

Those were all lake trout - no pike or musky in Lake Granby.  It was a good time.

The big one really did get away - I have a witness! 

btw --- some great shots!!! What's your weapon (camera) of choice?

Those were taken with a 30d.  Most were with a 100-400 and one was taken with a 24-70.  I took about 60 pictures that trip.  Some will be sent to Alamy once I get things together.

I'll be getting my camera of choice by next Friday - a 1Ds MKII.  Am very excited 

Must be an engineer . . . they get the big bucks 

I'll be getting my camera of choice by next Friday - a 1Ds MKII.  Am very excited 

Here's to an impressive year of sales for you.  Make us proud by paying off that new camera of yours.

This will be my entire annual bonus.  In 2007, I will make $5,000 less than I made 5 years ago.  Go figure.

tgt:  "mine's going to these $1,000 a month gas & electric bills I'm getting every month this winter. "

There ya go, another reason to hate winter. 

How many months do you get $1K energy bills?  compute that at compound interest for so many months, and after 10 years, you might be able to put your kid through college.

PROMOTE GLOBAL WARMING, Drive a HumVee, squeeze cows (I forgot, this is an Intl forum - cows the second largest producer of methane on the planet),  and, don't kill termites (the largest source of methane gas on the planet), Some scientist measured, uhhhhh, termite and animal farts,  with a US government grant and  came up with that conclusion. 

At least as digipros we don't burn up a lot of cellulose film, and dump silver oxides down the drain.

boy this is the potporii thread

1ds Mark II vs 30D vs 5D

Well the 30D doesn't have a full frame sensor so that puts in a second rate level at the get go.  A smaller sensor means more noise (basically).

The 5D and 1dsMark II is a closer batter, but here are a few things the 1ds MarkII has over the 5d

-More megapixels 16mp instead of 12mp
-Weather sealing - if using L series lenses you can shoot in the rain.
-Better controls.  You need to press minimum 2 buttons to change anything, sometimes 3.  Nice to things don't ever get 'accidently' switched without your knowing. (happened to me once on the 10D... i was shooting for a band, and thought I was taking RAW, only to look down and realize my hip had changed the settings to be taking medium jpg.
-Focuses over the entire sensor instead of just on X amount of points.
-is built like a tank.

there are a few things anyhow, I am sure there are more though.

The 5d on the other hand is lighter

I dunno about some of your points.

Sealing: How many times have you ever shot in the rain or in a sandstorm? The issue here would be with crap getting on the lens and ruining the shot, not getting inside the camera. I've shot in foul weather with a D60, 10D and 20D without any problem at all.
Buttons: I sometime think that three-armed engineers designed this camera series. Changing settings is far too bulky - especially if you have to do it quickly in order to not miss the shot. Sure, it gets manageable, once you get used to it. But you have to get used to it first.
Megapixels: Megapixels are a measure of area, not size. A 1Ds MkII image is 4992 x 3328 px, a 5D is 4368 x 2912 px.  A 5D makes an image that is 624 x 416px smaller - that's only 13% smaller, and not the 23% difference you get if you compare image are. Not a huge difference - and certainly not worth the price increase.

That being said, the reasons I find a 1Ds preferable to a 5D are more in line with day-to-day use:
White Balance: Extraordinarily accurate. Yellow-hued indoor shots are a thing of the past when you use this camera. I only use a custom white balance when I use hot lights in the studio.
Exposure: Almost bang-on every time.
Autofocus: It seems to read my mind on what to key on. And very fast - even in low-light and low-contrast situations. Lens "hunting" is very rare.
Batteries: I can easily get 1200+ shots without recharging. Recharging is very fast.


I sometimes think that owning a 1Ds is overkill. Could I get by with a 5D? Yes, I think I probably could. I'd use the money I saved to buy other equipment. Perhaps better lights, a large product photography table, or maybe a huge cinematic lcd screen.

... just my opinion.

~Stephen

Ooops, I edited my post while you were writng yours - sorry about that.