Photography – Page 13 – A Darker View

The Canon EOS M5 is the latest offering by Canon in the mirrorless form factor. Offering the same sensor and much of the performance of the mid-range DSLR’s, the mirrorless bodies are far smaller. This allows the photographer the chance to use these cameras in places a full sized DSLR would be too cumbersome.

The Canon EOS M5 and the 22mm f/2 EF-M lens — The Canon EOS-M5

I am a veteran of the original M and the M3, carrying both cameras extensively. From Nicaragua to Alaska, and around the islands, I have used these little cameras to capture some excellent images.

I had issues with the original, returning my first copy. I eventually gave the camera another chance and have learned to like the capability the cameras provide a mobile photographer. I carry the camera on the job atop the incomparable Mauna Kea, a place where you always want a camera handy!

A trio of EOS-M's, including the original M, the M3 and the M5 (left to right) — A trio of EOS-M’s

The critics have not been kind to the previous M series cameras. While they are decent cameras, offering excellent photo quality, they have lagged behind the competition, particularly the Sony mirrorless, on the features.

The M5 marks a change in this, several reviews from the key sites note that M5 performance and features places it among the best on the market in terms of features and cost. The comment echoed by several critics… This is the camera Canon should have built to start with.

Yeah… I wanted one.

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From the Archive – San Xavier del Bac

Another set of images from the slide archive as the digitization project continues.

This time we visit the old Spanish mission of San Xavier del Bac south of Tucson seen here during a visit in 1996.

I visited the mission several times over the years, it can be very photogenic. A little patience will allow the photographer to catch the beams of sunlight from the upper story windows illuminating some of the saints and other icons found in this richly decorated church.

The photos are obviously from scanned slides. In the original frames the film grain is readily obvious, I use a little luminance noise reduction in processing to remove some of that. The super color saturation was not added in digital processing, it is very much part of the original slide.

Icon — Religious icon in the sun at mission San Xavier del Bac

Rattlesnake Door Handle — A forged rattlesnake door handle at mission San Xavier del Bac

Facade — Detail of the facade at mission San Xavier del Bac

Gallery of Blooms

A water liliy in the garden at the Queen’s Shops marketplace

Plumeria (Plumeria rubra) blooming off the front lanai

Heliconia Bloom — Heliconia psittacorum at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden

Ginger — A white ginger (Alpinia purpurata) at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden

Orchid — A showy orchid in the Hawai’i Tropical Botanical Garden

Gecko & Plumeria — A gold dust day gecko (Phelsuma laticauda) on a plumeria blossom

Plumeria in the Rain — Plumeria blossoms dampened by rains from Tropical Storm Flossie

Jasmine Flower — A jasmine flower from the back yard, photo with a Canon EOS-M and the 22mm f/2

Walking Iris — Walking iris (Neomarica gracilis) at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden

Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) in bloom in the front yard

The epiphytic Medinilla alata blooming in the rain at the Hawai’i Tropical Botanical Garden

Bloom — An extravagant bloom of a wildflower, Alaska, 4 July 2004

Doritaenopsis Orchid — A hybrid Doritaenopsis orchid at the Hawai’i Tropical Botanical Garden

2016 A Year in Photos

In retrospect 2016 was not a bad year. I can look back on a collection of photographs that document my life. I am reminded of all the things that occurred in 2016, it is a set of good memories that deserve to be remembered well…

Keck at Dawn — The rosy glow of dawn lights the domes of Keck Observatory

Modifications to HBS — Just checking the wiring in HBS

Keck mirror segment warping fixtures — The old and new warping fixtures being tested side-by-side in on a spare segment

Warping — The warping fixture in use in the Keck 2 mirror cell

Segment — Looking at the back of a segment with the radial support removed

Motor Current — Analog ammeters indicate the motor current

Jacked — A Keck primary mirror segment jacked up out of the array

IRTF at Dawn — The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility with zodiacal light and the first light of dawn above

CFHT in the Dawn — The CFHT dome lit by the first rays of dawn

Mamane in the Fog — A mamane tree along the Mauna Kea access road.

Orange Tube Corrosion — Looking at what remains of the paint on an old Celestron C8 orange tube telescope

Drying Paint — Paint drying on the front and rear castings of the old orange tube

Restored C8 — A restored Celestron C8 on a similarly restored TeleVue Renaissance mount.

Transit Telescope — The C8 set up along the old Saddle Road for Mercury Transit

Mercury Transit 9May2016 — Mercury transiting the Sun on May 9, 2016. Celestron C8 and Canon 6D at f/10.

March 8th, 2016 Solar Eclipse — The solar eclipse of March 8th, 2016 taken from Spencer Beach State Park. Celestron C8 with a Canon 6D at cassegrain focus, 2000mm focal length

A Paradise Helicopter Hughes 500 with the doors off for a photo tour

Deb without Doors — Deborah shooting through the open door of the helicopter

The currently active Puʻu Oʻo vent on Kilauea, photo by Deborah Cooper

Mauna Kea from Hilo — Mauna Kea as seen from Hilo Bay

Roping — Paniolos head for the steers in the opening moments of the team mugging event

Deb at the Rodeo — Deborah at the 2016 Parker Ranch 4th of July Rodeo

Team Mugging — Attempting to cut out and rope a steer in the team mugging event

Breach! — A humpback whale breaches in Chatham Strait

Newspaper Cottage — An abandoned cottage in the woods at Funter Bay

Fashion Plate from 1919 — A fashion plate from a Woman’s Home Companion of April 1919

Summit Road — The Mauna Kea summit access road climbs towards Hale Pōhaku

Hualālai Submerged in Shadow — Hualālai and Pu’u Poliahu submerged in the shadow of Mauna Kea

Dual Lasers on the Galactic Center — Both Keck lasers aimed at the center of the Milky Way galaxy

Keck 1 Laser — The Keck 1 laser attempting a target in a cloudy sky

Keck 2 Laser — The new Keck 2 laser shines brightly during a system engineering night

Keck 2 Lases in the North — Keck 2 lasing to the north in the dawn the lights of Waimea and Honolulu behind.

Sunrise Watchers — A group of tourists brave the cold wind to watch sunrise atop Mauna Kea

Chris Gives the Sun — Chris showing a young observer the Sun through a telescope with hydrogen alpha filter

Space Rocks — Local kids check out the meteorites in Gary’s educational collection

Viewing the Sun — A young observer checks out the Sun

Secondary Cage — Re-assembling the secondary cage on the 20″ Obsession. The truss tube clamps still need to be cleaned up and re-installed, same with the focuser.

Obsession at Kaʻohe — The 20″ Obsession telescope awaiting full dark at Kaʻohe, on the side of Mauna Kea

Students Under the Stars — A group of local school students with the 20″ telescope

8 Day Moon — An eight day old Moon, Celestron NS11GPS and Canon 6D

Milky Way Arching over Hualālai — The winter Milky Way arches over Hualālai with Orion and the setting Moon at the center, taken from the Kaʻohe observing site, panorama of five images taken with a Canon 6D and a Rokinon 14mm lens with over 300 degrees of horizon

The 61G lava flow ocean entry at Kamokuna under the light of a full Moon

Pāhoehoe — A very close view of advancing pāhoehoe lava

Lava Watching — A lava watching boat rises on the swell in front of the steam plume at Kamokuna

Lavafalls — Lava from the Kilauea volcano enters the ocean at Kamokuna

Trickle — Lava trickles into the sea at Kamokuna

Kohala Sunset — Sunset along the Kohala Coast

Sodium Light

The golden yellow glow that has dominated the night for generations is disappearing.

Tenakee Docks at Night — Fishing boats under sodium lamps haunt the Tenakee docks

Low pressure sodium has been the standard technology for outdoor lighting for generations. the soft yellow glow is familiar to anyone who has lived in any urban area, coloring lives and countless photographs of the night.

The yellow glow of sodium light has been both celebrated and reviled. While the glow can be attractive in night scenery it also creates inhuman tones in faces and photos of people. Movies have been shot under sodium lights, songs reference the golden glow. Astronomers both professional and amateur prefer the lights as the light can be easily filtered from view.

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To the Flow by Sea

There are four ways to get to the lava… You can hike it, you can bike it, fly to it, or go by sea. I had done all of the other ways, it was time to take a boat.

The 61G lava flow has been flowing into the sea at Kamokuna for several months now allowing the lava tour boat business to resume after a three year pause. I have biked to this flow, but a view from the water was an attractive option for photography. After multiple discussions with a few photographers I know I had decided to go out with Kalapana Cultural Tours, a local business with years of experience on these waters, a choice which proved to be a good one!

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Plumeria Gallery

Plumeria are by far the prettiest flowers we have in the yard. Along with the four small trees along the front of the house there are two more at the back corner. The back plumeria are more photogenic, with deep yellow centers.

I have photographed our plumeria over and over across the years, it is quite a collection of photos at this point…

Gecko and Plumaria — A gold dust day gecko (Phelsuma laticauda) on a plumeria blossom

An Offering at Keck — A plumeria lei left outside Keck Observatory

Macrophotography With Extension Tubes

One of the advantages of a mirrorless camera, like the EOS-M, is the very shallow backfocus requirement. The distance from the lens mount to the sensor is quite small, allowing use of just about any series of lenses on the market. All that is needed is the correct adapter, a need that several specialty manufacturers have addressed with products. The result is that the camera is useful in a wide range of photographic experiments and projects.

This includes older lenses from years past such as the Canon manual focus FD lenses or the Leica M lenses from decades ago. I have a number of these excellent lenses, mostly Nikon and Canon, the fast primes once treasured by photographers for their optical quality. Because these old lenses are not suited for use with modern DSLR’s they are often relegated to eBay and discount shelves in used camera stores. This does not mean they are obsolete, there are creative uses still available for these classic lenses.

I have had fun simply shooting with these old primes and the EOS-M camera. Sometimes I will grab a single lens and just go someplace to play with the camera for half an hour, sort of a self imposed creative exercise. Using one of these manual focus lenses brings back memories of my first years of film photography, before the days of auto-focus.

Combine these old lenses with an extension tube, and the rig becomes a macro-photography setup capable of fairly high magnification.

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Inside Passage – Echoes of the Past

SE Alaska and the coast of British Columbia are a place where the past does not get wiped away. Ruins, wrecks, and abandoned places are often left for nature to reclaim rather than scrapped or redeveloped. When traveling the waterways of the Inside Passage you are often wandering through echoes of the past.

Inside Passage – Echoes of the Past from Andrew Cooper on Vimeo

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Category: Photography

Lion Dance

Shooting the Canon EOS M5