Bummer...I had to return the camera yesterday. It was driving me mad with back focusing...not what you would expect from a $3000 camera. Hopefully they will be able to fix the issue, but unfortunately they are saying that there is a 21 day turnaround. The focus was 5cm off which is critical especially then taking portraits.
I did however manage to take a couple of photos that were ok and a bit of video with it on Sunday inside a very dark ten-pin bowling place (it was Kayla's birthday party) with all kinds of weird lighting. I was shooting at insanely high iso (12800) and I must say that I general I was pretty impressed.
Especially impressed with how fast I could shoot with lots of kids running around. They are totally usable for my blog and online posting although I wouldn't enlarge them. There was a lot of noise at these high ISO's, but most of it could be managed to a certain degree in Lightroom.
Later I was shooting with KC's camera at the lunch table...there was more light and I was strugling with taking photos using natural light.
31. May 2012 07:59
by Rene Pallesen
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Today I picked up my new camera. It is the new Nikon D800 and is currently one of the most sought after cameras on the market.
I have been wanting to get a full frame camera for some time now and this was the one for me to get...the reviews are excellent.
I pre-ordered it shortly after is was announced and has been waiting for over three months for it to arrive...but it is finally here.
It will be a steep learning curve to get used to all the new features of the camera and it will be a sad goodbye to my almost 10 year old D50 entry level camera.
I am now moving from 5 auto focus points to 51...from 6 Megapixels to 36 megapixels...max 1600 ISO to 25600 ISO...no bells and whistles to having features such as Video, Timelapse, HDR, face detection, live view, aparture preview...and the list goes on...
The D50 has served me well, but it is definitely time to move on as the technology has advanced so much. Not sure what I do with the old camera...but I will most likely end up selling it.
14. May 2012 06:55
by Rene Pallesen
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15. August 2000 10:41
by Rene Pallesen
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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )The Competitors . . .The competitors did not rest... three of the teams were half way through the 600 kilometre course after only three days... pretty amazing!
Two of the teams were Australian. 18 teams were out of the race. At least 10 of these were due to medical problems.
Hardly any people around here get enough sleep... the place is active 24 hours per day because there are always competitors coming in!
I was keen to find out how the Danish team would turn out. At the beginning of the race, they were not very sociable. But by the end of the race, I think the tension of the race had gone, and I managed to have a chat with them. By the third day, the Danes are doing pretty well... they had a 22nd place!
This was the mountain-bike leg of the race.
The guy you see being transported to hospital in the helicopter (photos below), was doing this part of the race. He was rounding a corner on his bike and rode straight into a large branch.
We had a lot of medical urgencies... we almost lost a guy with a punctured lung !
I got some great photos and helped getting the guy into the mobile hospital. There was a lot publicity on the website and through the media about it.
Fortunately, he was only 15 minutes away from HQ, so it was possible for us to get him to the helicopter very quickly, and to the nearest hospital.
Another leg of the race involved rowing in these “sampans”, a Malay term for “boat”. At some point, the teams in the race had to also split up - some of them swimming, some of them rowing, to complete the water leg of the race.
Below, the competitors had to use a flying fox to cross the canyons. I managed to have a go at it - compared to rock-climbing... well, I found it pretty boring *smile*. I imagine most people would find it quite fun though.
There are no places to climb here.
I had hoped to take one of the helicopters to Madai Caves to check out the 200 metre abseil. The road to the Madai Caves lead directly through the tiny village of Gua Madai - a small cluster of homes, their wood bleached grey.
The town’s main sources of income are tourism and birds’ nests. The nests are found high up the walls of the cave, tucked away in cracks and crevasses, and can command thousands of dollars. They are harvested about three times a year.
My girlfriend mentioned trying "bird's nest soup" whilst I was there. She said normally the bird's nest they use belong to the swallow. It is a delicacy to many Asians, and similar to shark's fin soup - that is if you have tried it. Normally the nests are made out of the birds' saliva.
There was so much rain at Silam that HQ was often flooded.
Many of the competitors took the opportunity to get some sleep and the slept on whatever they could find.
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Created: 7 Dec 2001
15. August 2000 10:40
by Rene Pallesen
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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )Silam and Jungle Ops . . .It is so bloody hot in Silam! It must have been at least 40 degrees and 100% humidity!
Silam was the overall headquarters, and Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) was referred to as Jungle Ops. Jungle Ops controlled all radio communications and conducted the race through the the jungle.
From Kota Kinabalu, we flew to Lahad Datu and drove the rest of the way to Silam. Silam was the site of one of the repeater stations. We had to set up a HQ a few kilometres from this station... heaps of opportunities for a few walks in the jungle.
The operation at Silam was huge!... I had never seen such a busy place before. The place was crawling with energy. It was bigger than any military operation I had ever seen! You would be amazed to see the logistics involved in this project ! At the time I did not have the time to take a lot of photos.
We had many army trucks transporting the competitors' equipment - very good cooperation from the military. They helped out with the preparation and set-up of HQ, and with the transportation of fuel.
This is the headquarters on the left.
The whole Ecochallenge race is governed from this office.
The map in the background contains the position of all the checkpoints at which the competitors have to go through.
Both of the above photos are aerial shots of HQ and were taken from a helicopter.
I managed to get a nice aerial shot of Silam HQ. The big white patch in the middle is where the competitors stored all their equipment. Just to the left are the containers from where the race is controlled. The 4 'finger-like' white pads on the right are the heli-pads. The long rectangle to the left is the eating area, and just above it is the hospital.
Approaching DVFC in helicopter.
This is actually a research centre in the middle of the jungle - commonly known as DVFC (Danum Valley Field Centre).
DVFC is not normally accessible the tourists and the general public, only to researchers.
DVFC is concerned about contamination into the jungle.
Outside Jungle Ops HQ.
The green boxes contain bottled drinking water.
By the time the race was over, most of this had been consumed - quite amazing really, considering there were really only 10 people at Jungle Ops.
During the competitors were not allowed any help from us, and that included the provision of drinking water.
Paul with some of the radio equipment at Silam.
He is standing next to the HQ matrix, which contained all the communications equipment for headquarters.
Paul is also standing next to the only 2 beds in the HQ building. These were used by the radio operators to nap in between shifts.
Below, you see me sitting in the catering tent at Silam.
I think it must have been a good day, to have been sitting there, smiling... I am just guessing here, because obviously I did not take the photo, and I cannot remerber the place.
Bad hair day?
I did not have a shower for a very long time, and to hold my hair in place, I adopted various techniques, such as the sunglasses-hairband...
This place is a breathing ground for tropical diseases!
As you can see, my right eye is really red. I somehow managed to get conjunctivitis and did not know it was contagious. I did not want to trouble the medics as they were pretty tied up with the competitors. When my vision on the left eye was getting blurry and I had problems seeing what was in front of me, I was ordered to get it checked. Just as well I did!
In Kota Kinabalu, I had the same problem on the other eye... at one point both my eyes were infected. It started on my left eye on the way to Kota Kinabalu in the plane ! It then spread to my right eye. The nurse at Silam told me that I should be careful because it could re-infect to my left eye. It started to look and feel a lot better after using the eyedrops that they gave me.
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Created: 7 Dec 2001
15. August 2000 10:39
by Rene Pallesen
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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )
Preparations at the Magellan Hotel
( Kota Kinabalu ) . . .All the Ecochallenge teams gathered together at the Magellan Hotel in anticipation of the race, which was due to start on 20th August.
During our stay at Kota Kinabalu, we were staying at the most extravagant hotel - as pictured on the right. It is huge! It has 3 swimming pools, and takes us an hour to walk around the perimeter.
The radio communications team had to arrive a few days before the start of the race because we had to hand out over 2,000 pieces of radio equipment. We had problems getting the necessary approvals for helicopters so I ended up having to hand out most of the equipment whilst Glen and Paul sorted out the issue of the helicopters. We had to get all the equipment and our team to Silam before the the race started.
Glen and Paul checking all the equipment and re-programming some of the radios.
Behind me are all the radio equipment, ready to be handed out. I am standing here waiting for the competitors to arrive as I have to sign out the equipment as I give them out.
We had to improvise a lot of the furniture, using old crates to set up tables.
After the race, Glen and I decided to make most of the luxury and just veg... aaahhh... bliss!
Created: 7 Dec 2001
15. August 2000 10:39
by Rene Pallesen
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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )