Captured4Ever

27Feb

ohhh a Canon G9

Hardware

Well yesterday I had a new Canon G9 turn up, been trying to decide about this camera for quite a while and in the end went and got one after looking the previous weekend. What pushed me into the decision. Well a few things in the end.

Canon G9 The camera has full manual controls which for me is much needed, I’ve owned various point and shoot small cameras over the years and they have never lived up to what I want from a camera. I want manual controls like my DSLR. Many a time my old small point and shoot cameras have taken control and changed totally the type of picture I wanted to take. Now if I take a bad pictures its all my fault….. I know this type of camera isnt for all but it is for me. While it cant be compared to the 30D I have it is the best of the smaller camera brigade and small enough for me to carry around most of the time, unlike the DSLR and all the lenses, tripodand accessories.

Pros: Smaller than DSLR, Full Manual control, External flash mount, IS, 6x zoom, 12MP, well built, picture quality (low ISO)

Cons: Not pocket size, Lens not fast enough at zoom, not really wide angle. poor high ISO

The Pros for me are what I have bought the camera for, while the cons are annoying, no small camera is perfect and this is the best of them for my needs by far at the moment. It wont replace my full DSLR in anyway as the over all control with the better lenses and depth of field just doesn’t exist on a small camera.

Now Its down to me to get the most out of the camera and see what its like after a full weekend of using it. As I am off for a long weekend there is a good chance that it will get a lot of use as I wont be taking my DSLR to force myself to use the G9 all the time, so I will know exactly what I think come Monday, see how close it comes to my perfect small camera and where it falls over.

On a side note I also got a Gorillapod with the camera so I could do long exposure pictures without having to carry one of my large tripods around, this camera is all about freedom and not having to carry tonnes of gear around. I will post my verdict on that once I have used it more. Got a few good ideas I want to try out so will see if I can pull them off.

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25Feb

Canadian Rockies - Holiday

Holiday, Landscape, My Photographs

Well what can I say except WOW. Its not fair that one country has some of the best views in the world when it comes to mountain ranges. That said I am coming from one of the flattest parts of the UK, where a hill of 50m is high.

I will post some of my favourits pictures over the coming weeks but in the meantime I have included a few to start it off below. More of the pictures are hosted on flickr here.

Ikle car As for my trip, I landed in Calgary and picked up my little hire car I had ordered. (In, joke as they run out of small cars and I got the biggest they had). Got in and turned the wrong way out of the Airport which wasnt a good start but to my defence, they had major road works going on at the time and I just found myself in the wrong lane. From then on it was a 1 1/2 hours drive over a flat landscape wondering where these mythical Rockies I had heard of were.

The first night I stayed in Banff Springs and got ready for the next days long drive up to jasper, during which I stopped as much as I could on the way. It has to be said that I had the most clear skies for my first 4 days of the holiday, so on the drive to Jasper I made the most of it and stopped at, Cascade ponds, Waterfowl lake, Bow Lake, Peyto Lake, Tangle Creek, Sunwapta Falls, Athabaska Falls along with various roadside stops to take in the landscape. All in all it must have took me twice as long as it would have without making any stops.

Once at Japser I actually stayed in a new look log cabin just outside of Jasper, Becker Chalets for 3 days which I have to say was just perfect. Just far enough from Jasper and yet quiet and surrounded on two sides by the river. On one mornign I had a wake up call of a herd of the local wild animals eating outside. Quite a site as they walked thru the camp site.

During my time at Becker Chalets I managed to get quite a lot done, visiting most of the local lakes and taking in a few walks. Lake Patricia, Horseshoe Lake, Pyramid Lake and Maligne Lake to name a few.

While also taking the Tram to the top of Jasper Mountain and then the long walk the rest of the way, in all close to 2400m high which was breath taking, partly due to the altitude. The views were stunning, I managed to make it on one of the few days when Mount Robson was visible in the distance and not covered by cloud or mist, all 4,000m of it. The 2nd highest mountain in BC
Jasper, as a town, had all I wanted and was quite a bit larger than Banff. Much more to do if you wanted to do a day of visiting the town, lots of gift shops to pick up those much needed holiday reminders. Train station for those that wanted to take the train to another part of Canada….
On my last day In Jasper the weather turned slightly and I started to get clouds in the sky, which I must say was very pleased to see. You can only take so much of perfect blue skies. I wanted clouds and you will see why in the coming posts and the pictures I managed to get.

Then it was the drive back down to Lake Louise for my last 3 days. As the weather had changed I could stop at a lot of the same places I stopped at on the drive up and get completly different experiences, different sun position, cloud filled skies. Well worth stopping twice.

At the resort of lake louise I stopped at Deer Lodge, which turned out to be about 200m from the lake. Again this was a magical place to visit and I made a few trips the Lake Louise itself and Moraine Lake which are the two best known lakes in that area. Lake Louise is made for people to stay and relax, horse rides, mountain biking and well marked walks are all available as well as the ability to hire canoes to take on the lake.

After this it was time to head back to the airport and back to the UK. I will visit Canada again and try and take in the sea to Sky highway among other Canadian national parks I missed on this short trip.

Cascade Ponds Rockies

Above is just a small selection of the pictures taken on the drive to Jasper.

Well that is a short guide to my holiday and now comes the good bit, I get to post some of the magical views from the holiday. Keep a look out for more details and my favourite pictures from the trip the future posts.

If you cant wait the more of the pictures are hosted on flickr here.

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22Feb