Hafodunos

A quick few days up in Scotland with some very poor weather, so no pictures but after an overnight in North Wales we went to the open green day at Hafodunos house. near Llangernyw.

V's family used to farm in this area and the house owners were the landlords.

The house has gone downhill since its heyday with a fire that gutted it about 12 years ago.

The gardens are being worked on but the hose is still roofless

St Leonard's Church, Hythe,

We had visited Hythe a couple of times and really liked its quaint high street with all the odd antique and bric a brac shops.

We had also walked up the hill and looked into the parish church of St Leonard's. it was interesting but the ossuary that the church was famous for was not open early in the year.

A couple of months ago we decided to revisit Hythe with the specific aim of visiting the ossuary. to find the ossuary you have to walk along the road that runs beside the church and follow the sign to the crypt.

Some of the images below are of skulls and bones, scroll at your own risk.

All rather gothic.

I had seen pictures off the crypt but the seeing all the bones in the great stack with the odd sculls looking out was a very strange experience.

While we were there we had a chat with two research students who were doing measurements on the sculls to see if there were any ethnic information that could be obtained from the sculls.

Chatham

Since the fall we have been rather constrained in our travels. This weekend we went back to chatham Dockyard. Similar shots to what I have shot in the past but nice light.

Camera Testing High ISO test.

After doing the resolution test, the next bit of testing I wanted to see is how the cameras responds to cranking up the ISO.

The base ISO of the Sony is 100 ISO with the Nikon having a base of 200 ISO. All yesterdays test were shot at the base ISO.

I don't use high ISO much but when I do I really need them. So here are the results.

The image is shot ion my office/studio

Starting at the top setting of 25600 ISO

Sony A6000

Nikon D700

Then down to 12800 ISO

Sony A6000

Nikon D700

And finally a 6400 ISO

Sony A6000

Nikon D700

I was very happy with the results. The Sony is a great step up from the Nikon. At 6400 ISO the Nikon is reaching its limits, but the Sony is looking good. 

At 12800 the Nikon shows strong banding and the Sony had reached the limit of usability. 

At 25600 both have gone over the top. No use commercially fro either but the Sony would still produce something if needed.

Camera testing

I don't change my cameras very often, but at the moment I am looking at all the camera gear that I have and looking at getting something lighter, as what I have was great when I was working commercially but now is far heavier than I want to carry around.

I have been considering all the options available and on paper the Sony A6300 is looking very promising.

Luckily I have a friend who has just bought an A6000 which is the previous incarnation of the Sony camera and looking at the reviews has a very similar output.

So yesterday I had the change to borrow the camera and run some test shots. the weather was bad so no chance to get out and walk about with the camera.

So it was my usual test image from the backdoor decking looking down the garden.

I then shot the same shot on three cameras. 

Nikon D700 with 24mm f2.8 prime lens

Nikon D40x with 18-50mm kit lens

Sony A6000 with 16-50mm kit lens

The Nikon D700 and Sony images were both with the same angle of view with the D40x slightly less wide. Also the Sony is a 24 megapixel image but the nikons are both around 13 megapixels but all images were resized to the Sony resolution.

Blowing up the centre section of the image was interesting.

Sony A6000

NikonD700

NikonD40x

All image processed through Adobe camera raw. All with similar amounts settings.

My view is that the Sony has the best quality images significantly better than the D700. Also very surprised by the quality of the lens. Most reviewers don't rate the kit lens but to my eye it more that good enough for commercial images. The corners are not as good as the Nikon prime but not far behind and better that expected.

As I only shoot for Alamy picture library now, I only look to what I call the 'Alamy paradigm'. 

The bottom line being if it fulfils the Alamy quality standards the it is good enough for me.

So the Sony will be more camera than I will need.

Not my Type

We had a trip to Ditching, to look at the museum which was fantastic. Also around the village was a small art installation.

Rochester

At last I had some time in Rochester in the evening.

Memories

Sometimes the best pictures are the personal ones, the ones that have all the good memories attached.

RIP Caroline

The Ford at Eynesford

After a couple of days with train the ford at Eynesford was running higher than usual. Quite glad I let a bigger vehicle try it first. After that I gave it a miss this time.

A bit more from Margate.

Another couple of images from Margate last weekend.

Turner Contemporary Gallery Margate

Today a long bike ride to Margate. A very different day too two weeks ago, then put the fleece inner lining back in my winter coat because of the cold wind. Today so hot that it was shorts and T's.