Day 3 at St Nicks

This year the main aim for our holiday is relaxation. For many different reasons it has been a hard year and doing very little except reading and swimming was the aim for the day., and most of the holiday.

It was with this in mind we walked down to pedi and picked up the boat to St Nicks. As we almost the first to arrive we had pick of where to sit. Finding the lounger we had last year that gave enough shade for V, we spent most of the morning buried in books and sleeping.

After lunch at the taverna on the beach it was back to more of the same, until we got the last boat home.

As we had not done much exercise during the day we walked back up to the village and sat watching the sun go down before going out for some food.

We ended up at the music night at the Secret Garden. getting home just after midnight.

Day 2. First full day on Symi.

As always on the first day of a holiday we were up and out relatively early. The weather was beautiful, with a hot sun and a slight breeze.

This year V wanted to do more walking than last year, so we started by walking up through the lanes and steps that make up the 'streets' of Horio.

One of the targets for the trip was a walk up to the Castro with its church on the top. As no maps exist of Horio and all it's maze of paths, we were lucky to find arrows painted on the walls indicating the route to the Castro. We followed these and sooner than we expected we came out to the church on the top of the Castro.

We wandered around and were treated by a magnificent view of the harbour, made all the more special by the cruise ship, Club Med 2, lying off Nimborio.

After some time resting and taking pictures we set off back down to the meet up with the tour rep. As we came down we got a great view down the Pedi valley towards the sea.

After the meet up we went back to our apartment and packed the bag for the walk down to the beach at Pedi. As you come down to the pier you have the choice of turning left and right. Go left and after 100 yds there are about 6 sun brollies and some loungers these are free to use. If you go right the loungers and brollies are charged for.

After a swim and a lounge we walked back up to the apartment.

We had a rest and in the evening we walked down the Kalistrata to look for somewhere to eat.

It was a shot like this that I ran into the main problem regarding the compromise I had made with my choice of camera. With my 'big' camera I could increase the ISO gain and with its faster lenses I could have shot had held much longer than I did. But I knew this was the compromise I had made.

Day one Travelling

The trip to Symi is a bit of a slog.

We were collected by taxi at 6am to get us to Gatwick for a 7am check in.  We live an awkward distance from the airport. For one week it is cheaper to drive and pay for longterm parking. For two weeks it works out cheaper to get a taxi.

Anyway we arrived at 7am and were through checkin, security and passport control in about 20min. The flight with Enter Air was on time but the plane was very basic, full and with the most uncomfortable seats I have evert had on a flight. There is more comfort and space on Southeastern  Railways, North Kent commuter lines!

Anyway we arrived on time in Rhodes and got dropped of at the same cafe as last year, so food and a cold beer were in order.

The boat boarded on time and sailed off into the sunset towards Symi.

By the time Symi town came into view it was pitch dark, quickly off the boat and up to the apartments. A run to the supermarket for some much needed supplies and it was time for a drink at The Sunrise and then home to bed.

Holiday Preperations

To badly misquote the Chinese philosopher Laozi.

'Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with deciding what camera to take'

We are off to the Greek island of Symi for two weeks, to the same apartments we stayed in last summer. Then I took my Nikon D700 and five primes and as I was away for only a week no computer. I borrowed some extra memory cards so I was fine.

This year I am planning on taking this set of gear.

Very light! 

On the left is a Nikon D40x with a 18-55mm zoom the other camera is a D70 converted to shoot IR images. The other lens is a 55-200mm VR. 

I will also have my laptop so don't need a large number of cards. 

I loose some capabilities with this set up. The lenses are slow f3.5- f5.6 and the D40x is only usable up to 800iso at a push, also I won't have my fisheye lens. 

But I will gain in other areas. My primes top out at a focal length of 105mm but the telephoto zoom will give me 300mm(e) angle of view. It also has VR so easier to handhold.

The big saving is that it light. The D40x and 2 lenses weigh no more than the D700 and a lens. 

Both cameras have an the same size sensor so I have the same angle of view for both cameras. 

Also like last year I won't have a tripod, as all mine are too heavy and not designed for travel. but I am taking this.

A Manfrotto super clamp and a articulated arm I bought off the internet a couple of years ago. The clamp will attach to a rail or bar, and with the articulated arm I can position the camera easily. I tried attaching a ball head but that setup is very limited on how much levelling I can achieve. That said the arm is slightly less rigid but the lack of righty is outweighed by the extra articulation. This setup would not work well with a D700 due to all the extra weight. 

Also I am taking a different bag this year. Last year I had my Bellingham camera bag that I bought in 1984. This year I am taking a 2001 vintage Lowe Pro stealth reporter. Its better for the laptop and carries more when we get there.

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.