Path of the Glacier Trail - Jasper National Park, Alberta

After leaving Banff National Park, I took off on my own and headed to Jasper National Park. I had unfinished business to settle with that place. Back in 2006, I visited Jasper for the first time with my wife. We spent three days there and it did nothing but rain. I shot a little in between the raindrops but it was not conducive for photography (we still had a good time despite the weather). Fast forward to this trip, and I had one eye on the weather forecast for Jasper. Every day I checked, the weather forecast was different.  It was changing every day from rainy to sunny and back again to rainy. I finally gave up checking the weather.

The day I left Banff and drove up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper, the weather was glorious. Things began to change as I got closer and closer to Jasper. The clouds got ominous, and, by the time I got there, it was raining,  and the rain continued for the rest of the day and night. Still determined, I set the alarm for 4:15am, got up and looked outside (it was almost light if you can believe that). It had stopped raining, but was quite overcast. Undaunted, I headed for Edith Cavell Road outside of town, and headed for a hike along on the Path to Glacier Trail. I figured the overcast skies would allow me to shoot the three glaciers that are visible from the trail's end without any glare.

Everything worked out as planned, as you can see in the photo. The glacier on the top right is known as Angel Glacier. You can barely see it in this photo, but there is a small waterfall from the snow melt that is making it's way to Cavell Glacier on the bottom left. Finally, on the top left, you can barely make out the head of the Ghost Glacier. A landscape to experience. By the way, about an hour after I shot this image, the skies cleared, and I had great weather for the rest of my stay. Unfinished business finished.

Sony A7 versus Fuji XT-1 Comparison

Mount Norquay, Banff National Park, Alberta

Overview

My trip to Banff and Jasper was one of the most enjoyable trips I have taken in a long time. It is hard not to thoroughly enjoy a visit there, as the Canadian Rockies are a mecca to a landscape photographer like me. It was also a new challenge for me, as I planned to abandon my beloved Nikon DSLRs and lenses for the Sony A7 and Fuji XT-1. For a detailed explanation of my move away from Nikon, read this post. Full disclosure, I did bring my Nikon D700 with me, but only used it when shooting wildlife, which represented only about 5% of my photos. The rest were shot with the Sony and the Fuji (ended up being about a 60/40 split).

Caveats

Before I get into comparisons, let me first say that both of these cameras are top notch. You can't go wrong with either one. Before I proceed, let me throw out some caveats.

  1. This is not a technical review of either camera as I am not qualified to give one. Nor am I an expert in how to use either camera. In fact, if I state something that you know is wrong, please leave a comment so that I can learn. It is only the second time that I have used the Sony and the first time for the Fuji, so I am still getting used to the controls and options for both cameras.
  2. This comparison is from the perspective of a landscape photographer only. I know that the mirrorless cameras have not totally caught up to speed with the focusing abilities of DSLRs. That is the reason that I shot wildlife with my Nikon D700.
  3. Shooting with Nikons for almost 15 years, I could change settings unconsciously, as I knew every button and menu setting. Going into this trip, this was not true of either camera for me. Not only that, I underestimated having to learn two different sets of menu options and controls at the same time. That being said, I became pretty proficient in both after a couple of days of shooting.

Observations

  1. Lenses - I brought with me three Fuji lenses (10-24; 18-55 and 55-200) and two lenses for the Sony (28-70 and 18-200). The Fuji has a big advantage here with respect to available lenses. The Sony only has two full frame lenses available for the A7. That is one of the reasons I went out and purchased the Fuji system. Perhaps when Sony ultimately releases all of its planned lenses, the gap will narrow. As far as image quality, I'd give the Fuji a slight edge but not enough to be a major factor.
  2. Battery Life - This is where I simply don't get what Sony was thinking. The battery life for the A7 sucks. No other way to say it. I knew it when I bought the Sony, but I didn't realize how bad it was. If I shot exclusively on the Sony on this trip, I would have gone through four batteries on a typical shooting day. Totally unacceptable. The Fuji's battery life, in comparison, was terrific and while not on par with the Nikon's battery, it wasn't that far off.
  3. Exposure Bracketing - I bracket whenever I shoot. I initially started bracketing when I was getting into HDR. While I don't process as many HDRs these days, I like being able to choose from one of the brackets as my starting points for editing. The Sony has the many options for bracketing from + to - 3 stops. The Fuji inexplicably only allows a maximum of + or - 1 stop. Hard to understand Fuji's thinking on this. I was hoping that they fixed this on their recent firmware update, but it is not there.
  4. Exposure - One thing I noticed when going through my photos taken with the Fuji was that the normal exposure seemed a little off. By that I mean that when picking the best one of the three bracketed exposures, I almost never picked the one that was the "normal" exposure. Most of the time it was the -1 stop that was the best. A few times it was the +1 stop. I don't know if this was because the scenes I was shooting were of a high dynamic range or just my personal taste. I didn't have the same issue with the Sony.
  5. Color Rendition -  As you might expect, the colors from each of these cameras vary from one another. The Sony's colors seem a bit more saturated and natural looking on the LCD screen. The difference is even more pronounced when looking at the images in Lightroom, but I think this is an issue of Lightroom not rendering the Fuji RAW files as well as Sony's. Hopefully, Adobe will tweak this going forward.
  6. Panoramic Mode - I shoot a lot of panoramas with the built-in mode of each camera. The Sony works quite well with really good results. The Fuji panoramic mode is quite wide (even with the Medium Angle selected), and I found that it was way too wide for most scenes. If you stop moving the Fuji before it is finished, it won't store the photo. With the Sony, when the A7 stops moving, it records the image even if it hasn't reached its programmed width.
  7. Self-Timer - One of the more annoying things about either camera was Fuji's self-timer. I shoot on a tripod and use the self-timer instead of a remote. I set the self-timer for 2 seconds. The Fuji has an automatic sleep mode if it is idle for a period of time (pressing the shutter reactivates in from sleep mode). When reactivated, the self-timer is reset to off. I can't tell you how many times I had to turn it back on. The self-timer should stay set until the camera is manually turned off by the photographer.

Conclusion - The Funy

These are some quick observations on both cameras. They are not all inclusive, but what I noticed the most. The first day of shooting, my buddy Jeff Clow got a report every half-hour on what I liked and didn't like about each camera. Near the end of the day, he asked me which one I liked better. My answer was (and still is) that I like them both and I wished that I could merge the features together. He laughed and said that I needed to get a Funy that I thought was quite clever. At this point, I plan to keep shooting with both. One thing is for sure--I didn't miss the weight of the Nikon camera and lenses on this trip, and I think that the Nikon will not make my August trip to Glacier National Park.

Mount Norquay - Banff National Park

Almost forgot to mention the photo. We were coming back after shooting Two Jack Lake at sunrise and we passed this meadow that had a large puddle as a result of the previous week's rainfall. Being suckers for reflections, we just had to stop and shoot the scene. I believe this is the back of Mount Norquay reflected in the puddle. This was shot with the Fuji for anyone who is interested.

Fog - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

 

Next Stop: The Canadian Rockies

Banff Springs Hotel, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Early this morning, I am heading out to one of my favorite destinations on Earth. I will be shooting the gorgeous national parks of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. The first five days will be spent in Banff National Park, and I will follow that with three days in Jasper National Park before I head home. Some of the lesser known spots that I hope to shoot are Yoho National Park, Mount Robson Provincial Park, Kootenay National Park, and the spectacular Icefields Parkway. I can't tell you how excited I am to revisit these places. It has been over eight years since I have last been there.

Given the remote locations and busy schedule, it will be unlikely that I will be able to make any blog posts until I get back. So enjoy the rest of June and I hope to see you on the blog in July.

Hustle and Bustle - Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan, New York

During my working days in New York City,  I passed through Grand Central Terminal as a hurried commuter trying to get home at a reasonable hour. There were no thoughts of stopping and taking photos, as there was usually a train to catch for my almost three-hour commute (thank God I didn't commute there every day). 

When I had the opportunity to spend a half day to shoot the Terminal,  I finally appreciated how wonderful the building is.  In every direction that I looked, I saw compositions that I never noticed when I commuted. Whether it's the chandeliers hanging from the ceilings,  the murals on the walls and ceilings, or just the stonework, it is a great photographic destination. 

This photo was taken from one of the many ramps that lead to the main terminal and train tracks.

A Break in the Clouds - Moab, Utah

Colorado River, Potash Road, Moab Utah

Weather can be one of the most challenging aspects of landscape photography, especially when you have spent thousands of dollars to travel to a great location. I have shot long enough to know that bad weather can actually be a great thing, as it often adds dramatic effect and interest to an image. The most important thing to remember is patience. For those who know me personally, those words sound weird coming from my lips, as I am not the most patient person in the world. When standing in front of great landscapes, my impatience disappears. Sometimes waiting the weather out is the best course of action.

Take this photo for instance. We had headed out to shoot the sights on Potash Road in Moab. The light was not good even though we were out in late afternoon. The cloud cover had no real drama in them and a lot of my compositions purposely excluded them. It was drizzling a bit here and there, but we persisted and it finally paid off. As we were shooting the Colorado River and it's surrounding landscape, a break in the clouds allowed some of the evening sun through, and it lit the far bank. Fortunately, the light also helped make the reflection stand out.

 

True Blue - Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

I have blogged a number of posts from our visit to Crater Lake National Park and have described why the water is so blue, so I won't bore you with the same facts. Suffice it to say, the water really is this blue. The lake is quite large, and I wanted to show a panorama to give an idea on how big it really is. The lake itself is 26 miles, but 33 miles to drive it on the park road. When I took this pano, I wanted to make sure that I included one of the best features of the lake (besides its color), Wizard Island.

Not Your Everyday Pool - San Simeon, California

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California

Along the California coast is an adventure that I never tire of - driving the Pacific Coast Highway (aka California State Route 1) from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It is one of the most scenic drives that I have been on, riding on the edge of towering cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I love the drive so much, I have made the trip well over ten times (not bad for an Easterner). Some of the stops along the way include Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Morro Bay, and, of course, The Hearst Castle.

The castle lies equidistant between San Francisco and Los Angeles in the town of San Simeon. The drive from either city is probably about four hours, but for photographers driving the full length, take at least two days as you will want to stop almost every half mile to take some shots.

The Hearst Castle was built by William Randolph Hearst and it sits about 1,600 feet above the ocean. The castle materials and most of the interiors were built / furnished with materials, artifacts, and art from Europe. The indoor pool in this image was made to look like a Roman bath, and it's walls and ceilings are made of 1" square mosaic tiles. There are eight marble statues that are positioned around the pool. It is a pretty amazing pool to view and photograph.

Cook's Chasm - Cape Perpetua, Oregon

About two miles south of Yachats, Oregon, there is a very iconic image of a natural spectacle known as "Thor's Well" (aka The Spouting Horn). Thor's Well is only visible at high tide and is extremely dangerous to shoot, due to it's sharp and slippery rocks and very strong surges that threaten the safety of photographers. Given that danger, coupled with the fact that I wasn't there at high tide, I knew I wasn't going to get the shot (at least this time). I did want to scout the area for future reference, so we headed to Cook's Chasm on Cape Perpetua (where Thor's Well is located). As can be seen in this photo, the area is quite photogenic with or without the well. It is very typical of the oceanfront in this section of the Oregon Coast. The morning was cloudy and I decided to take a long exposure to get the movement of the clouds and the surf.

Cascading Falls - East Canaan, Connecticut

Blackberry Falls, Beckley Furnace, East Canaan, Connecticut

Along the Blackberry River in northwestern Connecticut, there's a Connecticut Industrial Monument known as the Beckley Blast Furnace.  This particular furnace was one of three blast furnaces in operation from 1832-1923. It produced pig iron for the manufacture of railroad car wheels. During this period, a dam was built that helped power the furnace, resulting in the falls that we see today.

I shot this image on the way back from a Springsteen concert that we attended in Albany, New York. It was mid-afternoon and I decided that a black and white image would work best in the light.

Side Canal - Strasbourg, France

Today is a special post as it is my beautiful wife's birthday. I want to thank her publicly for all of her support over the years, especially with putting up with my photography addiction. I can't tell you how many times she has waited patiently for me to perfect "the shot". In recent years, she has encouraged me to travel for a number of photography tours. The other reason that this post is special is that I want to thank her for proofreading all of my 500+ blog posts. That is right, I can't string two sentences together without her help. I asked her to pick out one of her favorite photos for today's post and actually write the rest of this post (after correcting this introductory paragraph). So without any further ado...

Hi everyone!  When Len asked me to choose a photo to be posted today, I knew that many of my favorite photos were from our trips to Europe.  This picture was taken on our first river cruise sailing the Rhine River, and is from the beautiful city of Strasbourg, France.  We had a wonderful time sailing down the Rhine with good friends, visiting one old beautiful city after another.  I was especially taken with Strasbourg, from the picturesque canals to the lovely buildings.  Of course, you can't visit France without sampling the wonderful local cuisine, and we all enjoyed a dish called tarte flambee (a thin bread dough covered with creme fraiche, thinly sliced caramelized onions and bacon), as well as the wonderful French pastries.   Good friends, good food and good memories.  (I hadn't realized how hard it is to write a blog--think I'll go back to proofreading!)

 

Looking Out the Barn Window - East Burke, Vermont

A quick post and run for today. This composition was taken on our visit to the Inn at Mountain View Farms. The owners were kind enough to allow 20 photographers to roam their magnificent property for the afternoon. This shot was taken from inside one of the barns to an adjacent one. I liked how the old glass in the windows distorted the barn outside. Have a great weekend.

Northern Ireland Countryside

As I was looking through my Lightroom library, I just happened to come upon some photos that I took in 2007 when we had taken a cruise around the British Isles. One of our stops was to Northern Ireland. When selecting what tours were available to us, my friend Jeff and I decided to take a bus tour to Giant's Causeway that is quite the location. Our wives decided to take a tour of Belfast instead. The morning we got into port, the rain was coming down quite hard, and I suspected that we made the wrong choice. Over the course of our hour and half bus ride, the skies began to clear a bit, and the countryside was different than I expected. We made a pit stop, and I wandered over to the side of the road and was able to capture the farmlands with the mountains in the background. 

Fall Tranquility - Howell's Pond, Hartland, Connecticut

Often photographers don't think there is anything new and interesting around to photograph where they live. I am often guilty of this myself, as I have a insatiable desire to visit new places to capture the unknown. Let's face it though, it is awfully expensive to travel whenever and wherever you want to these places. So once in a while, I hop in the car with no destination in mind and hope to find a new treasure.

I initially found this pond a few years ago when my wife and I went out for a drive one evening. The pond is about 45 minutes from my house, and I fell in love with it immediately, especially as the trees that surround the pond shield it from the wind. That improves the stillness of the pond for reflections. This past fall, I was in the mood to chill, and asked my son if he wanted to take a drive there (it has become one of his favorites too). It wasn't ideal for photography, as it was in the afternoon, and the foliage was in its early stages. I took my camera anyway, and this was the scene that we came upon. Not too shabby at all.

Silk Spools - Lonaconing Silk Mill, Lonaconing, Maryland

While my main type of photography is landscapes and cityscapes, I often enjoy visiting some urbex locations to capture some of history's past. Often, urbex shooting involves visiting abandoned, run down buildings, and capturing the rust, decay and anything else that might be present. So when Denise Ippolito offered a 2-day workshop at the last standing silk mill in the US, I was ready to go. 

Located in western Maryland, it was a 7-hour drive for me to get there. It sort of is the middle of nowhere, but I was not disappointed. Many of these abandoned buildings are in terrible shape, and this one is no exception. The owner is trying to get tours into it to help restore it a bit. The great thing about the silk mill is that many of the items used to produce the silk are still there. This box of old silk spools, for example, was just sitting on the floor, and one might imagine it being used on the last days of 1959, when the mill closed it's doors.

At the Edge of the Wall - Badlands National Park, South Dakota

A 100-mile wall. That is what separates the plains of South Dakota from the dramatic rock formations of Badlands National Park. Interstate 90 runs parallel to the wall just north of it, and, if you didn't know it was there, you might miss some of the most impressive landscapes in the US. Approach it from the south on the backroads and you can't help but see what appears to be a massive stone skyline in the distance. The closer you get, the more impressive it is.

When I started on the road well before dawn, I was targeting one of the park's trailheads. I really wasn't thinking of shooting southward from the edge of the wall. But as I turned a curve in the park road, I saw this scene, and trailhead be damned. The light and the shadows coupled with the contrast between the jagged formations and the flat prairie screamed at me to stop, take it in, and hopefully capture the scene in a photo. Obviously, I listened. 

Buffalo Fork Ridge - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

The Grand Tetons are some of the most magical mountains that can be found in the Rockies. They dominate the landscape wherever you drive in Jackson Hole. Every photographer has this place on their bucket list, and even after they visit and shoot there, it stays on the list. The goal of most photographers is to get a composition that is a little different than everyone else's. That is why hiring a tour guide like my friend Jeff Clow is worth every penny. Jeff takes you to all of the great spots, like Oxbow Bend and the Moulton Barn, that you would expect from an expert tour guide. The real treasures are the spots that he has discovered over the years of conducting tours, like this ridge that provides a great foreground of trees to the magnificence of the Tetons in the distance. Jeff even provided a name (Buffalo Fork Ridge) for this previously unnamed ridge. 

Where the Rich Play - Monte Carlo, Monaco

We have these television commercials here in Connecticut that try hard to show you all of the things that you could do and buy if you played and won the lottery. I am sure that these type of commercials air wherever you live. Each commercial touts a different dream that I am sure everyone would want to have. I don't really pay attention to those commercials since I visited Monte Carlo. Talk about rich. Just walk around the city like we did and you will see plenty of things that you could buy. Just like some of these yachts in the harbor. In most harbors I have been in, there are all shapes and sizes of yachts from the small ones to large ones. Not in Monte Carlo. The yachts are big and bigger. So when I dream of what I would do if I won the lottery, I simply think of my time in this rich playground. Of course, now that I think about it, I would probably have to win the lottery a few times to afford living in Monte Carlo.

Denver Reflections - Denver, Colorado

A friend of mine once mentioned to me that I obviously love to capture reflections in my photographs. To that charge, I plead guilty. I admit it, I can't walk past a body of water or glass building without shooting some images when there is a reflection in them. I think the reason I like them so is that they add some depth and interest to a photo, particularly water reflections. Another reason is that they provide an unexpected result, such as the reflection of other city buildings in this photo of an unnamed building that I spotted in Denver. I don't think that this building by itself would have been a great photographic subject, but the reflection made this a much more interesting and compelling shot.

Road to the Gossips - Arches National Park, Utah

The Three Gossips, Arches National Park, Utah

Many of the rock formations in the southwest have unique names that have stuck around for years. I think it is sort of like the old game of looking at clouds and guessing what each one looks like. Everyone sees something different but, since the clouds are transitory, they are only temporary imaginary figures. Not so with a 350-foot tall rock formation found in Arches National Park known as the Three Gossips (pictured in the upper middle of this photo). I have seen similar formations in other parts of the southwest that are named the Three Sisters (Monument Valley) and the Priest and the Nuns (Castle Valley). I often wonder how many names each of these sandstone formations were given before the ones we now know them as became permanent. One of life's little mysteries that probably no one thinks about except me.

The Lonely Tree - Custer State Park, South Dakota

On our cross country drive back from Oregon this past September, my son and I decided to head to Badlands National Park, a destination that had been on my bucket list for a while. In doing research, I found that there were a great number of places in the surrounding area that were ripe for photography. One such place was Custer State Park, located in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota. 

After driving from the Oregon Coast and over the Rocky Mountains, the park was a very different landscape. Rolling hills and active wildlife can best describe the park. You can see buffalo throughout the park, and we saw plenty. The park is pretty big, covering about 71,000 acres. While parts of the park have lots of trees, there are open spaces with a tree here or there. This photo is one of those trees. I really wanted to shoot a minimalist composition after spending the previous days shooting the massive Grand Tetons.