…or back to the Dimage A2?

This is a picture from my 2006 Brittany series. The boats where lying beautifull in the evening sun at low tide, right behind our appartment.

Ever since I was using the Nikon D80, I started using the RAW format. Finally with the appearance of Lightroom, I’m shooting RAW exclusively. Today I found some of these MRW files that I took with the Minolta Dimage A2. I wasn’t quite able to do something with them by that time. But now I was interested in the potential that’s in there. I’m quite impressed about the color correction of the APO lens. Also the 12bit color depth contains a lot of reserve for highlights and shades. Even noise is well controllable, at least with ISO 100. A different thing is resolution. I never really understood the discussions about the lens beeing not able to serve the new 8 MPixel chip; now I can see it.

After all, I do not regret to have switched to the D80. But it’s good to know that there would have been some potential with the Dimage A2 too.

There’s a landscape north of Dresden, where coal mining is the formative element. At the Findlingspark Nochten they’re trying to rebuilt some natural environment. But the eyecatcher for the photographer is still the big coal power plant nearby.
I did not use any filter for this exposure. The fancy polarizer effect is completely built up in Lightroom.

…some natural shots from a nice weekend walk. Used my favourite lens, the Sigma 2.8/105mm.

It’s been Whitsun holiday last weekend. We hiked the Monkeys Rocks (Affensteine) up to Carols Rock (Carolafelsen). As usual on days like this there was quite a rush in the rocks. But fortunately there are enough hidden paths where you can find your rest. Summer’s coming visibly now. Everything is gettin verry colorfull. And while the kids are climbing the rocks, I’ve got plenty of time to take some shots.

Yes, I’ve broken my beloved 1000x neutral filter for ultra long time exposures. Right in the middle of the Markus square in Venice I dropped it down to the 1000 years old marble ground.

All hints to a dealer of theses ND3 filters with 72mm diameter and slim shape are welcome.

Edit: got a new one, B+W this time. Maybe soon there will be a “Welcome ND3.0″.