David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Winter Soltice and The World Didn’t End.
I used the day to put together a time-lapsed video of the Hot Air Balloon ride that the Nikonians ANPAT 12 folks took earlier this year in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was two days after the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta finished. I’ll have another time-lapsed video of the mass ascension of over 500 balloons on the final day of the Fiesta.
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I caught this white-throated sparrow eating a red berry in my backyard. The Nikon 80-400 mm VR lens is probably my most used lens. It is light enough to be hand held, and gives the reach to get images of small birds.
The sky was clear Thursday night. I had three cameras out to capture Geminid meteor trails. Friday night the sky was also clear, so stayed up again to capture any late Geminid meteor trails. After being up two nights in a row, I really needed to catch up on some sleep. When I started to review the images today, I found an anomaly in the star trail image between 2-3 AM Friday morning. The images for this composite were taken on a Nikon D4 with a 14-24 f/2.8 lens. I have trouble with condensation on this lens and this night was no different and because it was cold frost formed on the center on the lens. The result is that light getting to the center of the image is significantly attenuated. I didn’t expect to see anything in the center area because of the frost — but there was one bright star. The unusual star is actually brighter than Sirius. I went back and reviewed the individual images, and found that this “star” only appeared at 02:19 AM — not before and not after. I checked the images from the other two cameras. The D800 with a 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens covered the same space, and indeed it also captured the same anomaly. I didn’t see any news about a super-nova, so did I capture an image of a Geminid meteor coming right at me? Good thing that they burn up in the atmosphere!!
Turkey Vulture in a tree waiting to warm in the morning sun. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V2 camera FT1 adapter and 70-200 mm f/2.8 VRII lens (ISO 160, 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/1600 sec). I think I am going to like this camera.
The mirror-less Nikon 1 V1 (N1V1) camera has been upgraded to the Nikon 1 V2 (N1V2). The first thing that I noticed about the N1V2 is that it is smaller than the N1V1. Ergonomically, it is easier to handle. The mode selector has been moved to the top — it was on the back of the N1V1 in a position that was too easy to accidentally change modes. A couple of negatives – the battery is new, and lower capacity than the battery in the N1V1. Also, the interval timer mode has disappeared. I won’t be able to take time-lapse videos with this camera. I took the camera out for a walk at the Sourland Mountain Preserve this morning and caught this Mallard duck taking off from the pond. I don’t know if it plans to stay for the winter, or is about to go south.
