Robert Riberia’s Red Rock News

You may have noticed that I haven’t updated my website in months. When Rhonda and I are traveling a lot, it’s almost impossible to find the time when I get home to update my website and still make it to work in the morning. Since I love sharing my photos it can be very frustrating!

Therefore, I have started using new Photo Gallery software that makes updating a breeze. You can check it out by clicking on the image below…

You should now start seeing much more frequent updates. I recently purchased a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II Lens and I am LOVING it! Just about all of my new photos were taken with it.

I’ve put up a new gallery containing photos from my recent trip around southern Utah. It was also was the first major trip with my Digital SLR, which performed quite well. Take a look by clicking on the following image…

The ability to adapt is the key to contentment. Life seems to be in a constant state of flux, not always going in exactly the direction that I would like it to. What else is new! Photographers who have visited my website over the past 3 years have listened to me singing the praises of my Nikon 5700. Well, I still am. However, while it is a great camera, late last year I decided that I wanted something with a bit more resolution. I anxiously awaited the results of the annual PMA International Convention and Trade Show in February of 2006. This is one of the largest trade shows in the photo imaging industry, a place where all the major camera manufacturers announce their new products. Like many other prosumer-class digicam users, I was excited with the prospect of seeing some new high-end prosumer cameras from major camera manufacturers. I was secretly hoping for a larger sensor size too, which results in reduced noise. To spice things up, Sony released an impressive 10 megapixel prosumer model with a large sensor, the R-1, shortly before the show. (It’s a great camera but too large physically for my taste.) I couldn’t wait to see what Nikon had to offer. (If you read my Nikon 5700 review you will see why I love prosumer cameras so much, especially the Electronic Viewfinders.)

Anyway, to make a long story short, not only did Nikon not release a new high-end prosumer camera, they completely abandoned the market by dropping all of their current models! In its place came a new line of cute little point & shoot cameras. Canon released a slightly modified version of its current prosumer camera, but with no increase in resolution. To sum up, I was screwed.

Sooo… I finally decided that it was time to adapt or die. That’s right, I’ve taken the plunge to a digital SLR. Now, I have always complained about the lack of visibility of the LCD display on digital SLR’s, their large size and weight, and lack of articulating LCD screens. I still have these complaints but I have decided that a digital SLR does not have to replace my 5700, it will merely have to supplement it. In those cases where I need the portability and articulating display of the 5700, I can still use it. In those cases where I want the increased resolution, lack of noise, speed and high useable ISO’s of a digital SLR, I will use my SLR. It’s a compromise brought about by necessity.

After a lot of comparison-shopping I decided on the Canon EOS 350D Digital Rebel. I will probably be posting some personal impressions and opinions in the near future about this camera, but let me say this - it is capable of some very impressive images! The CMOS sensor is virtually noise-free up to ISO 400, and produces perfectly useable images up to ISO 1600(!) - amazing resolution - a very impressive feature set - superb low-light focusing - and it is FAST. Turn on the power and start shooting in less than a second! I love it.

After work I’ve been taking the camera to the corner park, Arches National Park that is, for the past week to try it out. Here are just a few images from my short treks into Arches. Click on each pic to take a closer look. Although these web images are at drastically reduced resolution, I have sized them to a width of 1024 - more than I usually do on my website. Trust me, the full resolution version of these pics fully matches any of the high resolution 35mm slide scans that I have ever done!

Park Avenue Trail

Garden of Eden

Skyline Arch (Yes, I used a polarizer.)

OK, time for another product endorsement. When I find a piece of photo gear that works great for me, I love to share my experiences with others who might be looking for something similar.

One of the main reasons that I wanted to visit Yosemite National Park this year was to photograph the waterfalls. In spite of the fact that I now live in a desert (and LOVE it), I grew up near a large number of waterfalls, which were always a favorite photographic subject. As a matter of fact, Niagara Falls was only 40 minutes away from where I grew up - talk about nice waterfalls! Anyway, I enjoy taking time exposures of water to bring out the silky smooth texture of flowing water. Using neutral density filters I can usually get exposures of up to 1 second during broad daylight. Since Rhonda and I flew to Yosemite I needed a small, yet sturdy, travel tripod for my Nikon 5700.

After a lot of research I decided upon the Slik Sprint Mini Tripod. Here it is…

This very compact tripod has many of the same features of the larger Sprint Pro, but in a much smaller package. The Sprint Mini weighs just 26 ounces and folds to an impressively compact 14.1 inches! Yet, it has a maximum height of 43.3 inches to get the camera well up off the ground. When used with the built-in short center column, (the center column unscrews into two pieces) the camera is just 6.4 inches off the ground for extremely low angle or macro photography out in the field. You can even lock the legs at any angle for just about any situation that might pop up. Trust me, this tripod works great with compact digicams!

I own several tripods, including a nice large and heavy model that can withstand hurricane force wind…well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it is built like a tank. I’ve used the beast for many years. When I started looking around for a compact travel tripod I was pretty concerned about stability. I read many horror stories about cheap compact tripods that were basically trash. All that I can say now, after several months of use, is that the Slik Sprint Mini so exceeded my expectations that I now use it exclusively! Check out the following photo that I took at Yosemite…

This photo was taken at full telephoto (420mm equivalent) with a shutter speed of 1 second. At full magnification, the rock surface surrounding the water is razor sharp. That’s not bad for such a little tripod! I’ve made numerous exposures of up to several seconds with absolutely no image blur. The only special technique that I use for non-time-critical exposures is to use the camera’s self-timer mode. Taking time exposures in this - hands off - mode reduces the chance of any camera shake to zip. (In the self-timer mode, the Nikon 5700 can be set to a short 3-second delay by pressing the shutter release twice in rapid succession. This works perfectly.)

In summary - this is a GREAT travel tripod for owners of compact digital cameras.

My Nikon 5700 recently celebrated its second birthday, or maybe I should say that I celebrated its second birthday. June 19th marked the 2nd anniversary of the delivery of my 5700. I’ve put this little camera through quite a bit in the last two years. Here are a few interesting statistics…

Total number of exposures: 17,495

Extended temperatures (at least 4 hours) that the camera has been operated in:

Lowest: 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
Highest: 110 degrees Fahrenheit

I have brought this camera with me on just about every hiking trip that I have gone on during the past 2 years. It has spent the majority of its time in a desert environment, with all of the hazards that you would expect, especially dust, heat, and a lot of bouncing around. The camera has also been directly exposed to rain and snow. The camera works just as well as the day that I bought it. All in all, I am still extremely pleased with this camera! I remember reading a few things on the newsgroups about people’s problems with the 5700, but it is now my opinion that if you take care of a camera it will last a very long time. Granted, I’ve only owned my 5700 for 2 years, but nearly 18,000 exposures is truly extraordinary use. That’s more photos than I’ve taken in 25 previous years of photography! I think some of my luck with this camera comes with how I treat it…

I do some minimal maintenance after each photo trip, which basically consists of using compressed air to blow off any dust that has accumulated on the camera and lens, and cleaning the lens and viewfinder eyepiece with a microfiber cloth if needed. Every once in a while I will wipe off the camera body with a damp cloth if it feels a little soiled. The whole process takes about 1-2 minutes.

When I’m hiking in extreme heat (100+ degrees), I try to keep the camera case in the shade of my body. I also keep a small cooler in my truck that serves as a camera equipment storage bin when I’m driving in the backcounty - it keeps my equipment cool and protects it from dust. If my camera gets wet, I wipe it off as soon as possible. I never retract the lens mechanism if there is any moisture (or grit) on it. This all seems like common sense to me, but as I near 20,000 trouble free exposures I thought that it might be worth mentioning some of this! No matter what cameras I may buy in the future, I will not get rid of my 5700. It’s a fantastic camera!