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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Peaceful Solitude in Nature

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/4.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Or Not

I'm always fascinated at how one can lie with the camera, taking advantage of the fact that as far as the photo is concerned, if it's out of frame, it doesn't exist. I do it all the time, excluding utility wires, ugly urban visual blight, etc., when I'm out and about with the camera.

At the “Yabusame” mounted archery rite at the Shimogamo Shrine in Kyoto, I was amazed, as I often am in these “oasis of nature within the city” situations, that even though we were in Kyoto city proper, the nature was engulfing. Kyoto has a lot of places like this, which is one of the reasons I love it so much.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/9, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slightly Up

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 50 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/9, ISO 3200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slightly Down
What a Difference a Small Angle Makes

It was quite crowded at the mounted archery event, and people were vying for a vantage point. I had a considered advantage being a bit taller than average, but at the same time being tall has given me an exaggerated sense of “don't get in people's way” consideration, so it was a balancing act.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 500 mm — ¹/640 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos
View From Our First Vantage Point

Working the Crowd
me with the “stabilizing weight” mentioned in the earlier post.
( photo by Fumie with her cell-phone camera )

Anyway, I needed to set up the scene to make it clear how crowded it was before I could do a real writeup on the event next week, to pre-excuse the lack of good photo coverage. I do, however, now have a large catalog of excellent illustrative photos if I ever decide to do an in-depth analysis on the back of random stranger's heads, so look forward to that.

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So, I've written a lot lately about my new lens, a Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS, including:

• Sigma's new “Bigma” 50-500mm Super-tele Zoom (now with OS)
• Sigma's new “Bigma” 50-500mm Super-tele Zoom, Part II
• So, Just How Bigma is the Sigma?
• My New Sigma “Bigma”, Day 2
• I Laugh at Your Puny 500mm Lens: Sigma Bigma at 1,000mm
• Walkabout with the Sigma Bigma: Versatility Galore
• Sigma Bigma's New Optical Stabilization

Reading theses, I hope it's obvious that I think it's a great lens that I love using, but there are, unfortunately, a few issues that I've been chronicling on the “Just how Big?” post, here.

The biggest problem, which I first encountered during the Bit of Drama on Mt. Daimonji is that the lens' CPU seems to fritz out occasionally. When it fritzs out, the AF and OS (autofocus and optical stabilization) stop working, and the camera either gets wonky data from the lens, or no data at all. In the former case, the lens tells the camera that the settings are 7,500mm f/95 (!), and in the latter case the camera thinks the lens has no CPU, so defaults to whatever I've set for non-CPU lenses (which is the 100mm f/2 settings I use with the dreamy Zeiss used for the pics on this post).

Take your pick, 7500mm @ f/95 or f/2 when you know you're zoomed at 1,000mm and it'd be comical if it weren't so annoying.

It happened a few times on Mt. Daimonji, then not again for a while, then quite a bit during our mini trip to Awaji Island. Turning the camera off then on again usually fixed the problem right away, and if not, within a few cycles. Annoying. But I don't think it happened at all during the Mounted Archery Rite we saw the other day. Intermittent.

So today I called Sigma, and they apologetically asked me to send it in at their expense. So, I did, and they'll get it tomorrow if they're open during the weekend, Monday otherwise.

Here's hoping for the best.

Continued here...

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/1.4, ISO 220 — full exif
Sizing Up the Competition
seven year old kid vs. a strawberry and chocolate sponge cake

Today is Children's Day (子供の日), a national holiday in Japan that wraps up a series of holidays collectively called Golden Week. Fumie's folks got a special cake that we could all enjoy...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200 — full exif
Silly Cake
Three strawberry faces with mouths agape (singing?), and, for some reason, one hamster.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 2200 — full exif
Message
“Here's Hoping That You Can Run Faster, Anthony”

I think Anthony was with them when they picked up the cake, and they asked him what wish he wanted written.

I completely missed it at the time, but looking at these pictures now, I realize that the overall shape of the cake is that of a traditional kabuto samurai helmet. It's a symbol for boys that they grow up strong and healthy, and a small version is often displayed in the homes of families with boys during this time of year (and indeed, we have one in our living room now).

The same symbol was on the back of Anthony's shichi-go-san hakama (men's traditional formal wear), as seen in the lead photo of this post. These symbolic helmets, along with koinobori flying carp, are common symbols to see in the weeks surrounding Children's Day.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/200 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — full exif
Tasty Hamster

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/160 sec, f/4, ISO 1600 — full exif
Distribution of the Strawberries

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — ¹/320 sec, f/1.4, ISO 200 — full exif
First Slice

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — ¹/4000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Support
half of the entire weight of the world's longest suspension bridge is borne by this tower
300m-tall Tower of the Akashi Straights Bridge, Kobe Japan

Japan's Golden Week holidays end tomorrow, so tonight roads and highways across the nation are jammed with people returning from vacations. News reports of 50-mile backups on major expressways are not uncommon. Unfun.

We avoided all the traffic by having our mini vacation on Awaji Island early, so the roads were empty both going and returning.

On the way there, we crossed the Akashi Straights Bridge (明石海峡大橋) — the world's longest suspension bridge, though tonight it's the world's longest parking lot — and while crossing it, I stuck the camera out the window for some flying(driving)-blind shots.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — ¹/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Approach
( last shot through the windshield before sticking the camera outside )

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm — ¹/4000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Two Towers
1¼ miles apart
(That's the “central span”; the whole bridge is 2½ miles long)

I wrote about this bridge on my “Heavy Lifting: Supporting the Longest Suspension Bridge in the World” post, which gives details about the two massive cables that support the bridge.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Weakest Link
better be damn strong

This is a suspension bridge, so the entire road deck — the thick layer of concrete and asphalt and girders, and all the traffic — are suspended in mid air by the many vertical cables hanging from the two big cables. If the two big cables were to break, or come loose from their moorings on either side, the whole bridge would collapse.

The two cables are draped across the two towers, so the entire weight of the bridge and its traffic are concentrated onto those two very tall (300m above the water) points.

But, of course, those driving across don't think of any of that amazing engineering. They're probably thinking of what they're going to do on the other side... perhaps a Ferris wheel ride, or a visit to a flowery park. I thought of those things too, but mostly, I marveled.

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Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 95 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slightly Wider View
of the photo that led yesterday's post

In a comment on yesterday's post, Philz asked for a larger version of the lead photo on yesterday's post on “Yabusame” mounted archery. I assume that he meant the same photo in a larger size, but since one can get that by clicking through on the thumbnail, I'll interpret it as a request for a wider view, so there it is.

I think the tighter view from yesterday's post (repeated below) is more compelling, but perhaps less informative.

Nikon D700 + Sigma “Bigma” 50-500mm OS @ 170 mm — ¹/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 1000 — map & image data — nearby photos

Continued here...