Ok probably not a quick one at all.
It has been a interesting month or two. I had a medical procedure done back on April 15th. An endoscopic procedure to put a stent into a psuedocyst in my pancreas. The procedure went well, but I had a bit of a complication after being sent home, I started running a fever, had chills and pain. The top three things in the call them immediately list. I came down with an infection and ended up being back in the hospital for another 4 or 5 days on IV anti biotics.
I thought it would give me time….
I thought being in the hospital would give me time to work on the website and blog, especially after getting back into the Concert Photography gig. I had a show I covered on April 5th that I had to shoot from the soundboard and was planning on writing about that experience and how I dealt with it, but I didnt. It took so much energy out of me, I just couldn’t do it. Ever since then, I have not had the energy to do much more then work my day job, come home and fall asleep. It has been over a month now and I am feeling alot better and I think I will talk about the soundboard shoot now.
The Photographers Found Out At The Last Minute……
It was kind of strange finding out at the last minute we were covering the show from the soundboard. At Mohegan Sun Arena the Soundboard is at the back end of the floor and being short it is kinda difficult for me to get decent shots without getting the tops of heads from there to the stage. Being a concert photographer, this is something I should have been more prepared for, this is something that most concert photographers are prepared for. I had just gotten the OM Systems 40-150 2.8 Pro and was hoping to test it out at this show. It wasnt the setting I was hoping to test it out in, but it performed very well. I did give it a small run thru at a very small venue/bar called Cherry Street Station. It did just as I expected it to at a venue that really was no where as well lit as Mohegan Sun Arena was. Luckily tho I tend to over pack my camera bag and had a gem of a lens in it.
Olympus/OM Systems M.Zuiko ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II Telephoto Zoom
Lovingly compared to a soda can, I had packed this lens into my camera bag a couple of days before for some unknown reason, maybe it was a preminition. It sure came to the rescue on this night and performed very well for a lens that was way out of its league and out of place among the higher end lenses with comparable focal lengths the other photographers had that evening. The one thing I really had going in my favor was the fact my camera has a Micro 4/3rds sensor. This gives the 75-300 the focal length of a full frame 150-600 lens. Being a show in the Mohegan Sun Arena I was lucky enough have fantastic lighting and didnt have to worry much about the f stop of 4.8-6.7. Being stuck at the sound board did make up my mind about my next lens.
To Check Out My Review and Gallery Of Images From The Show That Night
Vixen and Stephen Pearcy / Warren DeMartini of Ratt at Mohegan Sun Arena
I Had To Upgrade My Telephoto So I Wouldn’t Worry About Soundboard Shoots Again
I needed to upgrade my telephoto. As much as I love the 75-300 and the ability to basically throw it into my pocket and take it anywhere, I needed something with a bit more reach then the 75-300. My last couple of visits to the camera store, I had become interested in the OM Systems 150-600mm 5-6.3 telephoto. This last Friday I had a very lucky night at the Casino and was able to get my fat stubby fingers on this monster of a lense the next morning. All I can say is wow. Not only because of the lens but some of the features of the OM-1 MK ll that I had not even tried until I got this lens. Being a 150-600 this gives me the full frame equivalent of 300-1200 more then enough for shooting from the soundboard. No more worrying about that now.
More Then Just Something For The Soundboard
I do shoot more then just concerts, I tend to spend time outdoors at a couple of locations hoping for to catch hummingbirds or anything else that I find interesting. Like yesterday, I was able to get some great Bluebird pictures with this lens, unfortunately the hummingbirds were not very co operative and either hid on the opposite of the bushes I was watching or just out of reach from me. It has caused me to learn more about the camera body. Like using the Bird Detection, setting up FPS rates. I didnt realize how fast frames add up when you are using the electronic shutter at 120 frames per second, but you can get some great birds in flight images like that.
I Am Just A Little Excited About This Lens
This lens and camera is going to be a huge game changer for my bird and animal photography, I hope all of you reading will hang around and watch the amazing pictures I will be able to take this summer. I will be posting more photos soon in the galleries!
