Starfield – Canon R5 with RF 50mm f/1.2
Over Christmas I was lucky enough to spend some time Down Under. We have some family living in Australia for a bit, and if we were going to go, now was the time to do it.
When it came to packing, I couldn’t quite decide what to take and so I did what I usually do; I took too much. We were apparently limited to 7kg of hand luggage which would include one standard cabin suitcase and one personal bag…
I wanted to take the Hasselblad, so I limited myself to one lens and a metered prism. I wanted to take the Leica, so I took that plus two lenses. I wanted to take the drone, because what’s the point in having one if you don’t have it when you’re in amazing places. I also wanted to take a digital body, so I packed an R5, the 50mm f/1.2 and 24-70 f/2.8.
I also wanted to have my tablet handy for the plane, and my laptop handy for edits while I was away, headphones, and a book or two.
Burn – Canon R5 with RF 50mm f/1.2
I knew my luggage was going to be somewhat overweight and decided to do what I usually do under these circumstances. Look strong, don’t make any groaning noises when you stand up, and hope no one weighs the bag.
Classic, sensible, and well thought out.
I didn’t feel I could also pack a tripod, after all my Sirui is a good one, it’s carbon fibre, waterproof to the shoulder, stands seven feet tall at full extension, and cost me a pretty penny. (I bought it a few years ago, as the tripod to end all tripods.)
It was too good, too expensive, too big, and too heavy to take with me.
Burn 2 – Hasselblad with 80mm f/2.8 Planar – Kodak Gold 200
Burn 3 – Hasselblad with 80mm f/2.8 Planar – Kodak Gold 200
Cut to Heathrow, 4am and the nice man wants to weigh my suitcase. Turns out it weighs 14 kilos. I keep the personal bag slung behind my back, in order to avoid that getting weighed as well, (it has the laptop, iPad Pro, Intern No. 1’s iPad, an Olympus MJU, and a Kodak Ektar 35n in it).
“No, I can’t check the bag, there are lots of the lithium Ion batteries in there.”
I promised to move things around between bags, (Intern no.1 only had a kilo and a half of colouring books with him), and I went on my way, so far, so plan accomplished.
Dune – Hasselblad with 80mm f/2.8 Planar – Kodak Gold 200
On the first day of the trip, I learn that Perth is the world’s most isolated city. It’s 2000km to its nearest rival, Adelaide. This means I’m as close as I’m going to get to some desert pictures, and to some awesome dark sky astrophotography.
I don’t have a tripod.
I mention to my brother-in-law that it might be cool to get a cheap tripod and drive out into the outback and photograph some stars, I could always leave the tripod behind at the end of the trip. He mentions a carbon fibre tripod that he saw in a charity shop the previous weekend.
Stars over the Dunes – Canon R5 with RF 50mm f/1.2
The next day I buy a Sirui W-1204 carbon fibre travel tripod from a charity shop for £65 and start to consider emigrating to Australia.
It’s completely complete, with bag, spikes, short centre column, the only thing that’s missing is the quick release plate.
Lucky for me the nice people at Sirui use an Arca Swiss style quick-release and I find a clone in Plaza Cameras for $20. It’s on.
Foot Prints – Canon R5 with RF 24-70mm f/2.8
Some very light internet research bought Lancelin to my attention. Featuring proper sand dunes and an easy drive from Perth, it became my goal. My brother-in-law and I set out early enough to get there in time to scope the dunes out under the rakish light of sunset and as the last few sand boarders were leaving.
We were also there in time to photograph the aftermath a recent bushfire, (it had been burning about a week before we got there), and to fly the drone a bit. Once I’d stacked the drone into a sand dune, it was time to retire to the best pub garden I’ve ever been to.
We watched the sun drop into the Indian Ocean, drank a beer and ate nachos. (Again with the thoughts of emigration.)
DJI Mini Pro 3
Once it was dark enough to see some stars we head back out to the dunes. It was the wrong time of year for the Milky Way which doesn’t waltz into southern skies until February. Even so the R5 and the 50mm f/1.2 delivered, picking out more stars than were visible to the naked eye, and they both worked flawlessly while resisting the temptation to consume any sand.
I was able to achieve a dream or two, and had a fun night out in the world, which is one of the best things about photoraphy
All too often I eschew my digital cameras in favour of the film ones. I had fun with all of the cameras I took away with me, (apart from the Olympus MJU) and made keepers with them all. There’ll likely be a blog post about their adventures soon, but in the mean time, that R5 is a special camera, and that 50mm is glorious.
Side note: The new Sirui worked beautifully and made it home too stashed in my hold bag,
Last week I used it for a commercial job and some Lancelin sand fell out of it.