70-200mm VR

[Swampy]

Just got back last night from 10 days in MI. It wasn't a photo based trip, but I did manage to get some great shots out there with the limited time that I had - spending time with family from all over the country. I just wanted to say that the 70-200mm VR is one awesome lens. I'm going to post some pics here and keep in mind what my studio was at the time of most of these shots. In fact, below is a shot taken from someone else of me in my "studio". Yeah, I know. Not the best place to have an S2 and a 70-200 VR, but they worked perfectly. With all the bobbing up and down, I was amazed at the quality of the shots to follow this post.

[Swampy]

Here's one that I took for my brother for putting up on his desk at work.
1/750 @ f6.7 @86mm ISO200 4256x2848 Std/Std/Std Fine JPG

[Swampy]

Here's one of the neighbors on my brothers boat. We were paying him back since his family was loaning us ski's and knee boards for the kids to use as well as pulling a few of them behind his ski boat.
Keep in mind that this is hand held and out on a little sea doo.
I have a problem with cropping this picture at all, but the original, every little droplet of water is clear.
1/750 @ f6.7 @200mm ISO200 4256x2848 Std/Std/Std Fine JPG

[Swampy]

My cousin's daughter had never been on a knee board, so we put her on one. I think I caught the perfect realization/excitement moment. :)
1/750 @ f6.7 @200mm ISO200 4256x2848 Std/Std/Std Fine JPG

[Swampy]

This is what the neighbor looks like when he gets thrown off of a sea doo...
1/1000 @ f8 @200mm ISO200 4256x2848 Std/Std/Std Fine JPG

[ballroom_boy]

AWESOME shots, my friend!

[StormChaser]

I must agree, the last shot was great, you certainly are a daredevil to go out onto the water with your S2, I have a project nextweek in st. tropez wich takes me and my S2 onto the water as well. Scary!!!! I'll post them if I don't take on water.

[Swampy]

Thanks guys. I didn't think I was being too careless with my method of transportation during my shoots on the water. I went out on that Sea Doo and rode that thing hard by myself, with 2 and even 3 of us on it. I couldn't tip that thing over or throw myself off trying. So, I figured, if I was by myself and not trying to throw myself off, that I'd be ok.

The camera took an occasional few small drops of water, but I kept it tilted back and under my arm so it was pretty well covered while moving around. Other than that, the Sea Doo was a pretty stable platform to be on except for the waves and stuff.

Anthonie - If you're taking your camera "on the water", I'll assume that you'll be on a boat of some sort. I've had my camera (now) on boats from Sea Doo sized to Dinghy sized to 22 foot jet boats. My only scary adventure would have been on the Dinghy. Since I was fishing and with 2 other people, the Dinghy doesn't provide many places for safe storage. On the Sea Doo, I was pretty much on a mission and had the camera in hand all the time. On any of the other boats I was on, no problem. Plenty of storage areas and when it was stored, it was stored in a backpack (zippered and a flap) and with the lifejackets for extra padding. It's not bad at all.

That Sea Doo I was on, I could stand on the edge and not fall in/tip over (not that I tried that with my camera mind you. :)). That other Sea Doo. Well. I wouldn't trust my underwear from falling in, even it it was secured with a tied on bathing suit. :)

[brenz45]

I Waaaaant 1!

[RacerX]

Almost as cool as the Swamp!
But not! Hey Swampy really cool pics, thanks for sharing them with us. I have the FinePix 6900 and started looking at this camera for the past 6 months.
I've shot over 800 pics with the 6900 and I'm always happy with the quality. Probably getting ready to pull the triger and go up to the S2 like yourself. I'll be calling for some tips on accessories.
Thanks !

[Ben]

Swampy,

Great action shots,

How about posting some frame info, shutter speed, fstop S2 pro settings etc. (Finepix viewer gives more than enough info)

It would be really handy to see those settings.

Ben

[Swampy]

Originally posted by Ben
How about posting some frame info, shutter speed, fstop S2 pro settings etc. (Finepix viewer gives more than enough info)


There ya go Ben... Any more info needed? Let me know and I'll be more than happy to post. The only thing I think I did to these pics is unsharp mask, crop and size before posting here.

Bryan

[LiVe]

I was wondering if you did unsharpen mask or not. I tried out that lens before and I would buy it but its so $$$$$$ you did some great shots there. Did you use sunny for the white balence?

[Swampy]

Don't know how I missed your post Live... Apologies for not responding quicker.

I did not use USM on the pictures above. In fact, all I did was resize and post. A few of them I did crop, but not all of them. The white balance was left on Auto. Wasn't thinking about shooting pictures, was thinking mostly about putting my camera in the water. :) I quite often shoot with auto white balance for standard indoor and outdoor shooting. For specialized shooting like studio work, I'll use different white balances.

Below is one of those pics cropped the way I like it with USM done twice at 56%, .7 and 1 settings.

[RacerX]

The picture keeps getting better and better and better. Nice work
Swampy! I like this one better. You can almost count the water droplets. :D