So Cal So Cal Part II: Home of the B.I.F.'s

For Pat and the BIF crew... hahahahaha

^^ Winning combo imo

on a side note, I got my haida kit, and I gotta say that it's friggin awesome. Did a couple test scenarios, a normal scene, and one pointed into the sun. No issues flare wise, sharpness and contrast on par with Lee although, this is a true 10 stop filter (closest histogram match when calculated), where lee is about 11.

Color cast.... cheapo china ND1000 faired the worst by far, Lee halved the color cast and retained a crapload of contrast, even when color corrected, haida by far closest to neutral. Almost NO color cast, and the images usable SOOC Has a somewhat warm cast, but very minor. Huge fan, incredible product.

next up for testing will be the Lee soft ND0.9 resin vs Haida soft ND0.9 glass. The Haida has a reflective coat, so I'm kinda confused off the bat.

T2i4me wrote in post #16816872
Nicely done, tough to get these buggers as they dart around so much.

Thanks Eric!

It was kind of tough, with a bigger lens, went to the smaller one and it was much less a chore for sure!

I did Bryce and Grand Canyons for the first time in Feb last year. It's quite empty during the off season so I was able to just drive myself to each look out point, jump out have a look and take some snaps. Dean I don't think you're going to find much use for G/ND's unless you plan on shooting f1.2, when pointed toward the canyon the sun will by on the sides or straight up(I never bothered getting mine out of the bag when I was there). I also made use of both my TC's on my 70-200 for small wildlife.

For GC most shots from the lookouts will have nice flat horizons(as seen bellow) so if you're shooting toward the sun a hard GND would work well.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/fPqM​PF

Here's one of my shots of GC. The sky was pretty ugly that day with lots of thin clouds with very little blue sky showing through...just kind of drab so I cropped what little sky was in the frame.

Both very nice shots, guys!

Thx for the tips. I'm looking forward to it. Hoping there won't be too many people so I can drive myself to the lookouts just as you said.
I'm kinda bummed that I can't make it to Bryce. I'll have to hit that up next time. I only have 2 days for this trip. I do plan on driving to Sedona. Looks like a lot of great shots that way.
The GND is mostly for the blue skies if we get any. But if the orientation is right as you mentioned I shouldn't really need it.

Charlie. I'm very interested in this Haida kit. Might have to give that a try down the road.

Hope to see some great star shots when you get back! I've been to Sedona multiple times, don't know if you plan on hiking but the backpack is better when climbing. I had so much gear once I almost fell over backwards from the weight! LOL.

You can cover Sedona pretty easily in one day, unless you plan on hiking it some. When I went I stayed in Flagstaff, that way it was easy to visit both places. Hotel was reasonable too.

I'd say a CPL would be generally be more useful at the Grand Canyon.

My trip was pretty short as well, We drove up to Bryce on the 13th(got to entrance road that runs through the canyon just before sunset-took a couple of snaps) and spent the night just outside of the park. I wanted to do some nightscapes but being first time there, it had just snowed for a few days prior to us getting there and it was 10F I decided I'll do it the next time(and spend at least a couple of days there.

On the 14th we went to all the main look outs at Bryce Canyon(there was too much snow on the trails so I'm glad I didn't try and go out at night), headed done the main road down in the Canyon and then off to the Grand Canyon.

On the 15th I went out to catch the sunrise than headed back to pick up the wifey and the dogs and hit all the looks outs in the park before heading back home.

I then went and shot the NHRA Winter Nationals on the 16th and 17th. It was a long tiresome week. The one day for Grand Canyon was probably enough if you don't want to go done into the Canyon, but I wish I had more time for Bryce Canyon(especially if the trails weren't covered with to much snow for hiking).

I was surprised at how much wildlife saw at that time of the year at the Grand Canyon, especially after not really seeing anything besides Ravens(maybe Crows-too lazy to look at photos to verify) at Bryce Canyon. It was quite a bit warmer at the Grand Canyon but ti was still freezing other than mid day.

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I wish my skills were better when I went to the GC last time. I got some OK shots but nothing worth really getting uppity about them. I remember it was march so snow on the ground and I found the same, a bunch of wildlife.

wow oh wow, the difference some better equipment makes! Just tried out my new YN flash with the stands and the transparent umbrella.....so much better than those cheap uncontrollable strobes I had been using. So much more pleased.

5Dc + EF 400 f2.8L MKII + 2.xII = 800mm <----

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/mKdq​N9

hey, no fair getting that guy out in the water to add some fill flash!

J/K, great shot as always pat!

Not a bif but I think It'll do.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/mTqp​qi