GKPE 8, Yet more NZ ramblings from some flightless Kiwis.

So off to ChCh tusday morning for interview/induction etc planning trip back ..... what a drama

So much to see so little time so little money and thens there is the weather. I guess I need to focus on just 1 area so what will it be?

Short list

Kaikoura
Mt Taranaki coast trip
Mt Ruapehu area

Have 3 days to get from ChCh to Auckland

Thoughts

Depends on when your ferry crossing is. Kaikora is ok but fairly limited access available in a large camper van.
Forgotten Highway, National Park and then loop back down through to Wairoru via the Desert Road.
I hope it has more power than the one I had to drive back from Wellington. Oversized body on underpower Mercedes chassis. Horrible thing to drive.

No idea which model, yes the ferry crossing would be best to get done and dusted ASAP. I guess weather will decide my path.

weka2000 wrote in post #18652545
So off to ChCh tusday morning for interview/induction etc planning trip back ..... what a drama

So much to see so little time so little money and thens there is the weather. I guess I need to focus on just 1 area so what will it be?

Short list

Kaikoura
Mt Taranaki coast trip
Mt Ruapehu area

Have 3 days to get from ChCh to Auckland

Thoughts

If you are driving from Chch then the main route takes you through Kaikoura (barring earthquakes , floods, acts of God, more act of God) and having 3 days only you are not going to have much time to concentrate on any where. It will take you a day from Chch to Picton alone so I would suggest coastal shots of Kaikoura as you come through. There are or used to be (pre earthquake me) plenty of spaces to pull off the road so don't go too fast through there. Kaikoura in my experience has the most expensive fuel in NZ.

The desert Rd North Island is going to be iffy this time of year, which leaves Taranaki Coast, if you have time.

im back in auckland ..... photos over weekend. What a long drive.

weka2000 wrote in post #18657177
im back in auckland ..... photos over weekend. What a long drive.

Welcome home

My photography was a 3/10 ...... but I did get the tail end of a big fish in wellington harbour .......@200mm

weka2000 wrote in post #18657177
im back in auckland ..... photos over weekend. What a long drive.

Good to know you are home safe.

I seem to have lost my mojo. I took about 50 photos of some wax eyes in a tree this morning. First photos I have taken in a few weeks, and every single one was blurry or out of focus. Should I sell my cameras?

scotttnz wrote in post #18657780
I seem to have lost my mojo. I took about 50 photos of some wax eyes in a tree this morning. First photos I have taken in a few weeks, and every single one was blurry or out of focus. Should I sell my cameras?

I have that trouble with buildings

On a more serious note, do you wear spectacles?

Did you have the correct ones on when looking at your pics?
Are they clean and is the 'puter screen clean?
Did you look at your raw images before sharpening becos' they often look 'soft'.

I know I have asked basic questions but aging is not just losing hair and colour, other things happen also which I have learnt by experience. The above has caught me out several times in the past, and with my new large screen I have started sitting too far away for my reading/computer specs to be in focus. (I have only worn specs for a few yrs).

Lastly, was yr aperture too small and caused some diffraction, and of course, slow shutter speeds.

Lastly of course, they could just be them blurry sort of wax eyes!

Nah mate, don't sell ya gear yet, you're too young to take up tiddly winks!

I also have a feeling niggling at me in the back of my head that your camera should not take a photo unless it is in focus. Maybe you have something in the settings to do with the shutter button half press? You may have disabled that to enable back button focus?

kiwichris wrote in post #18657815
I also have a feeling niggling at me in the back of my head that your camera should not take a photo unless it is in focus. Maybe you have something in the settings to do with the shutter button half press? You may have disabled that to enable back button focus?

No, I'm pretty sure that the problem was caused by the aperatus behind the camera. I obviously need more practice with erratically moving birds. The light was dim, and the birds were small, so I had the lens wide open at 300mm, which means not much DOF. I was playing around a bit with focus modes too. I got some wings and bodies in focus, but no eyes.

I did manage some in focus leaves though....

Few thoughts on the trip and photography.

1) you have no control over weather .... you get what your given
2) the best spots are the ones you see out your window while driving.... now find a place to park or be willing to walk for a while
3) treat every new trip as a scouting trip dont rely on google and other peoples photos then expect same results
4) relax and enjoy the trip ( I just wanted to get home after the interview)
5) better to focus on a couple of things than to try to capture it all

Scott I went from ChCh to Auckland and most of my photos are crap do i sell my gear and just use my cell phone like everyone else?

weka2000 wrote in post #18658185
Few thoughts on the trip and photography.

1) you have no control over weather .... you get what your given
2) the best spots are the ones you see out your window while driving.... now find a place to park or be willing to walk for a while
3) treat every new trip as a scouting trip dont rely on google and other peoples photos then expect same results
4) relax and enjoy the trip ( I just wanted to get home after the interview)
5) better to focus on a couple of things than to try to capture it all

Scott I went from ChCh to Auckland and most of my photos are crap do i sell my gear and just use my cell phone like everyone else?

Take someone else to do the driving, or, give them the camera and instruct fully on what you want. My son once filled the last memory card, (unknown to me) by holding the shutter button down pointing the camera out the windscreen. It was all over before I realised what he was doing. One pic would have been enough.

I did warn you to drive slow through Kaikoura and that 3 days was pushing it for that trip.

The other thing I found through experience, you should allow double your driving time if you are going to stop to photograph. That is not including the use of tripods and 10 stoppers.