First Problem

I was out today at Teignmouth, shooting the last day of the Lark national championships. Not a spectacular day - rather cloudy and a light and very shifty wind. I was using the usual combination of K-7/50-200 and Canon 40D with a variety of lenses: 400 f5.6L, 70-200 f4L with 1.4 extender and Sigma 10-20.

Towards the end of the afternoon I noticed in the K-7 viewfinder "F - - -" which seemed to indicate an indeterminate aperture setting. I guessed the problem was the connection between camera body and lens. After detaching the lens and wiping the contacts on both camera body and lens, the problem was solved.

Too Wet?

I spent nearly 7 hours on the water yesterday in Lyme Bay, in a small, very wet RIB in quite large waves and 15-20 knots winds. The occasion was the 2010 Albacore National championships. I used 3 cameras: the K-7/50-200 which I kept inside my jacket when not in use, and two Canons: the 40D, with 70-200 f4L/1.4 extender and my old D60 with the 400 F5.6L. These cameras stayed inside the waterproof bag when not in use.

I got some nice shots from the K-7, but the sheer amount of solid water coming over the boat and spray in the air got the better of me in the end. All my available lens wipes were just sodden and keeping the lens clear of water droplets became increasingly difficult. A whole series of shots at the finish of the last race were ruined through water on the lens.

Pleased to say though that all three cameras survived the ordeal and out of the 1000 frames shot in total, I got some reasonable shots.

I also had a go at shooting some video of the leader rounding the wing mark, but the up and down motion of the boat made it a very unpleasant watch!