Back in Action…
Well after a long winter hiatus from exploration, I’m happy to report that CCE is back in action! A few issues on the home-front had postponed (and almost killed) Copper Country Explorer as you have all come to love it. In preparation for the NEW copper country web site (which CCE will be a part of) I sold off the camera I was using previously to do our explorations. While this means no more video on explorer (but since I stopped doing that eons ago I don’t think anyone is going to miss it) it does mean a brand new still camera - a Canon Digital Rebel XT. This new camera means much higher-resolution images, and even larger and more detailed panoramics. It also means the CCE new beginning has arrived.
Today I start with our latest exploration - out along the ruins at Quincy. Quincy has always been that one “spot” that CCE never managed to make time for. It’s high-profile nature has kept me away for years, as I explored more obscure and lesser known sites. But after two dozen mine site our options were starting to get thin. So off to Quincy we went. I have to say I was surprised by how much is still around at Quincy - its a gold mine for ruins, most of them still in great shape.
Leaving the No. 2 property and structures out of the exploration, we set out to photograph as much of everything else we can. Over 200 photographs later we had only managed to scratch the surface - but had found some great stuff in the process. Today we start with the Quincy Dry House - or at least what’s left of it.
Explore the Quincy Dry House (part 1)…
Explore the Quincy Dry House (part 2)…
No. 4 Boiler House (and man-shaft)
NEW! Along the Old Pewabic (p2)
Shiny camera, Mike! Do you use the kit lens, or have you gotten the bug to try exotic new glass?
dcclark | April 25, 2008
For now just the lens that came with the camera, which has a pretty nice wide angle but very short telephoto. So we’ll probably add a longer lens in the future.
I’m not too well versed in still photography - my background is in videography. That’s probably why I was more comfortable using my old Sony VX-2100 to take photos - since it was a video camera that happened to take stills. I’ve noticed that I tend to over-expose almost everything I take, so I got to work on that. (Thanks goodness for Photoshop) But I’m getting use to it.
explorer | April 25, 2008
A lot of modern amateur-oriented SLR’s tend to overexpose, I guess on the theory that people will shoot dark subjects in ridiculously poorly lit situations (you know, put someone with their back to a window and expect them to be properly lit). On my Nikon, I have to set the exposure compensation to -1/3 or even -2/3 stop to get a correct exposure, most of the time.
dcclark | April 25, 2008
Yea I figured I’d have to start using the exposure compensation - but when I already shoot about 250 photos at a time - that a lot of pictures to sort through. The AE on my camcorder seemed to do a lot better job of keeping things evened up - and it was a lot easier to adjust the iris manually when I could see the results “real time” on the LCD.
I really think that’s my main problem - I’m use to using my “eyes” to determine proper exposure. With the SLR I need to rely on the camera to tell me. It seems abstract to me compared to just looking through a viewfinder and seeing how its going to look straight up.
But like I said - I’m learning.
explorer | April 26, 2008