Not sure How and when the Michigan Light houses got into my ‘to-do’ list but i was hoping to do it as soon as the weather got a little better. For a change it was real nice to see $3.70/Gallon on the gas price. All of us, Chicagoans are living the $4.20/Gallon lifestyle(Grrrrrrr…).
I knew i can only get to 3 of them even while i was planning the trip. So i planned the visit so accordingly to fit the two days i got.
The 3 light houses i visited,
And it was time to take my 5D Mark3 for a spin. I’m not gonna review it though but I am gonna put together things that i like about this camera. I did start capturing a video review and decided not to go any further, the sole reason being.. I’m a horrible hand model… 🙁
1. First things first, this camera gives me rubber fetish.. yes i said that.. the gripper has been redesigned and it feels so good to hold on to.
2. The LCD panel – I can write an entire blog to speak about how great it is. 3.2″ with 1,040,000-dot resolution. It is so much lively.
3. Looks like Canon is trying to make their version of Trey Ratcliffs and now 5dM3 can shoot upto 7 exposures in AEB which is great but a dedicated HDR mode!?(Really Canon). A dedicated HDR mode on 5dM3 seems lame to me and it didn’t perform well either.
4. Electronic level – when i used Canon 60D, amongst others i did feel it too.. daamn wouldn’t it be nice to have an electronic level in Mark II. and Canon put it in 5DM3(So, Canon was listening… who knew). It’s another great feature when you shoot pictures or videos. Takes out the guesswork and the tiny bubble-levels (which easily gets lost in the camera bag corners) out of the equation.
5. And now you can shoot both on a Compact Flash card & SDHC and can also choose which card to store.
6. The AF-System – 61Point System(Holy.. hell.. that’s what came to my mind) Canon has put together a separate menu screens for the AF system and the AF is just unbelievably sharp.
7. One of the most expected feature – 60fps video.. It’s here
8. And the other obvious features that everyone knew was coming to 5dM3, the lock button on the dial which prevents from changing modes when a follow focus & other additions are in the way, Audio monitoring jack
When i was shooting early morning on this Michigan trip, i did turn on the LCD backlight and guess what happened, My exposure wasn’t the same as what i metered before turning on the LCD. I hit myself in the back of my head and told ‘Not more than 3 shots a night(!) for Kumaran anymore’. Later i did realize it wasn’t me and it was the camera. I’m pretty sure this isn’t something that can be fixed with a firmware update. Though Canon has already acknowledged the issue and has stopped shipping further, I’m sure someone’s a$$ is getting kicked at Canon’s quality team.
And I’ve already got a couple of emails asking if it’s worth upgrading from 5dM2. I did have the same question but now i’m sold… the reason being, 5dM3 is entirely a new animal.
New image processor – DIGIC 5+,
New AF system
5DM3 – It’s just worth every penny spent
I did spend most of the time playing with the video features and the video is coming sooner on my next blog.
Here are the shots,
Big Sable Point Lighthouse, My personal favourite.. A 2-mile hike to this historic lighthouse was completely worth it.
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Little Sable Point Lighthouse, can be reached by a short diversion from the main route.
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Lake Michigan beach near Ludington State Park
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Again, Big Sable Point Lighthouse.
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Grand Haven Lighthouse, Next to the GrandHaven State Park which was under construction and was closed to visitors. Would have been nice if the “Pure Michigan” Commercial mentioned it somewhere(grrrr)..
And this trip isn’t over yet, there are 12 more lighthouses i have to visit all around the lake Michigan and I’m hoping to do it before the end of this summer.
Thanks for stopping by… 🙂
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