jerryy

Back on page three of this thread is an image and mention of those mythological and astronomical twins, Castor and Pollux. They are back for your viewing pleasure in the night sky with Jupiter joining them, an added bonus this year. At least for those stargazing in the Northern Hemisphere anyway. For right now, you will need to wait until late at night, Very Late. or Very Early in the morning if your clock works that way. A little after midnight. Look a little to the left of Orion and there these three will be forming an arc.

Procyon is along for the arc ride... As long as the clouds are not too much, the arc is visible even in cloudy, light polluted skies like the one shown here.
This is the equivalent of a just almost but not quite ten minutes stars exposure with a five seconds clouds exposure.
 

Many star-gazers see Constellation Cassiopeia riding high in the autumn sky as a "w" or "m" shape. It also sits next to Constellation Cepheus which holds some very beautiful clusters and nebulae.


One is the Lobster Claw Nebula (Sh2-157):  https://www.astronomy.com/observing/deep-sky-dreams-sharpless-2-157/
Other favorites include the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635): https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12247
and the Northern Lagoon Nebula (NGC 7538); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_7538
This region has some lovely clusters you can see simply by looking up in the right place, while using binoculars (or if you have very good night eyesight, just look up) for them.
Messier Object M52: https://freestarcharts.com/messier-52
and NGC 7510: https://theskylive.com/sky/deepsky/ngc7510-object

This exposure, timed at just under 54 minutes in Bortle 9 skies, almost hints at the lobster's claw, but really it needs more exposure time to make it visible in photos, darker skies would also help. If you search the internet, you can find some fantastic renditions.
 

Blood Moon and More...

This moon is waxing up to be September's Corn Moon.
This year, the Corn Moon offers more than telling us it is harvest time. This moon will be the longest blood moon of the year. It happens September 7 - 8 (The Earth's  shadow eclipses the moon.). Folks in Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe get to see a lunar eclipse.
https://www.timeanddate.com/news/astronomy/moon-september-2025
 
After the waxing comes the waning...

Waning Corn Moon.

This was snapped during a lunch.  Total shooting time—a few seconds.
We so often read that a proper "portrait" should be snapped with a longer than normal lens, a low ISO to get lots of detail, and have a soft light held up above the head, and slightly to the side.
The key, in my opinion, is always carry a camera.  Have your camera available to capture candid, authentic photographs.  Available light, no posing.   This portrait used 2000 ISO, the lens wide open at f4, and 1/100 sec. to stop any movement.  I didn't even take time to compose—I just snapped.  I leave the "Face Detection" on unless I'm photographing a landscape or subject other than a person.
The GFX100RF has the equivalent of a 28mm lens.  The large sensor renders fine detail even at fairly high ISO ratings.  And the drawing of the lens is just perfect in my opinion.  It was set to B & W, with slightly reduced sharpness and clarity (set in-camera).  Ideal for "portraits."  Now, for some subjects I will likely increase the sharpness and clarity to the normal setting.  The camera is new, and I'm still experimenting with it.

Thank you so much, Jerryy!
The article is very interesting and now I'm confident about the aperture stepping.
About the parfocal property, I have information that the first FW releases didn't fix the initial issues (focusing mistakes in zooming), but a following resease solved the problem: I would like to have a confirmation by some actual user of the lens.
Very kind of you, Jerryy!!

I have a copy of Tamron’s 150 - 600mm G2 lens. It has really good image quality and is easy to use. I have heard the one you are asking about is similar. Will you be able to test it?
The only drawback for me with my lens is after carrying it around for a while, it gets heavy and so on the tripod it goes. Also, it was not a FX mount lens, so I use a Fringer smart adapter, but that has never been a problem.

Thanks Jerry
 
Changed both settings and it worked perfectly.

The fans are flying in to get good seats for the next round of dragonfly gymnastics...

The competitor is not ready, apparently something on the equipment is not right...

Everything is now sorted, ready to go...

And THERE IT IS!!! The Handstand!!!
Of course with that many arms, how hard can it be?

I think if you just put only the url in the post, the image will show up:

Awesome photo!

Ghosts and goblins and all sorts of fey critters are stirring again. It is that time of the year. Be careful, they will soon be out and about... Boo!


 

“This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!”*

* From the opening to the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.