It was -9F (-23C) this morning. In short, a perfect morning for a landscape test. I put on my long johns and drove over to Two Harbors on the shores of Lake Superior. Shortly after dawn, with a crisp wind blowing, I found the perfect opportunity for a landscape photography test. Sea Smoke!
For those of you who live in warmer climates, sea smoke (steam ) forms early in the winter when the air temperature is dramatically colder than the water temperature. We photographers love the combination of sea smoke, water, ice, and interesting light. This morning qualified on all accounts.
Please note I own both my Canon SX70 which I use primarily for bird photography, and I love its small form factor and zoom when I hike / ski / kayak into the back country. However, I also own a Sony A6000 which I prefer for landscape and astro-photography. Actually it is worth noting the SX70 is not able to be utilized for astro-photography. Canon has limited the ISO to 100 when exposure times exceed 1.3 seconds. Within a year I expect CHDK will be available to overcome this artificial limitation.
I am actually not going to rate the SX70 in terms of landscape photography. It performed well, but I will let my readers be the judge as I will almost always use the Sony A6000 for landscapes. For the purposes of the test, I set up both cameras using similar parameters.
- Both cameras were set to Aperture Priority. I actually used a setting of 5.6 rather than a traditionally higher setting. I wanted the frozen point to be tack sharp, and given the high wind, I needed a faster shutter speed.
- Both camera were set to ISO of 100
- A 2 second shutter delay was used to minimize camera shake
- A monopod was used to minimize camera shake
- Each camera set its own exposure times which were plenty fast (1/250th to 1/400th of a second)
- I tried to take photographs with similar lighting and cloud effects, but conditions change very fast … as in micro-seconds some times.
These are the original, full sized images … non watermarked. See my other SX70 reviews.
Canon SX70 Lake Superior Sea Smoke Photographs
Sony A6000 Lake Superior Sea Smoke Photographs
Interesting. So do you do print your images? I’m asking purely interested in printing capabilities. If you take a 20MP camera and take it out to a zoom of 1200…how many actual MP are left. And if so up to what size can you get quality prints? Thanks
I normally do not print photographs because I have found there is small demand for large prints. Over the past five years, while volunteering at both the Sax Zim Bog Welcome Center, and the Crisp Point Lighthouse Visitor Center, I have observed prints rarely sell (none of the prints in question were mine). Instead, the areas which have generated the most revenue for me personally, by far, are the following: 1. providing images to magazines and periodicals 2. my beginning reader children’s books which have sold over 1,200 copies in the past year. For my purposes the SX70 has performed very well.
I have the Sony a6000 but I can never get my photos to turn out like yours did do you have any suggestions for me. I by far is not any professional photographer by any means just an amatuer trying to figure out a camera that may have been way too much for me. I love your photos I would love to get my photos to turn on even a tenth of what yours are. They’re absolutely amazing
Dawn: I assume you are not using “auto” in terms of taking photographs with your A6000. If you are, start forcing yourself to learn both aperture and shutter priority. In addition, for landscape photography I almost always use a monopod and a 2 second delay. This helps insure that the camera is not jostled while the image is being taken. Believe or not, I often even hold my breath during the 2 second timer delay. This seems to really help me up my concentration level. Finally, for landscapes if lighting conditions allow, I manually set the ISO to 100 or 200. Good luck. Read up on “exposure triangle” and watch some Youtube videos on the subject.
Lovely, but oh it looks cold.