Rodney Campbell's Blog

A few more images from our maiden flight with the new DJI Mavic 2 Pro along the shores of Curl Curl beach

The following image is probably my favourite of the morning. The low early morning light just perfect across the waves and sand

Falling Tides

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/160 sec at f/4, ISO 100

One thing I immediately noticed on importing the images into Lightroom was a marked improvement in the source RAW files. It was obvious that the fine detail was better. Zooming into 100% over the sand or the fine structure of the water wash only confirmed this view

Additionally even without a polariser the RAW image is rich and saturated pretty much straight out of camera. Compared to the flat and ever so slightly mushy RAWs which came out of the Phantom

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Awash with Possibilities

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/240 sec at f/4, ISO 100

I’m looking forward to further experimenting with the possibilities of my new camera. Especially later this year when I’ll be spending two months in the remote Australian outback. Which was ostensibly the reason for purchasing the new drone

Chasing Shadows

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/240 sec at f/4, ISO 100

As I’d mentioned in a previous post I’d bought myself a new DJI drone for Christmas

The DJI Phantom 4 had been a faithful drone for a number of years. However it was just far too large to conveniently take with you. This was especially the case when travelling or when out doing my normal D-SLR based landscape photography as well

I needed something much smaller and lighter which I could somehow add to my D-SLR camera backpack

Golden

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/1000 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

I’d first experimented with the DJI Spark. It is incredibly light and quite small (although the arms do not fold). However the wifi based communications between the controller (or phone) and the drone were frankly terrible. I found it to be next to useless and solid range in typical wifi congested areas (like cities) was often less than 50m. The comms was just too unreliable to be counted on. So it was relegated to my parents who could at least use it in country areas

Southern Curl

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/160 sec at f/4, ISO 100

So I’ve switched to the new DJI Mavic 2 Pro. As I almost exclusively use a drone for aerial still photography it’s 1″ sensor is perfect for me

So here we are on it’s maiden flight along the coastline at South Curl Curl. Above the ocean and the lanes of the tidal pool where my daughters swam

Above the Lanes

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/120 sec at f/4, ISO 100

We were at South Curl Curl beach here on Sydney’s northern beaches for a pleasant sunrise

My daughters had wanted to watch the sun rise over the horizon whilst swimming in the ocean. So here we were getting up before the crack of dawn so we could be just on time

The Sun Rises

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 1/2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

The prediction was for clear skies and no clouds – sigh :(. I’d packed my camera gear the night before… just in case… However looking out the window at home before leaving in the morning I could see stars everywhere. Thus the chance of clouds was, well, nil

Wink

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 1 sec at f/11, ISO 100

We’d arrived pretty much exactly on sunrise. This was about an hour after I’d normally be arriving for a sunrise shoot anyway. So I wasn’t actually expecting to get any decent shots with the D-SLR

One of my Christmas gifts to myself was a new DJI drone – the Mavic 2 Pro. More about that later. It however was what I was expecting to shoot with on this clear morning – on it’s maiden flight

The air had a lot of sea spray and fine mist so it was quite hazy. This was actually probably helpful as the sky whilst cloudless had some very nice pastels

So whilst the girls swam in the ocean pool I quickly moved to the nearby beach next to the pool to shoot

Drag

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 2 sec at f/13, ISO 50

The tidal pool here at South Curl Curl beach was at the southernmost end of the beach. Right next to the pool were a few nice stones in the sand at the waters edge

These provided at least some chance of some decent foreground interest in some shots. With some nice pastel skies it was time to try and create something out of nothing

Angler

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 20 mm, 1/2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

This last is probably my favourite. With the sun just rising enough to cast a golden glow over the lip of the pool and onto the water and rock. Now it was just a matter of adjusting the camera settings. A shutter slow enough, but not to slow, to capture the motion of the water and then it’s just timing for the waves

Another year, another spectacular Sydney New Years Eve fireworks display

We missed the fireworks last year (being in Europe) and barely made the effort this year. It was a literal last minute dash with my youngest daughter and her friend to a local street to view the midnight event. We left home after 11:35PM and hoped for the best :). Arriving just five or ten minutes before the start we were lucky to get a pretty decent view

Sydney Spectacular

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 210 mm, 3 sec at f/11, ISO 200

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

This alas is a fake 🙂 – it’s the selective merge of a handful of frames from across the midnight display