Zooming In

So I did it.

I bought a new lens. And the first thing that DW said to me when I brought it home was, "How do you expect to carry that in your kayak?"

It's a big lens.

"I don't," was my answer. "At least not often. And I'll need a new dry bag."

A couple of weeks ago, I said that I needed a better telephoto lens, that, while my 70–300mm is fine for many photos, it lacks the sharpness at maximum magnification and I would really like to zoom in closer to some subjects. I wanted a fixed focal length, at least 500mm.

But I'm not rich and would rather spend that kind of money travelling.

I settled for a zoom telephoto lens and saw a few on Kijiji that covered 200–500mm. When I was able to negotiate with someone from out of town to get a price within my budget, we arranged to meet.

We met in the parking lot of a Tim Horton's that isn't far from the airport. I brought both my Nikon D7200 and D750 to try out the lens. After playing with the lens, downloading some of my images onto my phone and zooming in, I saw that the images were sharp.

There were no marks on the camera, the lenses were clear, filter threads in good condition, it zoomed smoothly, and apart from some of the numbers and painted markings being slightly worn from use, it was in great nick.

I went out to Mud Lake a few days later but there weren't many signs of wildlife except for various regular ducks and geese. I took a couple of quick snaps but in my haste, didn't really set up the camera to shoot fast enough at 500mm. Some images weren't sharp but that was my fault.

So on this past long weekend, DW and I set out to try and capture a rare celestial sighting. Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is visible with the naked eye, assuming you have a clear sky.

DW and I headed to Britannia Beach and walked to the far north-east end of the bay, where there was a clear line of sight west. The comet was supposed to be visible about a half an hour to 45 minutes after sunset, so I made sure I was set up in time.

It was cool, with a strong wind coming off the Ottawa River. We had to bundle up to stay warm as we stood still.

While the sky overhead was crystal-clear, the western horizon showed very low cloud moving southward. Holding out my arm all the way and extending a finger that was horizontal with the horizon, the cloud just peeked above my finger.

"Hopefully, the comet will appear above the cloud line," I told DW.

She took a picture of me as I set up my camera with my new lens on the tripod. And then, we waited.

My camera was pointed toward Kanata North. For the most part, all we could see were trees on the horizon and one building rising above. With the naked eye, we could barely make out the building.

I focused on the building and took a shot, and zoomed in on the image in the camera's display.

"It's the Brook Street Hotel," I said, "I can read the lit-up sign on the top of the building."

DW looked at my display. "Wow, that's pretty impressive," she said.

Using my smartphone, I took a photo at the magnification that we could see with the naked eye.

Take a look at the group of trees in the foremost left of the image. There's a gap and then a lone tree. And then there's another gap and a second lone tree: With my new lens, I zoomed in on it.

Next, I zoomed in, once again, at Brook Street Hotel.

For this shot, I set my exposure for the fiery sky above Kanata. It was looking pretty spectacular.

It's a good thing that the sky put on such an incredible display for us because an hour after sunset, we still couldn't see anything else in the sky.

The Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet is supposed to be visible for a few more days. We couldn't go out on Sunday because we were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner but I hope to get out before it's gone.

Happy Tuesday!