Museum;
check.
Sights; check.
People; check.
Get the shot; check.
Often in
travel photography, small is all. Size counts when On The Go
means Extra Bulk is Not Appreciated. The 5400 meets the size
requirement for an easy fellow traveler and it brings home images
from places that non-Nikon cameras can only dream about.
I've said
it before, there's no BS in BSS. Hold your breath, brace yourself,
think calm thoughts and hold that shutter button down until six
to ten images have been gathered. Bang; there it is, the best
of the bunch, judged by the BSS algorithm from detail.
Quarter-second
exposures hand held. Half-second exposures often from a braced
hand. Photographer's Nirvana. Look this way, Sweetheart, lick
your lips, close the mouth, regal pose... that's got it! Nefertiti
as fashion model.
The Agyptisches
Museum in Berlin has some of the best. Artifacts and lighting.
But it takes a longish exposure to capture the images. Here's
some now.
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Many images
(like the ones above) may be opened in a New Browser Window for
a much larger view.
Brandenburg
Gate, again. This time with a lesson in barrel distortion correction
and perspective control. Interestingly, the giant soccer ball
I found so distracting turned out to assist in the perspective
control. Photoshop's Perspective Transform is not dimensionally
correct, so you must Scale the image, too. The Sphere should
look round when it's done correctly.
The wide
zoom got it all, but barrel distortion (new iBC5.4KWide) and
perspective control made the image into what it feels like to
be there.
Leave
a tiny bit of perspective convergence showing. It makes the image
feel more natural:
They're everywhere!
(new
window enlarge)
What's
that over there? Some sort of high-tech dome. Oh, the Reichstag,
Germany's government meeting forum. And the dome is more than
high-tech. It's a computer designed, reverse lighthouse with
the sun as the light source for the legislators below. Plus,
it's wide-angle heaven.
Answers to the question,
"What ARE these pictures OF?" See if you can match
the descriptions to the images:
A. A boat on the Rhine.
B. Another boat on the Rhine. Okay that was too easy. Now for
some challenges:
C. Berlin Technology Museum
"sign". D. Die Hund (Hond). E. A real live Berliner
on an S-bahn platform. F. Pugeot's car of the future. G. Ice
train (Inter City Express). H. A Hemp Shop (Amsterdam) with bicyclist
captured by compensating for the 0.10 sec shutter lag. I. A ceiling
full of wooden shoes, you tourist. J. A tile wall from Mesopotamia
reproduced full size. K. A casualty of a bicycle storm. L. A
marble thorn. M. A redhead. Hey, how come she gets two descriptions?
N. A brunette holding her breath while waiting for the water
to be attached to the shower fixtures. O. Commuting ghosts. P.
Friends. Q. Reflections. R. Other reflections, this time more
urban. S. A piano in the corner of an Art Deco Museum in Berlin.
T. A museum guard. U. A seagull. V. Impatient youth. W. Engineer.
X. Practiced beggar. Y. View from a meal. Z. One of my biggest
fans. Or is it a windmill? You'll have to figure out the others
by yourself.
Conclusions: The CP5400 was up to
nearly all the images it was called upon to capture. The 28 mm
equivalent wide angle view and relatively fast deployment from
sleep, once in shooting mode, allowed it to be ready and able
to seek and apprehend pictures on demand. And I insisted very
often as you can see.
The flip-out
monitor allowed all sorts of candid images, and its fast release
time (about 0.1 sec) made capturing moving subjects like the
bicycle in front of the Hemp Shop a breeze. It's a refined version
of the CP5000. Small enough to always be on my belt or within
reach. I never used it with a neck or shoulder strap, the iNova
split key ring "finger strap" serving to secure the
camera to my hand at all times without a hint of instability.
Its BSS function was used often and to great advantage in dim
lighting.
It's only
downsides were soft tele images--especially the corners--and
a tendency to burn up highlights on any shot even a little overexposed.
If this camera's zoom lens performed as well at full tele as
it does at wide and intermediate focal lengths and its highlight
handling was as good as the Sonys', it would be perfect. Of course,
your idea of perfect and mine may differ.
It could
easily be your one and only touring camera, but wait, there's
more...
Nikon
CP5700 Gallery.
Sony
DSC-F717 Gallery.
Sony
DSC-V1 Gallery.
Winner's
Circle.
Travel
Article Page
Get
the eBooks.
We have a secure order page that will allow previous eBook owners
to upgrade for low cost, too. Or you can call direct and order
from the publisher by phone or FAX.
Phone:(310) 475 2988 (M-F 9-5 Pacific Time)
FAX (310) 475 9486 (24hrs).
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Big Small CP5400
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