NEX-5 (16mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
I have talked about watching “The Streets Of San Francisco” when I was a kid and how great it is to see all this now in real world. To experience how steep are some of the streets are is awesome. The only problem is that is that is does not show in the pictures. I have tried but failed.
Not for the first and sure not for the last time. A couple of weeks ago I did a bike ride with some great people I met on my way. On the last hill I was first, laid down my bike and tried to shot some images of the others going up. It was so steep that one of them decided to walk the bike but in the image it looks almost flat. So I got an image of a mountain biker walking his bike on an almost flat little hill.
In San Francisco it was just the same. But here are 3 attempts anyway. Images that I did not like enough to select them as favorites but I figured out that on these images you can get at least an idea about the steepness of these streets.
NEX-5 (16mm, f/8, 1/400 sec, ISO200)
NEX-5 (16mm, f/6.3, 1/160 sec, ISO200)
NEX-5 (16mm, f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO200)
The last one shows the famous Lombard Street. The street was so steep ( 27% ) that in 1923 they decided to make it an one way serpentine road because it was too much for most cars. Now that I googled for this data I found out that there is an even steeper street just two blocks away. Too bad I haven’t known that when I was there. So here is a travel tipp: If you go to see the Lombard street take a look at the Filbert Street as well. It’s 31% and acts as a kind of jumping hill in movies like “Bullitt”
NEX-5 (16mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO200)
NEX-5 (16mm, f/8, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
NEX-5 (16mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
Why this image of an UPS truck? Well to me they are also exotic and I like the image. It shows what you get from the Sony. This is a completely untouched image. Just converted to JPEG with Lightroom. There is no even a lens correction applied as you can see on the post on the left. Colors, contrast and detail is striking. On such a shot it’s hard to see a any difference to a full frame DSLR even on pixel level.
It also proofs that the 16mm kit lens is better than you might think if you rely on reviews only. It’s not a good lens wide open but stopped down it’s good enough for me. So if you use it at f8 like in this example you will be pleased with the results.
NEX-5 (16mm, f/3.5, 1/40 sec, ISO200)
Despite the loud shutter of the NEX 5 you still can take images without people recognize it thanks to the tilt screen and the noise inside this bus. In general I found most of the vehicles extremely noisy. Our RV, most of the buses or shuttle trucks and the cable car. Almost as loud as the subway in Moscow. Almost!