Of Fish and Men

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IMG_8430Canon EOS 6D (24mm, f/4, 1/40 sec, ISO6400)

What a place! The aquarium in Monterey is one of the best in the world. A truly impressive place and also a good way to test the high ISO performance of your camera as most of the rooms are very dark.

The shot above is my favorite of that day and a good example of what can be done with todays cameras. This shot would not have been possible a couple of years ago. There is no chance to use a longer shutter speed because the turtles are swimming surprisingly fast. Anything slower would have blurred them too much.

Of course a faster lens would have been an option. But at that time I didn’t have the 2.8/24-70 II. The 1.4/24 would be another option but it isn’t very sharp wide open and best used at f2 or f2.8.

IMG_7968Canon EOS 6D (24mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO3200)
 IMG_7986Canon EOS 6D (35mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO1600)

High ISO is impressive on the 6D but what’s even more impressive is its autofocus in low light. I never had a camera that performed like this in truly low light. The 6D locks focus without hesitation and give me the chance to capture the moment. I missed a couple of shots in Asia because of the slow AF of my Fuji XP1 in low light and it is really a delight to have a camera that focuses fast and reliable.

IMG_8040Canon EOS 6D (30mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO2000)
 IMG_8048Canon EOS 6D (70mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO500)

I saw a lot of people taking pictures with smartphones or iPads. First time I came here in 2010. Most people were using a DSLR or a at least a compact camera. Now almost everybody seems to be happy with the image quality provided by a phone.

It’s obvious that the photo quality of smartphones have improved over the last couple of years but I doubt that they can cope with the low light in the aquarium.

When I was starting to travel I used to shoot slide film. Kodakchrome 64 or Fuji Velvia 50 most of the time. I didn’t have the luxury of Auto-ISO and instant check but I captured everything in very good quality. If people just use their smartphone or iPads to capture their memories they might regret it one day.

IMG_8033Canon EOS 6D (41mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO1250)