Though we didn't have an 'official' haunted mansion gathering...we all seem to have gone on it at some point or another. ; I was very happy to FINALLY get a usable shot of the scared guy with the dog - it was always hard, but with the revised lighting, he got even darker than before!: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/131041557/original.jpg It took ISO6400, 1/8 shutter, and F1.6 to get that. ; Thank you image stabilization for helping me handhold 1/8 shutter on a moving ride with a fast prime. I also tried shooting a few of the cemetary ghosts, manual focus only, of course, at ISO6400: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/131041561/original.jpg
Love the caretaker photo. ; never tried for that angle. ; excellent lighting and so clear. thanks for sharing.
Thanks all - I've tried that one half-a-dozen times and just never got anything usable. ; Autofocus was always the issue - so I switched to manual focus this time around, and it made all the difference. ; The angle was more a matter of passing him while trying to manual focus, and firing when I finally got it - too bad I cut off the dog - but now that I know a method and settings that work, I hopefully can get the dog too next time.
I also tried (partially in vain) playing around with manual focus in near-total darkess using live view to see if I could get some shots of some things on the wall that you normally can barely make out. ; These are in the hallway just after you pass the body pushing open the coffin. ; They were shot at ISO6400, F1.6...but I had to push them 3 stops to even make the shots visible - so essentially, ISO 51,200 (maybe Tim's camera can pull that off, but my little APS-C camera is really pushing it at that ISO!!). ; Still, I was glad you could make out what I was shooting - and the main sensor live view is an amazing tool for manual focusing, as this was so dark the viewfinder was just pure black and AF had no chance...but with live view, I could actually see well enough to focus:
this was the best i managed this trip, but i never thought of live view as a focusing tool, i've never had live view before, and since i just got the mark2 in late october, i'm still working through the new features, and i can't think of anything similar around here to practice on.
Nice work guys! ; Justin, the caretaker shot is especially impressive. ; I've tried to pan that and failed many times.
Here's two from me. ; I used the 14-24 to get the entire stretching room in one shot. ; I was going to try from the dead center of the room but Master Gracy told me to get out before I had a chance: And one from the outside right before closing after the MVMCP meet:
