The Volcano Tour, and the new camera - Super Review!(imgs)

OK...finally the weekend is here! ; After coming back on Wednesday, and spending two days trying to dig a big enough hole in the papers on my desk at work to see daylight, and loading and sorting through 1200 photos to upload...I am finally ready for my vacation report, which is also combined with a mini-update report on the new camera too.

This trip was a 10-day cruise aboard the Holland America Noordam...it was my 2nd time on this ship, 4th time with Holland America, and 25th cruise overall. ; I love cruising almost as much as Disney, and it's an annual standard trip for me. ; This cruise was sailing the southern Caribbean, which is my favorite area due to the volcanic origins of the islands, and the dense rainforest and colonial history. ; Our ship called at St. Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles, St. Lucia, Barbados, Martinique, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, and Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.

The trip was also my initial test for my new Sony Alpha DSLR A550, picked up a day before the trip. ; My initial in-store test was that the camera was solidly built, the grip and ergonomics were great, the menus easy to use and familiar, and the features sounded like quite an upgrade over my previous A300...so I bought it and figured what better test in the first 30 days than a 3,000 mile 10-day trip through the Caribbean!

It was a lovely trip. ; We sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale at night, after dark, making sailaway photos more challenging, but also allowing me to instantly try out the ISO6400 (though I was only using an F3.5-6.3 lens and jpg mode instead of RAW...I really wanted to challenge the ISO performance!). ; I was impressed - I can get cleaner and more detailed results at ISO6400 than I could at ISO3200 with my A300...and even the ISO12800 is usable with some cleanup...at least a 2-stop improvement if not better. ; More importantly, for the majority of my photos in daylight conditions, the auto white balance is excellent, focus is super fast and accurate, burst mode is crazy fast (5fps with focus tracking, or 7fps with fixed or manual focus), metering is very accurate, and all the controls fall easily to hand. ; The LCD is a huge improvement at 3" and 920K resolution with 180 degrees of articulation, compared with 2.7", 230K, and 130 degrees on the A300. ; It is visible clearly even in direct sunlight, and super-crisp and detailed. ; The OVF is larger than on the A300 too, now equal to other entry-level cams (previously, Sony's very good live view implementation caused a compromise with one of the smaller OVFs on the market)...it is clear and bright, and the focus indicators easier to see. ; The DRO mode is quite nice - auto DRO works seamlessly to increase dynamic range, but also has 5 setting levels manually. ; The quick access menu has been expanded to include more changable settings, including even a few that have dedicated buttons on the body, giving two options to access those functions (ISO, DRO). ; The AEL button has been relocated perfectly where the thumb falls, and is completely intuitive now. ; The HDR mode is a really neat trick - allowing the camera to fire off two quick frames and merging them for dynamic range - it too has an auto mode or can be manually set up to +3 EV. ; Unlike Pentax, no tripod is needed - the camera can auto align handheld images. ; This function is far more useful than I ever expected! ; The battery is a beast - it is rated for 900+ shots - I ran off better than 650 shots over a 5 day period including hours of playback and slideshowing in between, and lots of live view mode use too - before needing a charge. ; The second charge let me finish 1200 photos and still have 20% battery strength left. ; Oh, and that - it has an actual battery % meter, instead of those nearly worthless little 4-bar indicators. ; Live view mode is as good as ever - no slow-down in performance at all unlike pretty much all other live view systems - autofocus is instant, and shots are instant. ; Even more, the newly added Manual Focus Live View mode gives that added functionality for macro work, super low light manual focus assistance, and accurate 7x and 14x enlargement to fine tune focus...this mode works more slowly like other live view systems, flipping the mirror down then up again.

Now...onto the cruise pics! ; I'll post a few samples here, and link the full gallery too for anyone who wants to browse.

Quick bird in flight shot on deck waiting for sailaway (Sony 18-250):


I'm always a sucker for industrial sunsets (Sony 18-250):


One of those crazy test shots - pitch black night, -6 brightness, 45mm at F4.5 maximum aperture, ISO6400, from a moving boat, OF a moving boat, handheld...straight from camera with no processing (that's a torture test!!):


Some snaps inside the ship...this is the lido pool bar, ISO1250, handheld with my Tamron 10-24 UWA:


Here's an HDR example...the room was super dark and shadowy, but the outside was superbright and sunny...usually, you have to meter for the outside and silhouette the room, or meter the room and suffer blown highlights for windows. ; Or you set up a tripod and take several shots to merge in post. ; All I had to do is engage HDR set to +1.5 EV, point, and shoot:


A dusk view of the upper decks...this is standing near the bow on the port side, on the topmost deck, looking back towards the ship's aft...with the Tamron 10-24:


The interiors are always so elaborate...this is the atrium lobby - a 3-story opening with a Waterford Crystal chandelier and surrounded by illuminated glass stairways (Tamron 10-24):


A rare slow shutter tripod shot, of the lido pool area with the retractable cover closed at night (Tamron 10-24, 2 second shutter):


On the lovely island of St. Maarten:






The lovely St. Lucia:






Colonial British Barbados...this statue of Admiral Nelson actually PREDATES the famous one in Trafalgar Square in London by 3 years (BTW - this is another HDR - I was shooting into the sun, so exposing the statue would have blown out the sky...HDR solved the problem):


Barbados Parliament building:


Neighboring ship in Barbados, warmed by the sunset:




One of those OMG Caribbean sunsets that just drop your jaw and leave you speechless:


My balcony and the lights of Barbados in the distance...ISO6400 handheld (Sony 18-250) - I left the noise untouched to show that even what noise there is has a nice fine grain and doesn't harm the details badly at all...and this is just in jpg mode with no post processing:


Funky French building in Martinique (Tamron 10-24):


Lovely Fort de France, Martinique (Sony 18-250):


Now them's volcanoes! ; Martinique's Carbet range (Sony 18-250):


One of the deadliest volcanoes in history...Martinique's Pelee, which destroyed the city of St. Pierre in 1902 killing 35,000. ; The city was approximately in the middle of the frame, where you can see the old pyroclastic flow deposits...the new and much smaller city of St. Pierre sits just to the right in the shot...not safe by any means if Pelee decides to wake up again:


The umbrella says it all in Tortola:


Though the rain did make for a spectacular sailaway shot - sun cutting through rainbands, and wet decks reflecting the clouds (Sony 18-250):


The name of the bar in Half Moon Cay, which definitely speaks to many people's sentiments...The I Wish I Could Stay Here Forever Bar (Sony 18-250):


Lovely rocks, flowers, sky...just had to take this shot:


Inviting? ; Let's see...sugar-soft sands, clear blue-green waters, 88 degrees air, 86 degrees water, sun shining, noone within 1/2 mile of you:


Seriously...look at that water color:


So that's my camera review and cruise wrap up, all in one! ; To browse the whole gallery, please click here where you'll find about 190 shots from all over the ship and islands:

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/noordam2009&page=all

Any and all comments, questions, or critique always welcome!

 

I can't wait till I get home to see the photo's you posted. ; My work computer won't display them. ; I really enjoyed the write up though. ; Thanks!

 

Very nice Justin!

 

Thank you all...much appreciated. ; I took a lot of photos, but filtered out duplicates and such, and also the personal photos of family or friends. ; It's tough on vacation of course because the photographer side of me says to get artistic and special shots, the travelling side of me says to get vacation memories too, the family side says I need to get the family memories and portraits, and the internet side of me says to get useful shots like ship interiors, island amenities, and camera capabilities to share on various message boards. ; So my photos have to cover all bases!

Paul...I agree with you. ; Those Princess boats are...ah...interesting. ; I've heard them called 'ducks' because of the strange duck bill bow, 'whales' because of the strange tail at the back, or just plain ugly with the strangely protruding bridge on stilts and flat back. ; I definitely tend towards the more 'elegant' looking boats - Holland America's boats are a bit more traditional looking, and I like the dark hulls...Royal Caribbean's mid-size boats in the Radiance class are also very nice designs. ; Disney's boats are gorgeous, with their elegant classic liner touches. ; In general, the French Chantiers boatyards and Germany's Meyer Werft boatyards seem to turn out the nicest designs, with Finland's Kvaerner Masa yards handling both design types with some nice and some not so nice. ; Italy's Fincantieri yards did the HAL ship I was on and the Disney boats which were nice designs, but they also do most of Carnival's big ugly boxes, and are also responsible for the Princess monstrosities.

I cruised many of the older boats back in the 80's when cruising wasn't as hot as today...since we lived so close to the port. ; Many of the first boats I sailed on are long gone - the Carnival Mardi Gras, the Costa Carla C and Riviera, the Dolphin IV, the Royal Caribbean Nordic Prince. ; All of those were 1930s - 1950s liners that had been refurbed and repurposed for Caribbean duty, and though positively tiny by today's standards, they had a definite charm...and a few downsides too (like bathrooms in the staterooms that were 3-foot-square with the showerhead over the toilet). ; And to walk around the ship, you actually had bulkheads you had to step over...definitely not up to handicap code!

 

beautiful!
I just made the "wish I could stay here" bar shot my desktop background for this week!

All great shots!

 

Any time...I definitely cruise a lot, and I'm very familiar with HAL and the southern Caribbean! ; I've now been to almost every main island down there - in fact, in the whole Caribbean, I still haven't made Bonaire, Tobago, Saba, Barbuda, St. Eustatius, Anagada, or Cuba (and cruise ships don't really go to any of those)...pretty much hit all the others I can think of.