San Antonio Day 2 -- Monday 14 Sep 2009

Day 2 was a working day. I still had slides to finish. After sleeping almost 10 hours (had not really slept all weekend), I was able to get a strong start. I went over my introduction again and again to polish the message ... at this point there were two submissions that were in coopetition with each other ... competing, yet not. This would change the next day, but for now I had to get this right.

I basically stayed in my room most of the day, taking the odd break to grab a bite here and there. I had lunch at Chaps, on the lobby floor for example. But otherwise it was work all day time ...

I was able to shoot some images on my breaks though.

Around noon, I was getting a bit antsy. I looked out from my window on the 6th floor and noticed how nicely lunch had been laid out below me on the 1st floor balcony area.


The detail at 800 ISO is pretty amazing there. This shot shows a close up of the windows, which span the entire height of the building against the river (rear of the building.) Simply amazing. And this shot is at 1600 ISO. Could have dropped it manually, but I let the camera have its head ... after all, 270mm needs fast shutter or it's hopeless. And this was only 1/160s, well below the 1/300s needed to guarantee sharpness at full zoom.


Looking down again, I see that people are being seated ... and soup's on.


Again, very decent detail for 1600 ISO. The G10 would have done ok at 800 ISO on this shot, but I would have had to deal with a lot of chroma noise. The F70 does not produce much of that at all.

These elevators are pretty fascinating to watch as they climb up and down looking like beetles. Here's an attempt to capture the motion of one of them. Got a little camera shake in there, but all in all it looks ok.


Later, I had to leave the room to eat. (Chaps.) There is a window on my floor at the first corner, facing down the street and across the street. I shot there many times during the week for fun ...


When I first saw that building, my dyslexia injected "Paris Haters" into my brain. I chuckled when I realized they were hatters.

A few hours later, the sun had come out and everything looked a lot prettier from that window. This is the other direction, across the street.


See that building with the neat details on it? The one on the left behind the parking garage I mean. I get to that in a moment.

Meanwhile, I full zoomed to the ground, through the window and from the 6th floor ... and shot this image of some runners ...


I was panning, yet caught the lead runner in excellent detail ... the beads of sweat are visible on his head :-)


Remember to click on the image to open the 800px version ... the detail is much better that way.

Meanwhile, back to that distant building ... at 270mm it gets a lot closer ....


Beautiful ... and for those who continue to wonder about the sharpness at full zoom ... here's a treat.


Open that to 800px and be amazed. I love this cam ... and yes, I will get it repaired.

One more detail shot of the roofs across the street ...


I moved on to the balcony on the 6th and shot these images of the elevators ...



That second one is shot at -1ev ... it's critical sometimes to really cut the exposure if you have this kind of scene. Unbelievable harshness in the sunlight streaming into an interior like this.

Looking up from the same spot, we see up to the 11th floor. This is one of two shots where I addressed some purple fringing around the windows.


And finally, the river walk floor, I believe this is 9 floors below ... there is R, L, A, B, 1, 2 ...


This was shot at -2ev and DR800 to preserve the highlights. And yet the shadows are fine. Lots of latitude in this cam for sure.

*sigh* .... back into the room for another session with the GD slides. Might as well record my surroundings. I was very pleased when I arrived to see that the room was well set up as a working area. It really helped.



Looking down, the tables were again shining, but this time in the artificial lights suspended above. Obviously, these were ready for the next day's lunch.


You see that tiny balcony in the distance? The one with the reddish carpet just above the river level? Here's a close in shot of a couple of guys shooting the breeze ...


Now that's pretty impressive for a pocket cam, late in the evening, in the virtual dark. And the details at 270mm, 1600ISO and 1/5s are pretty amazing. No Sony, Panny or Canon can do that ... not in a million years.

Back to work ... and finally I was done for the day. Or at least, in need of a break. I wandered down to the lobby bar, which strangely hangs from the lobby level as a mezzanine. Some friends were working ... I kid you not.



At some point I leaned over the rail and shot the river level below. The entire level is a huge water feature with fountains and falls and its own little river with bridges etc. Very nice, actually.


Many of the images in this post are shot at ISOs that no other camera can touch. I can't express how impressed I am with the F70EXR's ability to shoot whatever the heck I point it at. And with very few adjustments to the settings.

Here ends day 2. I actually went back upstairs and worked some more on the slides before giving up for the night.