Well I got home from downtown, and it was still plenty light out and I hadn't yet put my new-to-me SMC 300 F4 thru it's paces yet. I was interested in seeing what it could do so I bopped down to the beach. You've seen the flying shark already, here are a few more. Almost all were hand held, I used a monopod on a few. All in all I was pretty satisfied with the lens, there is some CA, especially shooting into the sun, and focusing can be hard, and I was hoping for a bit more resolution, but have been told by an expert, that the resolution I was expecting wouldn't happen with ANY 300mm lens and I would need to go to 500mm to get it. Oh well. It's still waaaayyyy better than my 50-200. The sunset shots were taken with a FA 50mm 1.4.
New York Athletic Club, with high rises behind. The lagoon in the fore ground is where they hold rowing races. They are fun to watch!
These next two were taken at extreme range and are about 400% crops, so IQ ain't the greatest. Execution rocks is about 1.5 to 2.0 miles (3.3 to 4.4 KM) away so the resolution isn't fantastic, but I wanted to push the lens to it's limits. The Great Gatsby house is a bit closer, about a mile (2.2 km) or so away.
Execution Rocks has a very "colorful" past. This little excerpt is taken from "lighthousefriends.com.
"These rocky reefs, 1650 yards northwest of Sands Point on the western end of Long Island Sound, carry a chilling legend of how they received their name. According to folklore, which has never been proven true, the British avoided public executions in Colonial times because they would inflame the revolutionary spirit of the American people. Instead, they would carry the condemned to these reefs at low tide, chain them to rings embedded in the rock, and wait for high tide to carry out the death sentence. Some say the skeletons were left to torture the minds of the newly condemned as they faced certain death.
The ghosts of the condemned had their revenge. A shipload of British soldiers, sent to pursue Washington on his retreat from Manhattan to White Plains, foundered at the reef. No redcoats survived.
The legend of the executions had such hold, that when lightkeepers were assigned to Execution Rocks, they were under a unique contract. No lightkeeper was to ever feel chained to the reef. Instead of stating a set length of duty, their contract read that their length of service was for as long as they were willing. If for any reason, they requested a transfer, it was instantly granted."
Directly across Long Island Sound from Orchard Beach is Glen Cove Long Island, Small little town with some fair sized houses, This is the area John McEnroe, and Billy Joel used to live. Anyway this is how the "other half" lives.
I've been trying to get this shot with my Pentax DA 50-200 but I was never able to get the resolution I wanted. The SMC 300 easily nails this shot. Bronx-Whitestone Bridge sitting above the small bridge to City Island. I was worried there would be CA on the bridge cables but as you can see they're clean!
Foot bridge to the CBS broadcast tower, with condos and the towers of the Throggs Neck Bridge behind. The condos were built on one of my favorite boatyards :cries:
Not too many lobstermen anymore, there was a big lobster die off in Long Island Sound about 10 years ago, put most of the lobstermen out of business, but there are still a few. Here's one coming in after a day of pulling pots.
I just plain liked these benches and the railing in front of them
What's a day at the beach without a sunset I ask ya? These were taken with the FA 50mm 1.4
Thanks for looking!
NaCl(not a great lens, but much better than the 50-200 IMHO )H2O
Originally posted by Photochop 
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