Stockholm Marathon

We went to watch the Stockholm Marathon 2009 today and it was a great party really, so many people everywhere! And so many people running today, it was great to see, a wonderful bunch of people from everywhere running together or spectating.

We had a picnic at Långholmen close to the dreaded bridge Västerbron which is a rather tough part of the track. The runners pass this point twice and I took some pictures from the crowd running.

We were also looking for a couple of people we knew who would be running but since it was really crowded at times I think we missed them all in the crowd. Sorry, we still cheered for you!

Västerbron
The dreaded bridge. It's quite long and the first part is all uphill and terrible. The next part is downhill and also terrible :) Runners pass this at km 12 and km 33.
Runners
People running happily about.
Runners
The more crowded bunch are coming. Look at all the spectators on the left hand side!
Runners
Some was running quite cool, others looked like they'd drop dead. This guy here was cool.
Runners
More runners...

Photographing from Kilimanjaro

A friend revealed at the last movie night gathering that he is going to Kilimanjaro and asked for some advice on what equipment to bring and I thought I would collect my own thoughts on the subject. Loving to walk around in the woods and hiking in the more mountainous areas in Sweden I have a little experience and I would like to share my thoughts on that subject.

First of all everything depends on your weight constrains. Do you have people who can share your load and help you carry camera gear and are happy to do so, then you have a bigger freedom. Do you have to carry everything yourself, taking into account that the partial oxygen pressure at 4 000 m above sea level is about half the normal pressure you probably wish to slim it down. Therefore I will make three recommendations, one where weight is an issue but not a big problem, one where you are a bit more weight consciousness but you might be able to share lenses and other equipment with a friend or two and the last one is if you have to carry everything yourself and must minimize the weight.

Camera body

The camera bodies can be divided into mainly four groupings, the entry-level cameras, the more advanced hobbyist cameras, the semi-pro segment and the professional high-end cameras. Each of them have various advantages and disadvantages and the best camera for an expedition like this is a trade off between several different factors such as weight, capabilities, picture quality and ruggedness.

Below is a table that shows a comparison between many common models from Nikon and Canon, it is not complete but if you want you can help me by submitting more information through email or by leaving a comment on this post. I also have no experience with cameras of other brands so that would also be appreciated if someone would add more information.

In the table below type refers to the four main types of camera bodies that I talked about earlier, size is a grading where 1 is the lightest house and 5 is the most heavy house. Weight is similar to size in this aspect, price is a subjective feeling for the cost for the house alone, quality is a subjective idea of the picture quality the camera produces (and not fixed to the amount of pixels alone but a general feel for noise at high ISO settings and so on). Rugged means the camera is less suited to outdoors activity (1) or better suited (5). Notice that no camera actually gets a 5 here, this is to mark that all cameras are sensitive but handles shocks, dampness, dust and moisture more or less well.

The comparison is also subjective based on personal experience and friends suggestions so you might think your model got an unfair rating in one or more of the columns, you are okay to leave a comment and tell me about it and I will consider revising the table.

[TABLE=5]

Click on the column headers to sort the table for each parameter you are looking at in order to determine what you think would be the best type of body for your expedition!

Which is right for me?

If size matters mostly you should take a look at entry-level and hobbyist cameras. They are slimmer in size and also weigh less than the other cameras. However they usually do not deliver the same quality of pictures as the more pricy, hefty cameras but this should not be a problem mostly since it is much more up to the photographer than his equipment how good pictures becomes in the end.

If you can expand a bit on size but still wish to keep the weight down, take a look at the semi-pro range. This is where you will get the most bang for the bucks and the most quality for the weight and size of the camera.

If you are a professional photographer demaning the absolutely best from your camera, then you already know what to take with you. Of course you will take your beloved D3 or 1D camera to the top, no matter the size and weight of it.

Lenses

The next problem is to find out what lenses to take with the camera body. I will recommend three lenses if weight and size is not a constrain and this is the normal recommendation always:

  • A good wide angle
  • A great normal
  • A good telephoto

And it is here the DX format cameras have an advantage. You get resonably good lenses for a good price and low weight which means you might bring an extra lens compared to the full-frame FX format cameras where you need more hefty and expensive glassware to go with the body.

Not only are the lenses heavier for FX cameras because they have to deliver a wider image circle to the sensor but they also need a step up in quality because of the added resolution. A cheaper lens will show that it is a cheaper lens on a higher quality camera body more than on a lower grade body.

Lenses for Nikon DX body camera

DX-body recommendations, 3 lenses

Now, here are some recommendations of lenses for a Nikon DX camera setup that I think you would find reasonable:

Nikkor AF-S DX VR 16-85 f/3,5-5,6G ED-IF

This is a sharp lens that gives you that extra in the wide angle area and also goes all the way to work as a pretty good normal lens in the range of 30-70 mm as well. Really this is a gread all-round lens that you can find use for in almost any situation.

The VR function to reduce vibrations works very well here and gives you the ability to shoot scenery with as much as 4 stops lower light than you would without it! This is really great.

The disadvantage with this lens is that it is not very strong in low light conditions and therefore I would recommend another lens, the famous;

Nikkor AF 50 f/1,8D

This is a cheap but very very good lens. Gives you crystal sharp pictures, can be used a low light conditions with no problems and is great for portraits and details as well as panorama pictures where you shoot several pictures in order to later stitch them together to one large photograph. One of my personal favourites of all times!

Nikkor AF-S VR 70-300 f/4,5-5,6G ED-IF

This is a really neat lens to get close to wildlife. Especially on a DX body where it gives you the equivalent of a 500 mm lens on a full size sensor body. It is just plain lovely and I love this lens. It is sharp, low in distorsion and reasonably light weight as well as the price is not bad at all.

The VR function means you are able to shoot hand-held at 300 mm even in moderate light conditions! Few other lenses would allow you to do that.

DX-Body recommendations, 2 lenses

Nikkor AF-S DX VR 18-200/3.5-5.6G ED-IF

This lens is a one stop shop. If you can only afford in weight and size to take one piece of glass for your camera get this one. I know the sharpness is not the best but the usefullness of this lens to go from a good wide angle to a reasonable tele is just priceless! And the the price on this lens is also pretty neat. You may even find used lenses for half their new prices on Ebay or similar places.

One thing though, when you walk with your camera this lens has a tendency to extend by itself. Get some rubber bands or something to keep it from extending by itself when you walk and you should be ready for anything really.

The 18-200 is good for wide angle nature shots as well as portraits and you may also zoom in to capture that wild-life that happens just out of reach of other lenses.

Nikkor AF 50/1.8D

Because it is so light and you can use it for so many different things including lovely panoramas (hand held no less). Take it. It weighs almost nothing and the size is really small.

DX-Body recommendations, 1 lens only

See the two lenses recommendation above. I mean that, seriously, the 18-200 for versatility and the 50/1.8 is so small, cheap and light in weight there is absolutely no reason for you not to take it with you!

FX-Camera recommendations

This is very tricky really because if you are using FX cameras you have already committed to heavier gear and so perhaps you do not have the same constraints in weight and size. However, if you want to keep weight down the f/2.8 lenses are very heavy and you should try to find alternatives. The 70-300/3.5-5.6 described in the DX section works equally well for the FX cameras so this would be a given light telezoom of reasonable quality to bring.

One or two fixed focals such as 30 and 50 mm would be very useful as well for shooting low light conditions.

Vibration reduction

Lenses with VR are great especially if you can not afford to bring a tripod for the weight or the cumberness of it. However it does not replace a good fast low-light lens because it does not help with moving objects for example.

Remember that when the camera is tripod mounted or otherwised fixated you should turn the VR function off. Otherwise it might actually cause blurred pictures! And it also uses battery power for no gain.

Batteries

Make sure you have batteries with you. Since you are away for days and will not be able to recharge it is really good if you can get a battery grip for your camera that you can use ordinary size AA (R6) batteris in since you can find these batteries in almost everywhere in the world and the alcaline version keeps for ages in your bag. It also takes just a few seconds to replace the batteries when you need to.

Many cameras also deliver more performance when you use battery grip with the camera. As an example the Nikon D300 camera can deliver 5 frames per second continuous shooting with the standard battery. With 8 size AA batteries in the battery grip you can get a whopping 8 fps from it! This is something that you normally would not expect unless you were using the most professional types of cameras. Check your specifications! 8 fps is really great when shooting fast events such as wildlife!

Batteries are heavy but make sure you have enough. Make sure you also know roughly how many pictures you are able to take before it is time to change batteries. Keep in mind also that in cold temperatures batteries do not fare well in delivering their energy and will go flat much faster than in moderately sized temperature. Also beware of old batteries leaking in hot temperatures, remove from camera and store in sealed watertight plastic bags until you reach some place where you can dispose of them safely and environmentally sound!

There are solar chargers on the market that claim they can charge 4 x R6 or 4 x AA sized batteries on solar energy given 12-20 hours of sunshine. I would not rely on these for an expedition like this. Keep alkalines ready to use!

Accessories

Tripod

A tripod is always a best friend of a photographer. But it is also a rather big and heavy item. However the usefullness of a tripod can not be stressed enough really although it is up to you if you can carry it or not. There are also other options that can be used during certain situations that works well and in this section I will attempt to discuss some of them and their advantage or disadvantage to a proper tripod setup.

Bean bags

These are really simple things, you can make them yourself quite easily, make a rectangular piece of cloth, doulble the langth compared to the witdh. Stitch two sides of it together carefully, then fill it up to 2/3 with something like dry rice, lentils, beans or something similar. Stitch the last part together and you now have a ”bean bag” which you can put on a stone or similar to rest your camera on serving as a crude but pretty effective tripod.

If you are using a longer telephoto lens, then the lens will also need the support of one or more bean bags and you can make them in different sizes for different situations. Then when you put the camer on to them you can push and prod the bean bag until you get the right framing of the scene you are trying to shoot.

An added bonus is that you can boil the beans as emergency rations should the need arise.

Gorilla pod

The gorilla pod is a short snake-looking tripod construction but it mainly works well for lighter cameras. If you are thingking of using one of these you should check it out with the different lenses that you are going to want to use. A too heavy lens will make the gorillapod seem like a toy.

Memory cards

Not much to say, bring enough. Depends a little bit on how you work with your camera but bring more than you think you need. It is always hard to start erasing pictures in camera in order to fit more pictures. You never know until you are back home eactly how the focus went because you need to view the pictures on a full screen or at least bigger than on the display back on the camera.

And don’t use that display to judge the exposure, for that you need to learn how to use the histogram in the camera. The display is nice for checking framing and when you zoom in you get some idea where the focus went but for exposure it is very difficult to use.

EU Försöker hindra avhopp från datalagringsdirektiv

Som ett led i att tvinga fram bodströms datalagringsdirektiv i Sverige har EU-kommissionen lämnat in en stämningsansökan eftersom Sverige aldrig lagstiftade att internet- och teleoperatörerna måste lagra uppgifter av sådan art att man kan spåra vem som gjort vad.

Eftersom datalagringsdirektivet enligt uppgifter kommer röstas igenom som lag i höst så kommer stämningen som en sorts säkerhet att vi inte gör fel här uppe i norr oavsett hur det går i röstandet till EU-valet nu den 7:e (där kanske piratpartiet får fler platser än någon hade trott) utan gör som vi är tillsagda och snarast inför direktivet i svensk lag.

Ars Technica har en artikel här.

Direktivet är ännu ett led i övervakningssamhället som Tomas Bodström (s) såg i sin vision när han drev den typ av politik som senare lett oss till bl.a IPRED och nu datalagringsdirektivet.

Heja integriteten.

Kraftigt Ljus

The ray of light shot hand-held from the south part of Kruthornsvägen looking NNW.
The ray of light shot hand-held from the south part of Kruthornsvägen looking NNW.

I lördags natt på väg hem från en filmkväll i Sollentuna på Kruthornsvägen observerade vi denna mycket kraftiga ljusstråle som sköt rakt upp i atmosfären. Vi konstaterade att lyseffekten måste vara på åtskilliga kW för att kunna åstadkomma detta och strålen var synlig flera hundra meter upp i atmosfären och måste definitivt ha synts väl för flygplan.

Vi vet inte vad detta var för något men någon sorts anläggning  måste det vara. Eftersom vi hade parkerat bilen en bit bort så promenerade vi Kruthornsvägen fram och konstaterade att vi kunde triangulera strålens position ganska bra. Det visade sig att den med största sannolikhet kom från en bergsknalle i närheten av Kruthornsvägen bakom hyreshuset på bilden. Vid en första anblick på Eniro, Hitta och Google Maps hittades inget men sedan började jag se spår av att bilderna photoshoppats och något har dolts.

Om man sedan tar en titt på 3D-vyn hos hitta.se samt flygfotot från Eniro som båda visar att det finns någon sorts anläggning på platsen. Ringarna är väl antingen en grillplats eller kraftiga lampor, det ser ut som om det ligger några små bodar eller skjul på platsen. Jag har ingen aning om vad det är för något.

straahl-2

straahl-1

På bilderna ovan sitter det olika färgade cirklar i närheten av de objekt som verkar vara intressanta det röda markerar något som skulle kunna vara kraftiga strålkastare (eller grillplatser!) den blå och gröna markerar någon sorts mindre hus eller skjul på något vis som verkar ha med anläggningen att göra. På den nedersta bilden syns också en del av det hus som finns med på fotografiet längst upp i denna artikel.

Jag kollade inflygningsbilden för Arlanda flygplats och det finns ingen markering där såvitt jag kunde se och strålen ser definitivt inte ut som ett inflygningsljus brukar se ut heller. Länskartor kunde heller inte kasta någon sorts ljus över saken utan noterade bara att det låg några (!) transformatorstationer i närheten, kanske något fler än vad man förväntar sig i ett ganska litet bostadsområde som detta och en ljuskälla som den ovan borde kräva en kraftig effekt för att vara så stark,  men det ligger också ett par skolor i området som kan räknas till större förbrukare.

Är det någon som har en aning om vad det var vi såg upptänt här i lördags natt dvs natten till söndagen den 24/5 2009?

The Public Records Building

Last saturday we set out about 11 hobby photographers to the old Public Records building here in Stockholm. It was my Flickr aquaintance Björn Sahlström who had been able to get access to the building and we entered it with camers, tripods, bags of lenses and other gear to have a good time. The building is fairly large so we quickly spread out and did not have to step on each other’s toes at all really.

Strolling through the empty halls that used to hold all the stat public records and books was a strange feeling, I had never been there, some of the others had been on a guided tour and quickly went to photograph what they knew to be well worth taking a look at.

This building is called ”Riksarkivet” in Swedish and was built around 1880 with the intention of being able to withstand a fire. From the beginning the archive was only open during the light hours of the day because they did not want open flames or even electricity inside. Therefore it has huge windows to let enough light in for people to be able to work there with reasearch or book keeping tasks of various kinds.

Public Records Building
The facade of the wondeful building is made from a special type of engineering brick in red and black. The architecture is referred to as neo-renaissance. It was the building of the Swedish publick records from 1890 ca and forward into modern times when it was moved to a new building. This house has been empty since then and is a wonderful place to visit.
Entrance
This is the entrance of the old public records building here in Stockholm. It is a grand design and quite impressive when you are standing outside it. Notice the word "RIKSARKIVET" on top of the door? There is also a light on inside that shows through the stained glass window.
The famous Stairwell
The grand entrance is well known and famous!
Floor Stone
Floor
More Electricity
At first they did not want electricity in the building at all. That is why they went for such big beautiful windows. But in the end they still had problems with soot on the windows from the near by train track and decided that some electricity was okay for lights and reading lamps.
The Old Elevator
Elevator. Once no electricity at all because of the fire hazard but still this elevator was installed. The engine for it was compartmentalized in a fire proof encasing in the basement of the building. The elevator was delivered by a company called "Allmänna svenska elektriska aktiebolaget" which is today better known as ASEA - one of the biggest companies in Sweden...
Archive Room
Archive room. Notice the plastic skeleton someone has hung in the leftmost window?
Book Slide
The Book Slide or "bokstörten" as it is called in Swedish. This invention was added to the stair case in the days of the second world war. The idea being that should Sweden become attacked by an aggressor in the war, then the archives and books here could be loaded onto ships fast using this book slide to slide them down to the water front and then they could be sailed off to some secure location.
Another shot of the famous book slide, this time from beneath.
Elevator Floor Indicator
Elevator indicator indicating which floor the elevator is located at. The readings indicates "top floors 1-3" where the actual indicator is located on top floor 1 and then middle floor I guess some would call that the Mezzanine and then the two bottom floors in the building. Strange way to give names to the floors but since this was the first elevator installed in a public building in Sweden I guess they found a better way later on.
Hot water connections
Heating water details. The plumbing is quite cool here, craftmanship and artwork at the same time. I found myself having a bit of a problem with shooting details this time, something I need to work on I think because I came home with a lot of different rooms in my camera but not so many details and sometimes it is the details that really gives you the feeling for something. Or as the expression goes - the devil is in the details...
Column Radiator
Column radiator - these radiators are quite fantastic being a design from the 1880:s. They are hollow inside and the cold air at the floor level enters through the grates at the bottom, gets heated and rises to exit at the top creating a chimney effect that will circulate the air in the room to avoid moisture and dampness. Of course the outside also radiates heat and aids in the convection. And on top of that they are rather beautiful to look at in my opinion.
Archive Room
Another of the famous archive rooms. That's me up on the balustrade there using the camera self timer.
Reading Room Table
The reading room / study / board room. I love the details in this room, look at the drawers in the table for temporarily putting away what you are not reading at the moment and look at the lamps integrated in the design to cast a nice reading light over the table when the huge windows are not sufficient for the light in the winter time. Look at the balustrade around the whole room where you can walk around it. This is one of the most fascinating rooms in this building.
Lamp
An attic light - I found this light in the attic and it seems a more modern design than many other lights, perhaps something put in in the seventies or eighties when these spaces where being used. I liked the radiosity of light on the beams and so I managed to make three separate exposures and combine them for this photograph which is a proper HDR photo.
Light on the floor
The light on the floor again on one of the upper levels in the building. The huge windows served the purpose of providing enough light for working in the building before there was any electrical lights in here. Eventually the fear of fire subsided and electricity was installed and one of the reasons was that the windows was subjected to a lot of soot from the nearby railway where the steam engines went past hourly.
Stair Case Heater
The hallway - I love the stone floor and the way the radiator is integrated into the wall of the stairwell like this, it is a really good design. Notice how they left space at the top for the air to move freely creating that "chimney effect" in order to make the heater much more efficient than conventional radiators.
A Commode
The commode - one of the toilets with a good view out over the old town in Stockholm and wonderful light from the window. Notice the nice radiator from the heating system, all built in so you can't burn yourself on it even if it is really hot. The insulation was not that good so in the winter the heaters worked pretty hard to keep the moisture and dampness at bay.
Shelves
One of the archive rooms with the shelves intact. All the papers, books and everything else is long gone from this place but here the shelves remains. Probably most of the archive rooms looked like this with narrow paths between the shelves where librarians and intendents could find the acts, protocols and other things that was requested perhaps by the government.
Room with a View
A splendid view through one of the magnificient windows. This is in the same archive room as the last picture was taken, just looking out the window. I think I could live here :-)
Instructions
Details from the elevator. It reads: "Instruction. Make sure doors and gates are closed properly after you have entered or exited the elevator. Use the buttons accordingly to their markings and then allow the lift after it has started to stop by itself. Never open the gates when the elevator is running. People under the age of majority are not allowed to operate this elevator alone."
Reading Light
A reading light with a classic design. Since light bulbs caused lots of heat there is a kind of "stick" where you can grab and angle the light even if it is too hot to touch directly.
Decorated Ceiling
What can you say other than this magnificient roof is just splendidly preserved.
Reading Table
Here is the reading room or board roam again, this time with the camera facing the windows.

Exam passed

So today was the day after three days of studying the TRI regs (trafiksäkerhetsinstruktion) and two tunnel walks track side in the Stockholm Metro with the last one guiding a bunch of people watching our for their security and acting as a lookout for oncoming trains I officially passed the category 16 examination.

I missed one point on the examination and got only 49/50 and that was a silly silly mistake because I rushed the question a bit. Darn.

I am now officially allowed to guide people track side, feels pretty good :)

Scott Kelby Second Annual Photowalk, Stockholm

Photo Walk Stockholm this is the second annual Scott Kelby Photo Walk arranged in Stockholm. Make sure you mark the date 18 July off in your calendar and then join in by clicking the link above.

Välkommen till den andra årliga Scott Kelby Photo Walk (kamerapromenad) här i stockholm. Om du har lust att vara med så kom med den 18 juli. Läs mer på länken ovan!

Walking Path Infrared

FRA-spaning skjuts upp

fra

Riksdagens borgerliga majoritet har beslutat att skjuta upp starten för FRA:s kabelsignalspaning med 2 månader till den 1:a december i år.  Skälet anges vara att regeringens arbete med att göra kompletteringar till signalspaningslagen för att förbättra rättssäkerheten har dragit ut på tiden.

Från den första december måste dock teleoperatörerna föra över all trafik till särskilda knutpunkter där den kan bearbetas statistiskt och lagras för efteranalys.

För kommunikation som man inte önskar alla skall kunna läsa på vägen rekommenderas att titta på programpaketet gpg4win som gör det möjligt att kryptera all kommunikation över email med mera. Stark kryptografi är ett mycket användbart medel för att skydda den personliga integriteten och ju fler som bestämmer sig för att börja använda det rutinmässigt desto mindre konstigt och svårare blir det att utföra statistisk analys för de som skall övervaka oss.

Passa på innan det beslutas om att det skall bli olagligt att använda kryptering för personligt bruk!

Mina nycklar hittar du här.