Oracle...Team Emirates NZ

[shooternz]

O.K

Who is supporting who ....come Americas Cup Racing ..starts in 2 days.

Go Kiwis!

[shooternz]

Race 4

Kiwis 3 - Oracle 1

Well done Oracle.

[Stan Jones]

Okay; I downloaded the "app," and watched a replay. Very exciting stuff. But what the heck are they "sailing"!

[shooternz]

Rocket ships.

[Steven L. Gotz]

I saw both races.

I was wrong about the race track. They never came down to our end until they headed for the finish line. All of the racing was around the Windward gate and nothing around the Leeward gate. At least I know now that I really can't take the short cut and shoot from the island. I need to get over to the Marina and shoot from there. Or maybe even from out on the Golden Gate bridge.

It is certainly easy to keep track of the boats since the helicopters pretty much stay right over them.

I think some of the best racing is when they were headed straight towards me. But the darn things are so thin it doesn't make for much of a picture.

I am going to check my photos and see if any came out. It was pretty hazy, and every time I went to get a shot, some idiot in a boat would block the view. I kept wanting to grab a really large bullhorn and yell "Down in Front". Most of the second race was completely blocked by the fog.

So if I get another chance to shoot, it will be from the Marina or one of the docks near the finish line. Or, maybe the bridge. But that would be a long walk with a heavy tripod. And the light tripod won't stand up to the winds.

[Steven L. Gotz]

NZ winning 3rd race - NZ 3, USA -2

OK, enough of that already. Time to watch Oracle win one. No points, but got rid of one of the penalties!

Fourth race finish line with NZ way back.

USA winning one for a change.

NZ 3, USA -1

This is what they look like when you look at the map and find the leeward gate, and it turns out the map isn't worth the pixels it is painted with! Notice that only one pontoon is in the water.

USA in front of Alcatraz Island.

See what I mean about "DOWN IN FRONT"? It was hard to find a spot where another boat was not blocking part of my shot.

Back when it was still close.

It is hard to complain about the fog in Fog City. It would be like someone from Chicago complaining about the wind off of the lake. Pointless. Here they come, out of the fog. I saw the helicopter first, then the racers.

Pulling a little ahead.

I hope to get better shots next time. We'll see.

[Steven L. Gotz]

By the way. Has anyone noticed there is a shortage of actual Americans on Team USA, and the Kiwis are sponsored by the Arabs.

It sure sounds more like pro sports than the Olympics. Mercenaries. No national loyalties.

[shooternz]

It is professional sport at the highest level.  Similar to F1.

A promotional exercise for all companies involved.

NZ sponsors are Emirates Airlines, Nespresso, Omega, Toyota, Camper etc..

All huge international brands..plus the people of NZ threw in 35 million NZD$ ..plus some backgroung europeans with private money.

Oracle has the deep pockets of Larry Ellison to sponsor them in his atempt at world domination..

New Zealanders are incredibly nationalistic about any thing sport and that especvially runs through the entire 121 member team. (sailors thru shore crew and the boat  builders).  You have to realise that we are able todesign  build these high technology boats in NZ and the entire fleet of AC45s were built here also. 

Larry Ellison has a boat yard here even.

NZ sailors tend to be found where ever pro yacht racing is. (Even on Oracle and Prada)

Here is what its all about:

http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/videos/watch/18839911/team-nz-come-from-behind-to-win/

[Steven L. Gotz]

I can certainly understand why people living on an island would take sailing seriously. And any other water sport for that matter. From what I understand, Kiwis are just sports crazy to begin with.

I get that. I certainly get national pride. It can be a great thing. Especially for a country filled with otherwise polite people. They need the outlet for their aggression.

That said, if the Americans can't field a team without a Kiwi on it, or an Aussie, then what's the point? It is just another rich man's sport and nothing that requires me to be filled with nationalistic pride the way the Olympics should.

I know they can't just call it the "World's Cup" instead of the "America's Cup" - it is kind of taken by that sport which we can't agree what to call it.

OK, it is fun to watch close up on the TV. But if I had never bought a camera, it would never even entered my conciousness. It just seems silly for anyone outside of a team dominated by their countrymen, like yours, to get worked up about who wins. Oh boy! Some rich guy hired some engineer to build a boat and it won a race and the advertising benefits go to some corporation. Yippee! Oh, and then they cheated!

Sigh!

But it is fun taking pictures of it all.

[shooternz]

Oh boy! Some rich guy hired some engineer to build a boat and it won a race and the advertising benefits go to some corporation. Yippee! Oh, and then they cheated!

Money, technology, talented sports people, team ownership...  $$$$$$$$$

Sounds like F1, NACSACAR, American Football / Baseball Teams, International Soccer Teams.......

Its drama and interesting and certainly beats going to war and fighting over oil, minerals, land and religion.

[Steven L. Gotz]

I have the same problem with many Pro sports.

Once upon a time ...... When the local football team hired people to play football, they stayed with the team until the bitter end. Same with Baseball. They retired from that team. They lived in the community, they played in the community, and quite often they retired and stayed in the community.

Now they change teams like I change the size of my television. Bigger, better, faster, whatever. Off they go. Bye Bye.

I don't like it. It will never change, but that doesn't mean I have to root for a team just because the stadium is in the same city that I live in. Or even the same country.

[able123]

my TV doesn't have anything about the races on it.. is that some regional thing?  where can I go to watch highlights etc ??

[Stan Jones]

http://www.americascup.com/

Click on videos...

[able123]

Thanks Stan.. will chk that out now...

just before I got your link.. I was looking for stuff about it and for some reason shooternz genetic sequence ( incomplete but apparently a first run through the super computer ? ) came on screen...

[able123]

wow !  Stan... that link was cool. I watched the video and bookmarked it so I can keep up to date on stuff. thanks a TON.

It sure is different than the mono hull stuff I saw in the past...and hope to God those participants don't get hurt bad some day.. that is some scary stuff IMO....going that fast with a pitch pole screwup would really be bad news to say the least ! 

Luckily I'm happy with my own sailing experiences and can sorta live the excitement of the races now vicariously.. like let someone else take the risk and just have fun watching the tactics etc... and try to guess the wind shifts and current etc..

I can see how it is really fun to watch.. which I did ... and maybe more boats will be in the race in the future.

Was the America's cup always between 2 boats in the past ? Were there more boats racing before ??  I don't remember....

[able123]

http://www.americascup.com/en/events/louis-vuitton-cup

challenger series... I am so out of it...

[shooternz]

Another win to the Kiwis this morning .

Kiwis 4 -  Oracle 1

A very dominating come from behind win by NZ

...then just as I was settling in for second race of the day...Oracle decided to pull out of it!

They get a single wild card to be able to do this so are in their rights.

Weird decision and no apparent reason why they did this

[Steven L. Gotz]

Congrats on the win!

Well then, I am sure glad I didn't bust my tail to get over there in time for the second race like I thought I might try to do. It would have been really annoying.

I will hope for two races on Thursday. And it is Kiwis 4 and Oracle -1 (just  to be absolutely accurate, sort of)

I guess that just gives me more time to play tonight. My first piece of honest to goodness professional photographic equipment arrived today. A 5-in-1 reflector kit. I know that Pro Photographers use such things. Sometimes really big ones, but mine will do the trick.

I now have three lights and one reflector. Assuming that one light is for the key, another for the hair/shoulders, and another for the background, the reflector (with stand) should be good for the fill. I just need to get my wife to sit in for me until I get the focus right. Or I might be able to use the screen in front of my Microphone to sit on the plane that my eyes will be on.

I want a narrow enough DOF to at least slightly blur the greenscreen, or black, or white, or even my red one that I will usually keep in focus for those people who can't sit still, but deep enough to get me completely in focus. I just don't know if I have the room to shoot that in the condo or if I have to wait for the house. (Another two weeks at a minimum, probably longer before everything is out of the garage.)

I want to be about 5 feet in front of the backdrop, I think, and another ten feet from the camera. If I can shoot into the bedroom fron out in the hallway, it might work.

[shooternz]

Your focus continues to be an issue with you for some reason!

You need to get on top of that.

Do a test using something like a sheet of newspaper pinned up on a wall to see what is going on.  Shine a bright torch or a light on it while focussing up.

Same issue with all your lenses?

Is the eye piece foccussed?

Do you wear spectacles?

What is wrong with the auto focus?

Remind me what camera you have?  GH3?

[Steven L. Gotz]

I have a focus card I can use, left over from OnLocation CS3 (the box version). I will use it to test the focus of my viewfinder.

Part of my focus problem is that I continue to ask my poor GH3 to shoot things really far away, and keeping the shutter speed fast enough to overcome camera shake, and still stopping down far enough to get a decent DOF is a challenge. Autofocus doesn't work well on items that are smaller than the center spot that the camera is tring to focus on.

Part of the problem is that my focus rings on my lenses are not smooth, I have never felt focus rings on any other camera, so I don't really know how they should feel. I am going to take them in to a camera shop and see what they have to say. It seems that I should not have as much problem with them as I am having. Can a camera shop do something equivalent to lubing them?

I do not wear glasses. Not at the moment. I used to, but my eyes are transitioning from slightly nearsighted, to the slightly far sighted of old age. At the moment, I am near 20:20. It should last another few years at the most I am told.

After all that, I can tell you that I sometimes get a decent focus. When that happens I look at the meta data and discover that I was at 300mm but using a 1/400 shutter speed or faster. I then look at one that I am unhappy with and see it using 300mm but with a shutter spped of 1/160 or so. Hmm. I know better, so why do I shoot it wrong? I am hoping that the answer is merely a lack of experience and that I will outgrow it.

For example, here is a tack sharp shot of something close enough to actually focus on. I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to focus on the cymbal, so I figured the best spot might be the just above the felt at the top. That way most of the center of the cymbal would be in focus. The composition turned out to be a hair off, but there are a few photos from that shoot that I am happy with.

The full shot:

[shooternz]

Test pix.

I wanted a refernce  image just to see what posting one here.. does to sharpness.

Your ones are not as "crispy" as I think they should be.

[shooternz]

Posting them reduces sharpness.

[Steven L. Gotz]

Yes, it does a bit. If you click on them to get them to full size (for what was actually posted that is), it helps.

[Stan Jones]

Very exciting race. Another congrats to NZ!

[shooternz]

Kiwis win 2 races today.

Score :Kiwis 6 vs Oracle 1

Kiwis need to win 3 for the WIN. (Americas Cup)

Oracle need to win 10 for theWIN!

[Steven L. Gotz]

Dont celebrate just yet. While it looks good for you, the Emirates team doesn't have the only Kiwis in this race.

While it seems obvious that Team Oracle isn't going to pull off a miracle, it is still possible. I am not counting on it, but stranger things have happened.