Pretty Scenery

I went for a ride down to the Coast yesterday and took my new Sony A7 camera with me, there was opportunity on the way home to snap a couple of things (one planned, one impromptu) which I thought I'd share here not least because they're (to me) images of beautiful countryside.

On the way home I passed this "wetland" area (which is flooded because of a water dam).

I wanted to explore this area in a little more detail so I switched out the wide angle for a mild telephoto (100mm). First the silo

I was just stunned with the image quality which the a7 gave me, so lets look at a segment of that image closer:

well ... wow ... great handling of highlights and shadows (photographed in RAW and processed on my tablet) with very little noise and even at 100% ... The details in the rusted tin roof, the birds on the fence and rock. All this with a 1979 Canon FD lens (which was purchased used for $130)

Another shot of the "wetland" over near the dead trees (with the 100mm)

myself I would have wanted to wait for more like sundown to get the reds, but still, this was a "test run"

On the way home I was glad I didn't linger, because I had opportunity to see a magnificent sunset with rim-lit clouds and smoke in the skies (from some small fires). I saw the sun going down from further away and around that ridge.

 If I'd had any other camera the above picture would have been inky, and attempts to resurrect it in post processing would result in horrible noise in the shadows with many cameras.

So ... WOW

Moving further along the valley (towards that ridge on the left, which I needed to ride up) I was greeted by this wondrous scene just as the sun had set (which I again snapped).

And again was able to get the brilliant beauty of the clouds and (to my eye) the right level of "evening" in the valley.

Loving this camera ... and the well priced, optically excellent lenses from nearly 40 years ago that it enables me to use (for the first time on Full Frame, as no other DSLR can).