Bob is back, or maybe he never left, but he was across the river this morning eating some small bushes.

Hi - this is Leif in Iceland again. Around August 10th I stayed a couple nights at a very small campsite in the southern-interior of Iceland (called Hólaskjól, and you can check out the map on my blog at http://duenorth-iceland2007.blogspot.com/). I went for a long day-hike as soon as I got there, expecting the sun to persist. The area is quite interesting, with a large gorge and river, and another river with a flat sandy flood-plain. There is also an old lava floe from about 1000 years ago that has been covered almost entirely in thick soft moss (sometimes almost a foot thick, seriously!) Anyways, it started pouring rain just as I was about three hours from my tent and any shelter. So I used the complete rain-shield on my lowpro camera bag for the first time ever, and got thoroughly soaked to the bone, while my camera remained dry.

Much later that day (around 9pm) a heavy mist or omni-directional rain came up, and I remembered a landscape of moss-covered lava not far away. So instead of putting on my soaking boots, I went with cold bare feet in sandals and took some shots. It was worth it, and the landscape seemed very surreal, with light coming from just above the horizon and glowing as though it was only a few hundred metres away. I got very wet again, and there were millions of beads of water on my camera, but thankfully the K10D is water-resistant so I don't have to worry so much about that.

Here are a couple sunsets too. The first is from Reykjavík looking some 100km over the ocean to the Snæfelsness peninsula. The second is from a lake called Mývatn in the north - this sunset took about an hour and a half and was spectacular with lots of colour the whole time. When the colour from the sun had mostly left the sky, the moon rose over the hills. Sunsets here last forever this time of year, so it can be a leisurely process to set-up a tripod and get the shots you want. The light changes constantly though, as the sun moves, so different colours appear and disappear over periods of a few minutes.

- Leif

It may be hard for some of you viewing this blog to understand how nice it is to see rain, even on a Sunday. This is the first rain of any amount this summer and I was not the only one excited by it. Two photos today, the first one, count the geese, and then there is Mr. coyote.

Hi there –

My name is Leif. I'm Bill & Sandra's nephew. Currently I'm in Iceland,
learning Icelandic, having fun, and taking LOTS of photos with my
Pentax K10D, which I got back in February of this year. Bill invited
me to post here.

Here's a bit of information about what I'm using:

I have the extra battery & grip – this is a must-have if you're
traveling or camping. I just got back from a three-week camping trip
and only had to recharge twice, after taking more than 6GB of photos!
Sometimes I take the battery pack off when I'm doing day-hikes or
walking around downtown in Reykjavík, and the camera is really small
and easy to carry about.

I also use the infrared remote for sensitive tripod shots, like
puffins, sunsets, and fireworks. It´s much quicker and steadier than
using the 12 or 2 second countdown timers, and you can get just the
shots you want exactly when you want them. The remote cunningly fits
into a slot inside the extra battery pack, along with a space for an
extra memory card: feels very Star Trek-ish! The remote is also nice
for close group photos with yourself included! I used the remote just
last night to get this shot of the fireworks to celebrate Reykjavík´s
birthday. (ISO 100, F8.0, 18mm, 8s.) Reykjavík is the capital city of
Iceland, about 150000 people, with some 300000 in the whole country,
give or take 50000 tourists . . . and far more cameras! Icelanders
love technology, and digital cameras are BIG here.

I met an Icelandic (professional) photographer last night at the
fireworks, and we compared shots. Mostly the same, although he´s done
fireworks photography before (I haven´t) so knew more about which
settings and framing devices would serve best. Anyways, he was using a
Canon DSLR (can´t remember which one – sorry!), and Canon is really
popular here. I only ever see Pentax cameras with foreigners. Because
he already had an idea that 1-3 seconds was a good shutter speed for
fireworks, he got more ideal shots than I did. But our best shots were
almost identical. The major difference in our photos last night was in
how they were made, not what they looked like. He had a wire remote –
I had the wireless. His camera was much bigger and heavier, with a
tripod that could hold a ton and weighed just about a ton – I had been
walking around the festival-filled town all day, so my camera without
the battery pack is small, and my tripod is quite lightweight, fitting
nicely in the holding straps of my Lowpro camera bag.

I use a 28-200 Pentax lens from my Pentax MZ-5n film SLR, and the
18-55 lens that Pentax makes specifically for its DSLRs. I was very
tempted to get the 12-24 or something with a wider angle, and I´ve
regretted not doing so several times. Sometimes you just need a wider
angle to bring context to a shot, or simply to get the building,
glacier or mountain entirely into the shot. Some of these things are
not possible with the 18-55. I brought my MZ-5n with me to get some
wider-angle shots with the 18-55, but that camera broke on my first
shot with it here in Iceland. (Good reason to always have more than
one camera if you can . . .) So I´m using the K10D for all my shots,
and missing some wider-angle opportunities. That said, changing lenses
is a hassle, particularly in dusty environments or in the field, and
although Pentax has a great dust-removal system, I still hate to
change lenses in dusty or windy situations. So it is VERY nice to have
the 18-55, since it is very versatile and suits many purposes, and I
never feel restricted when I´m going out in bad weather with it on. I
know I would feel restricted with the 12-24, since I wouldn´t be able
to get the higher zoom shots.

The powerful & versatile zoom on my 28-200 lens is great for wildlife
shots and landscape shots at a distance. This is a shot I got of a
puffin just last week. (ISO100, F5.6, 200mm, 1/90s.) It was on the
edge of a cliff (as puffins usually are) and I too was on the edge of
the cliff, with difficult angles to get around for a line-of-sight, in
a high-wind situation, over the crashing waves of the ocean . . . So
there was no way I was trusting any tripod to keep my camera from
flying off into the northern Atlantic! I barely trusted myself to keep
myself on the cliff! So I was shaking a bit, and using maximum zoom on
a subject that was in the shade. Pentax´s Shake-Reduction feature is
priceless in such situations! I also took some photos of two puffins
together from a greater distance, using my tripod and the remote. Got
some nice shots with the tripod, although from farther away and with
less detail and not as nice lighting. Otherwise there is no real
difference between the shots with and without the tripod, except that
without the SR feature I would never have been able to get a crisp
close shot in that situation.

That´s all for now!
- Leif

If you have been reading my blog for the last year you will know that my favorite camera this year has been the Pentax K10D. It has just won another award, the EISA, this one is for the best European D-SLR of the year. This goes with two other awards one in Japan, the CJPC award and another in Europe, the TIPA award. If you are one of the many people using this camera you will understand why. For me the right camera has to do more than produce a good file to print. How it fits in the hands, as well as how well the controls are thought and laid out to how easy it is to do what you want it to do, is just as important. The right camera for you is the one you want to carry with you to catch that special photo. I take mine home every night and carry it on my back to work each day because I just might see a photo I would like to capture. People caring a camera often comment that they see things they might not other wise notice. Yesterday my K10D was in the bag and not ready when I saw a skunk running across the lawn, I will be ready next time but I really hope I don't see him again. If you haven't checked out the Pentax K10D it may be something to consider and yes I do have stock.

Here's looking at you, fawns are getting big too

One month and four days and the ducks are a little bigger than the last photo posted. These two photos were taken this morning, August has been very busy so far. Bill

Another day in paradise, hot weather is back. This photo is taken with a Pentax 12 to 24 zoom that we have in stock. 6:30 am and the temp. is pushing 20c

Cooler weather is here for awhile and for most of us that is a good thing. For some it doesn't mean an end to swimming lessons. This photo is taken with a Pentax K10D and a Sigma 70 to 300 APO lens. We have lots of cameras and lenses in stock today, maybe too many. It is also a good day to buy a new camera. Bill

As you may know it has been very hot in Grand Forks. On our deck in the shade it is 40c plus every day. Leif, in Iceland, these are for you, Laura's pictures of Gus and Oliver, which may give you a feel for how hot it is.

Time for a new photo or two. These fawns have been in the yard most days.

We see this mother and her ducklings often, but not with good light and when I am ready with a camera. Just another photo opp. that starts with 'while washing the dishes'.

Young bucks, morning light. Another deer photo, there are several young bucks out in the morning kicking up their heels. Their antlers are growing and some of them will be quite large come fall.

We were making changes to our web site that took longer than planed. Its good to have everything working. This weekend I took home a Nikon D40x with a Nikon 70 to 300 VR lens to test. This photo, my nephew Stefan took of one of our many dear. Dpreview.com have posted their review of this camera which is very small and light and with a VR lens very nice to use. Its priced right too. Bill

Bob the beaver is still around he swam by last night, but while I was looking for him the other morning this raccoon ran by. Sandy has a story to tell of going out on the lawn in the middle of the the night to chase away a stray cat but it was no cat, but Bob, when she got within three feet he sort of growled a little. She came to find me and he was gone. This is her story but remember it was in the middle of the night.

While walking to work through the cemetery today, I was surprised by this fawn beside the path. I have started taking my camera home every night for the wild life out the window so it was on my back with a long zoom lens. I was able to take a photograph without getting too close. I didn't see Mother deer but she could not be to far away.

We are back from a short break and there is always many things to do. Here is a photo I thought you just had to see, Looking out the back window, the front of the house faces the river the back of the house the road, I saw my first fawn of the season.

Update, this camera will be here soon and we are taking pre-orders at a cost of 849.00 cnd. www.contactphotoarts.com

Hello All, Bill is on a well deserved vacation so I felt it necessary to make one of my oh-so-scant blog posts.
Sigma Photo, a leader in the making of glass, has announced the introduction of a compact camera. Now, many people do not know that Sigma makes SLR bodies, but the truth is that indeed they have and continue to. They have been quite good too, but for a long time the SD series lacked the appeal of the major markets outside the fashion industry. The new DP1 should change that, as it uses the full 14mp Foveon X3 chip, giving the camera very good overall image quality. Maybe I can convince our favorite camera guru to order one...

Two more bird photos today, panning or moving the camera with the birds is fun because you can never be sure what you have until you view the photos. The action says more than the detail and the surprise one finds in the detail when frozen in time.

Before the sun was up this morning, out of the woods came a group of geese and their goslings. They were different colour and size because of their age. As a group they made their way up the river looking for their breakfast so after a few photos I left them to enjoy the bugs while I finished my bagel. Bob the beaver swam by yesterday but he didn't stop for a photo. Bill