Brandenburg
Gate has been freed from the the Soviet era and now joins the
Soccer era. Hence its newest feature, the giant Soccer Ball Attraction.
I've got an idea--let's tie a Goodyear blimp to the Eiffel Tower!
Never mind, there is more drama afoot. Backlit, the Gate takes
on some of its former stoic presence and gives us a good excuse
to show the whole range of the Big Sharp Zoom lens on the 5700.
Many
images can be opened in a New Window to view at a larger scale
The Gate itself is at the foot of Unter Den Linden--a broad avenue
that plunges into the East Berlin area that was previously behind
The Wall. Now the area is filled with growth and transformation.
All under the Linden trees.
Strolling around in the area brings surprises to the lens. That
tall, striped thing is the TV tower the Soviets used to brag
about. Churches neglected under Communism join the renovative
spirit.
Inside,
a very unexpected view.
Berlin weather proves
to be on a five minute warning basis. The clouds overact. We
get wet, but the camera takes it in stride.
The Reichstag,
right, catches a last ray, students study each other and after
the rain, the sun paints a final image.
The art
department points us toward an unusual vision; bicycle racks
as abstract sculpture. Poetically monochromatic to begin with,
it was worth spending a few moments in Photoshop to make it rhyme.
Cars.
Berlin
traffic feels like the US equivalent because so many of its cars
are full size (Mercedes and BMWs).
The major
auto companies from other countries like to show off there, too.
No, you
can't buy it yet.
And if
you have to ask, you can't afford it.
Over the
course of the trip, I started a number of "series"
subjects. This one was of garage entrances. Here it is used to
illustrate a common digital camera problem. Zoom lenses are rarely
distortion free. Barrel distortion makes this image less than
it could be, because it is shot at full wide angle.
One quick
application of the iNovaFX iBC5.7KWide Photoshop Action turns
it into a very rectilinear image. Run your mouse over the shot
to see the corrected version.
Conclusions: The CP5700 is a great
camera for vacations and general use. Certainly it can find images
over a huge zoom range (7.2:1 by magnification) and the Nikkor
lens is sharp at all zoom positions. Wide angle is equivalent
to a 35 mm lens on a 35mm camera, so it gets nearly every shot
you could throw at it.
The flip
monitor + EVF viewing is a major positive feature and the large
array of Nikon controls is greatly appreciated. BSS was used
often for twilight shooting, store window shots and scenes under
artificial light.
There was
no interest in my carrying its HUGE WC-E80 wide converter that
outweighs the camera, while delivering merely a 28 mm equivalent
image, and the TC-E15, although it made the trip, was not particularly
helpful. When a lens is already f/4.1, hand-holding it at 400
mm is not a swift idea. You need a shutter speed of 1/500 sec
or briefer.
The cubic
bulk of the camera and control placement (four buttons on the
left barrel side for instance) made fast setups more problematic.
And manual focus with this model is remedial, meaning what were
the designers thinking?
Without
a doubt, it could easily be your one and only touring camera,
but wait, there's more...
Nikon
CP5400 Gallery.
Sony
DSC-F717 Gallery.
Sony
DSC-V1 Gallery.
Winner's
Circle.
Travel
Article Page.
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