August – 09

Last December I got my hands on one of the first 5D Mk11 to arrive in the Ireland. Straight away the camera impressed me. The quality of the files that the camera produced were outstanding. The camera itself was jam packed with features, 90% of which I never bothered with.

A few months later and after becoming a father for the first time the HD video mode on the camera proved useful for recording special moments. Photographically speaking video mode had little attraction for me as did live view. However recently I had been reading a number of photo blogs about the benefits of live view, especially when using Graduated Neutral Density filters.

Anyone who reads In the Field knows I am a big fan of Singh Ray ND grads, and whilst I normally use the DOF button to align the grads, this can be very difficult especially when shooting under low light conditions.

Last weekend while out shooting some seascapes and with two GND filters in place I found myself switching to live view and the simulated exposure modem that is offered on the 5DMK11. Eureka! Why I have never used this option before I will never know. Maybe it is the photographic snob coming out in me.

mccabe-Chead

Using this features made aligning the two GNDs very very easy. Once I had them in aligned the way I like, I turned off live view, set the exposure and aperture and click. The result you see above.