Shot in the dark

Well, I've had my eyes on it for a while now, been reading a bit and checking comments. And it seems that everyone is all happy with it. I'm talking about the Canon EOS 5D MkIII with a Tamron 24-70 2,8 to go with it. In most cases I'm really happy with my 50D and the 17-50 lens but there's so much difference between the 70-200 and 17-50, it never gets as clear with the 17-50 as it does with the bigger one. The downside is of course that it needs to be BIG concerts to be able to use the big one. I want the tight, close and fast pics to be as clear and sharp as well. Apparently the 24-70 should be. Also, to get to higher ISO than 2000 makes the pictures very grainy, arty it becomes but that's not what I want.
So yes, I've ordered it... Went to talk to a really nice salesman at MediaMarkt and he promised to get back with delivery date and more info today, which he didn't. Gonna call back tomorrow to check it.

I think the combination will be very good, I do think I will miss the last few steps towards fisheye. Especially at smaller concerts... Of course, there are lenses available for a full format camera as well, rather expensive though.

I hope the performance on higher ISO will be as much better as the reviews and information describes, if so, this will be awesome. And I can't wait until I get the chance to try it out (yeah, yeah, I know, I need to get it first...) on a concert and see if it is as good as they say.

Got some things coming up so I will have opportunities to shoot!

Cheers
E
NP: SLAUTER XTROYES - Winterkill

 


 

At the Dawn of Winter

Yep, snow finally came to Höör this weekend! According to news and other media it was a complete CHAOS, stay inside, leave the car at home if you necessarily needs to get out. COME ON!!! Sure, it was windy and on places it was snowdrifts on the roads, but not that bad. People seemed terrified though and was driving 30km/h on the 90 road. Of course, if you don't feel safe you shouldn't go faster but the road was really nice, a very nice winter road. I really like that since it comes almost completely quiet and it's not slippery at all, at least not with the real winter tires.

Saturday started with shoveling snow, and since the temperature was around 0 the snow was really wet and heavy. A good workout I'd say! I also started messing around with Peter and threw snowballs at him. Got double back though.

Saturday also featured a photo-session with the statue. She's been outside for about 6 months now and still holds strong. Was a bit wet of the snow and extremely cold but still looks very nice!

I've been good these last weeks also. I've been to the gym and I can really feel the difference after just a few visits. I just hope I can keep the inspiration up and continue to go there.

Else the weekend was spent checking out eBay and Discogs getting a bunch of unnecessary stuff (now, everyone knows all records are necessary) for the collection. So now I'm soon ready to do something more serious about the Savatage & Vicious Rumors collections. Perhaps not as serious as Peter did with his Anvil-records though.
Anvil Records
We'll see what happens. 
The good thing with Discogs is that it's a lot easier with different prints of records than eBay. Sometimes the info at eBay is just copied from other add's of the same record, not picked from the actual record. It takes some off the chase but decreases the risk of getting something you don't want. Fun fun it is anyway!

Now, a couple of days of work before it's time for fun again!

Cheers
E

NP: DEATH MASK - Split the Atom

 
 

Madness reigns...

I have to say that eBay has been rather boring lately, at least when it comes to fill the Savatage collection with new additions. I know, there are things available still before it's complete but it feels bad to pay $20 for the LP and $40 for the postage. Previous I've just briefly checked Discogs but yesterday I took it on fully... Was rather ok, but we'll see what happens, I haven't gotten the things I've ordered yet. But it sure is convenient, at least looking for different prints and such.

Anyway, I was really bummed out before new-years and the days after. Mr Postman was a bastard and refused to bring me the things I've ordered. But when I got home this Friday he'd done his job at least. Some CD's for review, some that I ordered and a package of Jon Oliva T-shirts. I saw the add just before Christmas at Facebook and decided I had to have them. I still feel bad for not travelling over the pond to see one or so of the gigs, it seems to have been amazing. But at least I got the T-shirt. Mr Kinder was really nice and sent some guitarpicks as well, thank you!!!

But putting it on display the cat thought the bag was food and refused to move...

He just sat there looking into the camera and of course looking away as soon as the help light started working... Even pushing him off he made sure he's not one to be pushed around and fought with teeth and claws...

So all I could do was to bribe him a bit, opening the door to the fridge did the trick.

In a week or two we're travelling to see Transsiberian Orchestra. Even if I'm not as stuck on the Christmas-records as Bethoveen's Last Night this will be amazing. First, Chris Caffery, Johnny Lee Middleton, Jeff Plate and Al Pietrelli isn't bad. Even if it would have been amazing to have Jon there too. Still the show is fantastic, massive and filled with effects and visuals. 

http://www.trans-siberian.com/

So, the year is starting off rather good! Some good concerts coming up and I've also managed to save some money, still have a bit to go before I've saved enough for my new camera though.... But soon!!!

Cheers

E

NP: SAVATAGE - Sirens

 

 
 

Vows of the new-year...

Naah, I'm not making any new-year-promises I can't keep... I always try to say I should go to the gym, drink less beer and do more of this and that. One thing though I realized during the Christmas-vacation is that I need to allow myself to rest on occasion. So perhaps that can be it? It's not as easy as it seems. At least I shall make sure to keep a good balance, try to keep to regular work-weeks and do what I enjoy which is pretty much what I've been doing lately as well but hopefully the work-situation can be kept in better shape than it has been. I enjoy what I do but life isn't work!
Another thing stating that is how damn long it took to get rid of the cold that hit just before Christmas. Had a bit of a problem the last few days in the office since I felt ok but my voice was completely gone. Had to have someone speaking for me all the time so I wrote on the Chat-program and someone else red it...

So, apart from sleeping during the vacation me and Peter arranged a new-year's party. I realized I'm not very good at calculating amount of food for 10 persons. We had leftovers for days after. Ok, the food was really nice so I don't really mind but regardless how good it tastes it's boring to eat the same thing 4-5 days in a row.
The deal was that everyone should bring something and of course it was plenty of everything, chips, dip and icecream, sauces lasted for days also.
I decided to serve Heavy Metal Wine to the dinner also, so there was one bottle of Ac/Dc Wine, one of Motörhead Shiraz and one Slayer... The Slayer got the best feedback from the guests! 

Also, we almost managed to get rid of all Beer's and such from the Wedding Party. Sure, it's nice to have beer at home but the amount we've been trying to finish during the fall was actually crazy. And not the most fun brands either.

Then we started recording some new Void Moon stuff. The plan is to release an EP during the year at least. Exactly when and how we don't know yet. That time will tell. But Thomas put down the drums and I've been working on some guitars. Not used to be playing several hours per day a few days in a row I tell you. Damn my fingers hurt now! But it starts to sound rather good and it will be interesting to hear when it's finished. Still not really happy with everything but I do have more time before everything should be finished. Also, if everything goes according to plan a really cool guest will appear on this recording.

We also decided to go out on a small roadtrip yesterday. Just to do something more before it was back to work again. Just checked out the villages around Höör though and since it was a Bank Holiday it was rather dead everywhere. The day was rather grey also, felt like it never became daylight but I guess it's the time of the year. Days like that I really miss snow. 
But we found some cool ancient Grave-sites, from 500 and 600 AD... It's fascinating to think that people has been walking around where we live a century ago. But it would be even cooler to get to visit that age and just watch for an hour or so... But perhaps it's more interesting around 1000 AD when the Vikings roamed the country.

 
So, that was the last few days of vacation. This morning it was back to work... Felt rather dead when the alarm went off. But I doubt I was alone feeling that this morning. So now, and a few weeks forward all to look forward to is work I guess. Takes a few more weeks before the concert season starts. I don't have very much planned, yet...

Cheers
E

NP: JAG PANZER - Shadow Thief