Here’s more footage from the 2009 London to Brighton Veteran car rally.
This one is Jim King’s 1903 Stanley driven by Jeff Theobald. It was a beautifully prepared car that ran faultlessly. Pity about the weather though.
This 1896 Salvesen steam cart featured in the London to Brighton rally – I was fortunate enough to get some footage of the cart as it pulled away on the morning of the rally, as well as the day before at the Regent Street concours line-up. There was a great opportunity to chat with the owners of these unique cars!
Cheers – And happy new year!
Jerry
After having some difficulty with getting low light action photos recently, I checked out the photography forums and lens reviews and realised that I needed a brighter lens to capture the action without blurring the subject.
The consensus on the forums was that what I really needed was a ‘nifty fifty’ – a 50mm lens that would open up to f1.8 instead of the f4.0 I was getting on my standard lens.
A quick phone-around saw me head off to Teds main camera store in Canberra’s Civic area and with the exchange of AU$150 I departed with a small box.
The lens fits perfectly on the Canon 1000D DSLR that I bought last year. The first thing I noticed was the plastic mount – this doesn’t look that sturdy, but the fit was fine and smooth. Some have complained at the ‘plastic’ feel to the lens, but the six element glass is optically brilliant, and for my money that suggests Canon put the expense in the right place.
The focus motor is quick and not obtrusive. Again some have suggested that the focus is a bit noisy – it is certainly quieter than the shutter click and I didn’t find it annoying. It is a fixed lens – so it means more moving around to frame the subject if you are used to a zoom, but that is a small issue if it means you actually get the shots you want.
So the big question is how it compares in terms of letting light in? Well, the f1.8 full opening lets in more than three times the amount of light that my standard 18-55mm zoom did, and that makes a big difference to the photo.
Here is a photo at 800 ISO using the 18-55mm/f4.0 lens
And here is the same photo using 800ISO 50mm/f1.8
And the brilliance and detail on a close focus subject shows excellent focus in the centre, with only minor softening at the edge.
Overall, I am very happy with this lens and think it will solve a number of problems shooting in less than optimal light. For a lens that doesn’t have pretensions beyond its key function this is excellent value for money and I would recommend that if you only buy one extra lens for your DSLR this would be the one. I give it 4.5 stars.
Cheers
Jerry
The British Steam Car Challenge team have broken another record. This time for the flying kilometre (or kilometer if you’re American) with a two-way run averaging 148.308mph. This time the car was driven by Don Wales, nephew of renowned speed record breaker Donald Campbell.
Having recorded the new mile record at almost 140mph with driver Charles Burnett III, it was always envisaged that test driver Don Wales would take the kilometre record, and the team pulled out a couple of the limiter valves to squeeze a little more speed from the machine, dubbed the ‘world’s fastest kettle’.
By the end of their runs, the team hope to have five speed records under their belt – the world record for the mile, the world record for teh kilometre, the US record for teh mile, the US record for teh kilometre and the Guinness world record for a steam car.
The team is an insipiration to us all, persevering over countless hurdles for ten years to make this dream a reality. And a true team they are too – not only in agreeing to take turns in the glory, but in the full support team that prepares the car and that performs the refuel and turn-around to ensure that the car can do its second run within the allocated 60 minutes. And the team battled mechanical and electrical problems that arose from just being in a desert salt pan in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere Summer in temperature well in excess of the old (Farenheit) century.
But with ingenuity and determination, the team pulled together to achieve what no-one had successfully done in 103 years – so again congratulations to Don and Charles, and all the support team, fans and financial backers who made it all possible.
Cheers
Jerry
Congratulations to the British Team behind the British Steam Car Challenge with their car ‘Inspiration’. Today they broke the record they set yesterday with a new land steam speed record of 148mph for the measured mile averaged across two runs in opposite directions. For more news see the UK Steam Car Club.
Cheers
Jerry
