Rodney Campbell's Blog

Olary

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/120 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

We passed through Broken Hill and headed further west into South Australia. We’d originally intended on staying at Border Gate Rest Area, however we accidentally drove past 🙂

Eventually we ended up for the night at Olary. A town and locality on the Barrier Highway in South Australia. It is one of the easternmost settlements in South Australia. This small settlement was established in the late 1880s to service the highway and the railway which pass through here. Almost nothing remains

So Flat

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/1600 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Way out here in the western edge of NSW the land is so very flat and sparsely vegetated

This is a 180 degree panorama taken with the drone

Likewise cornering ability is a somewhat optional feature in vehicles. You can drive tens or perhaps even a hundred kilometers on dead straight road. I guess however when those inevitable 90 degree bends do come up it can be somewhat of a surprise 🙂

On The Straight and Narrow

DJI Mavic 2 Pro L1D-20c + 28.0 mm f/2.8 @ 10.26 mm, 1/800 sec at f/4, ISO 100

Heading straight along the Barrier Highway

This is above a little rest area where we stopped for lunch on our journey westward from Wilcannia and Broken Hill in the far west of New South Wales

Loving these new builtin Panorama modes in the new Mavic 2 Pro

Pretty flat and barren out here…

Heaven’s Weeping

NIKON Z 7 + 14.0 mm f/2.4 @ 14 mm, 123 sec at f/2.4, ISO 400 x 42 Frames

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Pleasantly surprised to see this worked ok. Even though the time was cut over an hour short the trails were dense enough with such dark skies

The small amount of light painting of my bare weeping tree sitting nicely in the frame. Thanks to PhotoPills here for assisting me (indicating where the south celestial pole would be)

You can also see I’ve switched to more space and time friendly 2 minute exposures for my trails now (in dark regions). It also allows me to with the f/2.4 lens to shoot at a nice and friendly ISO of 400. Seems to be working out fine. Might try even longer exposures once I get to the Kimberley/Pilbara

The Divide

NIKON Z 7 + 14.0 mm f/2.4 @ 14 mm, 15 sec at f/2.4, ISO 6400

I’d setup here to take a sequence of images to stack for star trails

I’d been a little concerned with the potential battery life when using my new Nikon Z7 mirrorless camera. There was some divide on this on the Internet with some complaining of poor battery life but most indicating a substantial battery life

Shooting exposure for star trails however tends to burn battery. Essentially because the sensor is basically constantly powered. Taking continuous long exposures one after the other

Anyway to avoid any issues I invested in a potentially game changing gadget to alleviate any concerns

I’d purchased a Tether Tools Case Relay along with a Nikon EP-5B Power Supply Connector (a dummy battery for my camera’s). This along with a standard portable USB battery pack (e.g. the type of thing you’d charge your phone with) would allow me to power the camera for far longer (probably all night) than a single internal camera battery

Or so the theory went. However this my first attempt was a Case Relay fail. It “looked” like it was working. However I actually returned to pick up my camera after 2 and a half hours… and my camera was lifeless…

I didn’t actually know how long it lasted or how many shots I got…

What I suspect happened is that the camera drained the internal built in rechargeable battery of the case relay but it in turn did not draw any power from the external USB battery pack. When the Case Relay battery ran out, it just cut off and my camera stopped at that point 🙁

I’ll have to see if there’s anything I can do to keep my USB battery pack active if and when I try again…