Return of the 20D

My 20D returned from the Canon Repair facility today - WooHooo! I didn't get a chance to take more than a couple test shots, but hopefully you'll be seeing some new pictures pretty soon.

Shutter repair...

Sorry for not posting any pictures the last few days. I got the estimate from Canon Repair for fixing the shutter in my 20D and it was only $195, so hopefully I'll have the camera back pretty soon and be back to taking pictures, working on my next 60,000 shots. I've been taking a few pix with my old A75, but after shooting with a D-SLR for the last 2 years, it's hard to motivate myself to take anything but snapshots with it.....

The south end of Kitt Peak

This is the view to the south from the top of the Spacewatch 36 inch dome on a sunny clear day. This image was converted to B&W using a red filter in Picasa. The image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/640 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

The last shot from the first shutter...

My 20D was rated at 60,000 shutter cycles according to the manufacturer. This is the final shot I took before my 20D's shutter failed last Thursday evening after cycling probably between 60,000 and 61,000 times since I got the camera almost exactly 2 years earlier. I was preparing to mount the camera for the night on our 36 inch telescope and was taking documentary pictures of my arrangement, showing the tripod head mounted on the end of the telescope with a 3/8" screw and also how I had run the extension cord and attached the a/c adaptor to the telescope for the night. I was going to use my new 50mm f/1.8 lens to get some tracked images of the sky where ever the telescope pointed for surveying the sky. Plans were foiled when the shutter failed. For any 20D owners, the symptoms of the failure were that I heard the mirror open and close repeatedly as it tried to take a picture and then an Err 99 would appear. I tried different lenses and batteries and even the a/c adaptor with no change of symptoms. Finally, I used the sensor clean function and with the mirror up, I could clearly see the shutter closed - normal sensor clean would open the shutter to make the sensor available for cleaning. The camera was sent off to Canon for repair on Monday after making arrangements on Thursday night already with Canon for the repar. My shutter trigger finger is already twitching with camera withdrawal symptoms. Time to dig out my old A75, I guess..... This image was taken at 21mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/4, ISO 800 with a little fill flash.

Another Kitt Peak Sunset

After the storm moved out, we were left with a pretty Kitt Peak Sunset. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Afternoon storm

We had a storm after dinner on Tuesday which produced some lightning and a lot of impressive clouds. This is the view to the southeast after the storm had passed. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Another view of Sunset

Here's another view of Monday evenings sunset - not the prettiest from an astronomical point of view, but pretty while wearing my photographers hat. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/9, ISO 400.

Colorful Sunset

The Kitt Peak 36 inch telescope and the WIYN telescope on the southern ridge of Kitt Peak provide a stark contrast to the colorful sunset Monday evening. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/7.1, ISO 400.

Sunset

Sunset on my first night this run - very pretty, moreso since it was clear! The Spacewatch 36 inch dome is on the right. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/4000 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

Phoenix Spacecraft mockup

There was an open house on Saturday at the Phoenix Building where most of those working on the Phoenix Lander that will head to Mars later this year can be found. This is a full scale mockup of the lander on display there. I often like to say that I am not a rocket scientist, but some of my friends are. I know quite a few of those who are working on this spacecraft and hopefully you'll see the results of their hard work next year when it lands on Mars. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/25 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 800.

310 revisited.

Here is another version of the same frame - a little different crop and using the red channel of a decomposition in the GIMP along with some level adjust in which I pushed the white colored wall right up to the highest brightness and the darkest shadow all the way to black.

310

I ran across this while hiking around downtown a few weeks back. Converted to B&W using a red filter in Picasa. The image was taken at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/4000 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Cactus Garden Sparrow

This scruffy looking sparrow enjoys a bit of springtime sunshine in the UofA's Cactus Garden. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/8, ISO 400 with my Canon 20D.

Male House Finch

A male House Finch warely eyes the photographer from his perch in the Cactus Garden. This image was taken at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/1250 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.