late winter in SoCal - pics

Well the calendar still says winter, but when temps are in the high 80's and the water high 60's it feels more like early summer! But the snow capped mountains in the background remind us that winter isn't quite over yet.

Thanks to Steve and Thane for a great day on Elsinore!

Bill, great pics
Thane, Nice Method grab (Get a little warm in the drysuit did it?)

Man, the quality in the pics are freakin' amazing! I'm sure I've asked before, but what cam are you using?

Nice work, Bill!

Joe: Canon Digital Rebel 6.3 megapixel SLR

Nice pokes, Thane.

Awesome pics yet again, Bill. Upper 60s water and dude's in a drysuit? What's up with THAT?

Bill, I hesitate to even give you advice on pictures since yours are by far the best posted around here, but (perhaps it's just me) but I would like to see a mix of close-ups and some from a little farther out that include the wake to give a sense of the riding a little more. Take my lowly opinion for what it's worth.

Very Nice Closeups I would frame a few of those pictures and put them in your house and hang some wakeboards on the wall. Nice Digi Cam

Great Pic's thanks for Posting!

nice pics

Those pics are wonderful. What kind of a zoom does that Canon camera have?

Actually looks like a nice day at Elsinore.

Yeah Bill, sweet pics. I almost bit and bought a Dig Rebel last night. This might push me over the edge. I know I will need to get the 75 - 300 lens and a larger card and extra battery, maybe a compact flash. So that $1000 jumps a lot. That was the only thing stopping me. Damm I want one!!!!

im going to take a look at that canon 6.3 megapixel digi cam. Did you get an upgraded lens? I have a 4 megapixel Olympus. I wish I could get that close from the back of my boat.

Yeah, I was using a 70-200mm f4/L lens, but I've also used the cheaper 70-300mm f5.6 lens (about $160) and it worked pretty well.

I picked up 2 extra batteries on eBay for $25, but battery on the Rebel will take about 200 pics so you don't necessarily need extras - unlike non-SLR digitals that burn batteries pretty quickly.

Bill - Is that an IS lens you are using? I am looking for a lens and was just going to get the 75-300. Want to make sure that the Digital Rebel will take good shots in the moving boat with the standard lens.

Bruce, that's a non-IS lens. From what I've been told the IS is a waste of money for wakeboarding. The key is using a fast shutter speed - in those pics I was using 1/2000. The IS lens are great for low-light situations and not necessary for action sports with fast movement. Of course you can buy the IS lens and just turn it off.

Thanks for the advice. Most of what I am shooting is outdoors, so I will save that big upcharge and find a regular zoom.

Hey Guys, I am going to pick one up today. What the heck LOL Anyway "IS Lens" can you tell a rooke what that means.

Bill, did you say that the standard flash on the Digital Rebel was sub par?

Thanks for your help!

IS = Image Stabilization. Basically it keeps the lens perfectly still to give you perfect focus when you are taking shots that are in low light or when moving around, such as a sideline photographer at a football game. They cost about 2.5 times as much as the regular lens, so I was glad to hear I didn't really need it for wakeboarding.

My flash seems to work fine for my photography. I have noticed it overexposing once in a while, but I'm sure I can control that once I learn the camera better.

HI guys, I bought a kodak 5 megapixal digital. Is this just a point and shoot and not capable of taking the great shots posted?? I have such a hard time timing the delay on the snap. any tips or suggestions?? thanks!! ( I know a good tip would be to drop a grand on a canon dig, but after paying for 2 boys at wakeboard camp, it's just not possible!)

With a 5 mpx you should be able to crop some good pics in photo editing software to look similar to what Bill has posted above, at least as far as displaying on a computer screen. You will take the pics at maximum zoom on your camera, download to your photo editing software, then crop and resize as necessary.

To overcome the timing display, push the button halfway down to "set" the lens, then push the rest of the way once you are ready to take the picture.

Here's a pic I took recently. Not nearly as good as Bill's, and the lighting was bad that day, but you get the idea. This was with my 3.2 mpx camera (but using a 10x optical zoom).

Here's another one with the same camera. Remember these are massively chopped down in quality in order to post them here on Dave's sight within the limits.

Andre, nice shots! TeamValdez, yep that delay thing drives me nuts. Try Andre's advice. But it seems like some cameras won't allow you to set it like that. The nice thing about the Digital Rebel is you can fire off three in a row, without delay. Trying to capture wakeboarding in action, well it takes a lot of shots to get a good one. Definitely easier to go bam, bam, bam .....bam bam bam, etc.

If I do buy my camera, maybe I can join you on your boat and try to capture some shots of your boys out on the back water. We can even get some from my boat of you cruising by. Different angles and such. Then we can hand it off to you for some shots of Nathan and I. Maybe get some good crash footage!! LOL

Bruce thanks for the info!

Thanks for posting the pics Bill, and thanks for the pulls Steve.

Kristian - I can do Methods?! jk, those are fun.

J-rod - thanks for the props dude.

To explain my dilemma, it was a rather warm day. Unsuspecting of me all I brought was my drysuit. I would have trunked all day. On my last pull I just wore my shorts and bummed a vest from Steve. Vest too big, and drove home with wet shorts, but well worth it.

Those are some incredible grabs Thane.

That was a dilemma! I will be glad to put the dang baggy away for the season. I hate wearing that thing.

It was the weirdest feeling wearing the dry suit, then getting in the water with just shorts. I was like, "what the...? I'm wet, this isn't supposed to happen." I agree Andre, I don't like wearing that thing either. Thanks for the props.

Nice pics and nice riding, the air will be in the 60s and the water 50s here for months, so we
are just going to get used to the "baggy"

Baggy drysuits and even fullsuits don't make for good pictures either!

Jonathan, the built-in flash is pretty limited but it's worked for the few pics that I've taken with it. I have an old but powerful Vivitar unit that I've been using when I really needed to take flash pics and it seems to be working just fine. But for snapshots the Rebel's flash seems to be adequate.

Yeah, but here in SD we wear the baggies, what, 3 months out of the year, maybe 4? Trunk it the other 8-9 months? Can't complain about that!

On the other hand there is always the local crappy conditions to complain about!

Thats it Thane, you heard the man, no more Baggy suits, they're simply ruining the shots

ok, i'll be the first to comment on aki's mug in that pic!! it's a good thing my camera won't zoom in that close!

You don't know the half of it, Joh. Every time Aki gets his hands on your camera you can count on a bunch of crappy pictures of yourself riding, and these two pictures every single time!

it looks like his feet are getting better

That was not a pretty sight to take in first thing in the morning LOLOLOL well at least he kept his cloths on. By the way, would that be considered Corona Abuse?!?!?!? I would make him walk the plank!!! LOL

ewww...nasta! I think he should have those toe-nails removed, and start growing new ones from scratch!

Thats just WRONG !

Good thing the FCC can't fine the internet because there is nothing decent about that. Dave may have to remove that one.

I think you all are just jealous because Akstar is keeping it real. Damn I wish I had feet like that.

I guess Aki doesn't have to worry about anyone wanting to borrow his bindings.

Those were nice grabs Thane. I also like the pic of the 360 I almost did not know it was you until I saw that one, you sexy beast!