Over the weekend I took a trip to Ballarat to visit Sovereign Hill, an outdoor museum showing how it was during the Gold Rush of the 19th century. My daughter wanted to go and see the Winter Wonderland they had there, it was their Christmas in July spectacular. We weren’t sure what we would get to see, but it was fun to go and I have the Nikon D7500 with the kit lens, the 18-140mm so I thought it would give me a good chance to try it out.
We got there around 3 and we were all hungry. We were hoping to get a late lunch or some afternoon tea. All the places were closed, either for a private function or they were getting ready for dinner. This is something we have never come across before. My friend came with us and we have been going to Sovereign Hill for almost 30 years. To get there not be able to eat was just terrible. We had to eat in the modern cafe they have there. It is horrible. The food cold and the service very slow. Having to wait 15 minutes for a hot chocolate, is not good. Why would you go to somewhere to step back into history and then want to eat at a modern cafe that you can find anywhere in the world. Not special at all.
When the lights went down, the place was transformed. Tiny fairy lights came on everywhere. It really did become a winter wonderland. We stayed on one of the back streets and then slowly headed around to the main street where they were showing light projections on many of the buildings.
They also had snow. It wasn’t real snow, but made from soap bubbles or something. It was really effective and did look like snow.
The photos turned out well with the camera. I enjoyed using it and this sort of function is a great test for ISO. It was dark and I had to keep putting the ISO up, so in the end I had it on 12800. There is a lot of noise in the images, but you have to expect that, though not as much as cameras used to have. I thought the images came out okay, considering I was hand holding and just having fun with it.
The Winter Wonderful is on until next Sunday, so if you want to have some fun, go and take a look. Just book a restaurant before you go. Sovereign Hill website.
Absolutely worth the trip Leanne .. great shots!
It was JUlie, it was great fun to see and I had a good time. Thank you.
I have to say the shots are nice Leanne, Didn’t notice a lot of noise in them. As Don says nice to see people in your shots.
Thank you Ron.
Hi Leanne, I read on Thom Hogan’s website that the old Depth Of Field (DOF) preview button position on the Nikon D7500 has now been changed to Fn1 button. Thom has noted one concern which is the button no longer functions as a DOF preview button and cannot be programed for DOF preview, nor can any other button! He states that the problem can be overcome by using Live View which shows the effect of aperture on DOF on the LCD. To me removing the DOF preview function is a complete oversight by Nikon, as a macro photographer I use DOF much of the time. That to me a deal breaker. Regards ……… Aubrey
Thanks for that Aubrey, though I have to admit it isn’t a function that I ever use. I might look into it though and see about it. I can understand why it would be a deal breaker for you though.
Quite a display.
It was Jonathan, thank you.
This may be a first, Leanne Cole photos with people.
Well not a first, but it doesn’t happen too often, lol. Thanks Don.