Introduction by Brian Mosley.

COMMENTS by the ATTENDEES:

Alex Birch.

Derek Crunkhorn.

Kevin Dempsey.

Paul Shields.

Patrick Savidge-Smerdon.

Steve Marshall.

Slide Show.

Introduction:

Brian Mosley

We arrived at the Chatsworth grounds at 8am and parked in the Officials Only carpark. We made our way to the Press Office to collect our ID badges in case we needed to get assistance from the marshalls on the course to get privileged positions. As it turned out, it was very easy to access all parts of the course to get those great view points. The event was extremely well run, considering how much was going on.

I started out with my backpack, including the E-3 + 50-200mm SWD, the E-400 + 12-60mm SWD in an inside pocket of my Olympus photographers' vest and the E-420 + 25mm pancake on a Y-strap. It was so hot, that I was glad to leave the E-400 + 12-60mm and backpack in the car and just use the E-3 + 50-200mm and E-420 + 25mm pancake all day. This was a perfect combination for the event - I was extremely impressed by how quickly I could raise either camera and get the shot; literally 1 or 2 seconds was all it took.

I got a chance to try the amazing 150mm f2 lens (thanks to Paul Shields), which is heavier than the 50-200mm SWD I think, but incredibly sharp, even at f2.2! Derek Crunkhorn also kindly allowed me to try his 70-300mm lens, and with such bright sunlight this lens really worked out well, although the 50-200mm SWD speed became even more apparent comparing it to the 70-300,

I was surprised by how long my first E-3 battery lasted - probably over 12Gb of RAW images before I had to swap in the freshly charged spare.

I am very happy indeed with the dozen shots I've selected for my slideshow, having a whole day devoted to taking photographs with great company, and a stimulating event was a sheer pleasure. I can't wait for Whitby next weekend!

Chatting with Paul Shields at the water jump, I learned to bump up the ISO to 400, and set an EV to -1 to get the shutter speeds up high enough, shooting into the sun at the water jump. I also switched off IS, since my shutter speeds became so fast. This all resulted in extremely sharp images, with the droplets of water perfectly frozen.

Thanks to everyone for gathering at such short notice, and for a wonderful day!

Alex Birch

The day at Chatsworth to me was one of the best days in photography that I can sincerely remember, being accepted into the forum of press photographers and to have the availability of the use of the press room to edit my shots was a distinction I shall never forget, I wish to thank Brian Mosley for his negotiation to allow our group this once in a lifetime chance!

The day started for me when I saw the horses jumping the course within the main ring, I had no idea that such an event could portray such power and majestic movement in real time, my only previous witness to show jumping events was on the television - but to see the flared nostrils, pumped up veins from exertion, the sweat and sound of snorting as they jumped great heights culminating with a loud landing thud was indeed a spectacle I shall never forget - I strived throughout the day to capture this scene with my Olympus E1 and 55-200mm lens and also my Olympus 330 with the 14-54mm - surprisingly I found that I was using my 330 more than my E1 - it returned me pictures that I am sincerely proud of and hopefully may return me some firsts in my local club competitions for the forthcoming season.

The water course was a photographers dream come true giving movement that only splashing liquid can achieve, the shots I took will I hope portray the excitement of the event and show just how equestrian events can be breathtaking!

The middle of the day presented its self with a call to all press photographers and the Olympus group to return to the press enclosure to take shots of some very famous persons - and I had the pleasure of taking photographs of the forthcoming Olympic Equestrian Team which included her royal highness Princess Zara Phillips who I found to be quite charming and very kind as she mingled freely with us all in the press tent and outside for a picture shoot, I was also lucky to have personal tuition from a professional equestrian photographer on site who gave me many tips and much help in the do's and dont's of photographing Royal subjects. and how to get the best shots on the day.

I was given refreshments and everything I needed to help me on the day by the organizers of the event, including notepads and pens, mints, tea and coffee and sandwiches, for this I am in great debt of gratitude to them and to Brian Mosley for such a wonderful day he arranged for us all and of course thank you to Olympus.

Derek Crunkhorn

The day after another excellent Event for the Olympus UK Photo Safari Group. Like Alex I would like to Thank Brian for another very well organised event.

Like most my day started at the show jumping ring. There was many options as regard places to take photos of the riders tackling the various fences.

Soon it was time to move on to the cross country course. Here the riders skill and the horses ability really showed as these fences don't fall down if hit! The water jump was a big draw with splashing water adding that bit extra to the shots.

I swapped lens with Brian and found the 50-200mm SWD a delight to use. The 70-300 is very good with long range, but the speed of focus of the 50-200mm SWD showed the 70-300's weakness in AF speed.

I ended the day very satisfied with the shots I got. The day was well organised with good company, interesting subject and brilliant weather. Once again thank you Brian and Olympus see you in Whitby.

Kevin Dempsey

My first UK Safari and a great day out. The whole family came along and enjoyed the day. I usually only get to take snaps but the family were enjoying watching the horses and the other events going on I was able to take quite a lot of shots. We spent some time at the show jumping arena before moving on to the main ring. I have a E330 twin lens kit and have added the 12-60. I intended to use the 12-60 but found it to be not big enough and switched to the 40-150 for the day and next year I am hoping to have a longer lens or adapter if they can be used with the 40-150.

Most of my shots were taken at the main arena where there was falconry, dog racing,chariot jumping and pony races. Missed the photo shoot :( but having access to the press tent to get the odd drink and some shade from the hot day was great.

Thanks Brian for arranging the day, weather permitting it looks like this could be a regular family event.

Paul Shields

This was my favourite 'Olympus UK Safari' event so far, though I'm sure there are many more to come.

Kudos to Brian for organising it (though big tip here for future Chatsworth events - just say you're in the 'official photographer' party and you'll get free access, no questions asked.

It was great to meet up with the others who joined, and occasionally swap lenses - this is a key benefit of this group. The weather was glorious, and there was always something interesting to take pictures of.

I'm really looking forward to Whitby. It'll be quite a contrast to Chatsworth and should produce many memorable photographic experiences.

Patrick Savidge-Smerdon

This was my first chance to attend an Olympus UK Photo Safari Group meeting I arrived about 0830, not having very far to travel as I live in Chesterfield, only about 6 miles away from Chatsworth House - in fact a place I have visited many times before. I met Brian at the press office and he helped me sign in and get my press pass, he then gave me an Olympus Photographers vest and very nice it is too in a fashonable black colour. So I at least looked the part, LOL. Being a mainly landscape & building type of photographer, I was a little apprehensive as to whether I could pull this off; as I have stated the things I normally shoot Don't Move a lot!

Well I don't normally have much use for tele lens in Landscapes shooting with my 11-22 and 14-54 lens, but I recently purchased the 70-300 super tele on a whim, more than in anticipation of actually using it. As it happens I have a resonably sharp version of the lens. Anyway I initially started out using this lens on my E510 with a mono pod, as it's very difficult lens to hold steady hand held, not because of it's weight and bulk as its a very small lens for the equivilent of a 600mm in 35mm terms at full stretch and every little movement is magnified out of all proportion. But using IS and the mono pod I managed some incredible shots and had little trouble getting sharp images.

I used shutter priority mode with C-AF+M. Despite it being a very hot and sunny day set my ISO to 200 to keep the shutter speed up and I also used Jpeg in anger for the first time as I am normally a very deliberate and slow shooter only ever using RAW for my landscapes etc.

Well as stated I was a using an old cheap mono pod but it somehow lost it's locking pin and I very nearly risked my E510 dropping to the floor. But it was spotted in time to avert what could have been an expensive disaster. I also bought along my E3 with the 14-54mm attached and managed to get some crackers; at least in my eyes anyway! Due to being able to go more or less anywhere on the course I didn't need to use the 70-300, so I just took it and the E510 back to the car and left it there.

So from my initial first misgivings and fears as to shooting this type of event, I really started to get in to my stride and enjoy myself. All the guys where very friendly and we had some laughs and giggles moving about the place and commenting on some of the frankly HUGE lens the Canon and Nikon brigade were carting about! WHY? is my question as my E3 and the superb mid range lens, even the comparatively el cheapo 70-300, were just as capable of taking great shots and I proved it today. Take a peak at my Smugmug gallery if you don't believe me! By the way there are many more to post, as I am still sorting and PP them. I took over 700 shots which may not be many to some of you out there, but as stated I am normally a slow and considered landscape shooter never shooting more than a hundred RAW's in a session. I'm not saying that I could have taken these shots in near darkness and super high ISO, but to be frank who the hell takes shots in those conditions anyway except paparazzi types etc. When I take low light landscapes I always shoot ISO 100 and RAW. This will be controversial to some and I accept that, but under the conditions stated the E system cameras are more than capable of superb results.

Sorry if this seems to be turning into some kind of a rant. But like many have already said thousands of times "it's the person behind the lens not the camera" in 99% of cases. Well I would like to give thanks to Brian because he is the driving force behind all these great events and he has made all this happen through his determination and enthusiasm for all things Olympus. Not to mention the huge amount of quality time he has to invest in organising all of this.

I have one last thing to say to any one thinking of joining this great and growing group of which I am privileged and proud to be a member of - WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Go on take the plunge; the waters nice and warm and can only get hotter the more people that join us.

Olympus and some software vender's have already given their blessings with some super discounts and Olypus with some super free gifts to the members. IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER SO JOIN US.

Lastly my kind regards to all the members I had the privilege to meet and share a very happy, if very hot and tiring day with. See you again in the near future. To those going to Whitby - have a good time and I hope the weather is kind so you can get some great sunrise & sunsets; you lucky sods!

Steve Marshall

I was travelling up from Berkshire on the day so had to leave home about 4:30a.m. A glorious trip; mist lying on the fields before sunrise, an enormous, red, dull sun rising, the twisty church in Chesterfield, dry-stone walls, green dales, heathlands all these opportunities I've missed because I'm travelling hard. Once I got there I didn't miss them at all. A great day.

I arrived about 7:30am - early! I could have stopped for that sunrise in time to get some shots of some of the riders 'in civvies', walking the course. If I had been knowledgeable about who was who, I could have got some good candids then. As it was, I think I walked past the competitors to get shots of the grooms.

Eventually some of the others arrived (did I mention that I had the furthest to come and got there first? Shall I mention it again?) and with them, another highpoint of the day. I bought Brian's 14-54. I now had the E1 with 50-200SWD and E500 with 14-54 so dumped everything else in the car and stuck with that combination for the day. Once the sun was fully up I dropped the E1 from ISO 200 to 100, the E500 varied between ISO 100 and 200 as I used it for some shots inside the various trade, market and entertainment tents.

All shots were taken using Aperture Priority, about 50% using a circular polariser (sharing it between the 50-200SWD and 14-54 which have the same filter size)

I did try pre-focussing on a jump and then waiting for the horse to appear but in light that good both of these lenses could lock focus as soon as the horse appeared so it didn't give much benefit except where you wanted to compose in-camera (with wildlife/animals I generally shoot to hit it and crop later to compose it! I'd rather have a badly composed but saveable shot than a beautifully composed background with the subject missing. Some of the landscape photographers might give us an insight into how they approached moving targets though.)

The excellent Olympus vests coped happily with the E500/14-54 in one inner pocket and a mound of cards, batteries, EC20 (not used on the day as we could get as close as we wanted) and the Hyperdrive Colourspace in the other. This tardis-like garment swallows masses of gear, unfortunately you still have the weight to carry.

Things I learnt about the equipment

(a) 14-54mm will focus to 22cm but this is only an inch or two from the front element, so that was an unexpected bonus for close-ups. The lens hood will show in the corners at 14mm. The lens hood will go over a circular polariser, but you won't be able to turn it!

(b) E1/50-200SWD combination: if you tuck the lens under your arm to hold it while you use the other camera, and if you are stood in front of a bright red London bus, and if your arm presses the auto WB button your next set of shots will be glowing and blue! If you do the same thing again, but this time nudge the focus switch to C-AF, with the silent SWD lens it can take a while before you realise why your focus keeps wandering off!

(c) Colourspace Hyperdrive: I took about 950 RAW+JPEG shots during the course of the day. I did have just enough cards to last but the Colourspace Hyperdrive (whichever way round the name is) does give peace of mind. I could clear down a 4G card in 5 minutes or so and be ready to carry on. Quick and easy to use but, on the down side, the screen is hard to see in bright light and, as a glasses wearer, I find some of the on-screen instructions hard to follow. The controls are generally along the playstation lines (you have 5 buttons, laid out like a dice, each with a symbol on. If you can't read the symbols on the screen, they are generally shown in a position that also reflects the position of the button, i.e. if the instruction is the Symbol from the Bottom Right button, it is generally shown Bottom Right on the screen). Given a bit more familiarity and confidence with this new toy, I probably won't need to read the instruction, I'm just a bit nervous of accidentally finding the Delete All button until I get used to it.

Things I learnt about 'covering' an event: It helps to know what it's all about!

We had the timetable and it told us things like 'what starts when and where' but it didn't tell us how long each event would last. That made planning difficult. We knew which were the main events, but the competitors in these were competing in different classes. Well, is 'Class A' better than 'Class H'?

I lost track of what was going on, gave up on planning and just drifted where the mood took me ? that's probably why a group of us were halfway round the cross country course and missed the Official Photo Shoot. It should give some idea of the day to say that, whilst the Official Photo Shoot would have been great to be part of, I can't say I'm upset about missing it, I enjoyed what I did do plenty well enough.

There was Dressage, Show Jumping, Cross-country, Ferret-racing, Punch and Judy, Shetland Ponies pulling carts, Birds of Prey (two lots), Pony Club Gymkhana events, a Jack Russell Grand National, a display of Nissans, stewards on trials bikes and on Segways, and people and people and dogs and people and?.

There was also a Silver Band and I had one of those magical 'everything is right with the world' moments to an excellent trombone solo of 'Summertime' in a minor key. It just doesn't work as a photo though.

I have attended two superb events with the group (Parrots and Big Cats) but this one was just exceptional. If you haven't tried it you just wouldn't believe the peace of mind that an 'official press accreditation' in your pocket gives you. I would have said that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but, with the roll that Brian is on, I expect we'll be working the Pits at the Brazilian Grand Prix before the year's out!

Seriously, incredibly well done, Brian, and many thanks for all your efforts

SLIDESHOW: Click any box to begin, or play all.