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Hi - haven't posted here in ages but thought I'd share some pics from two recent trips to South Korea. A beaut country for photography if you go looking, even when the temperature's sub-zero. Shots are in Seoul, the Korean Folk Village about 45 mins south of Seoul and up at the Joint Security Area, Panmunjeom, in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). The latter is very interesting!

Please comment/critique or just enjoy!

Used the trusty D70 with either the 18-70mm kit lens or the 70-300 ED lens, plus the SB-800.

If you want to have a look at more, please check out http://www.pbase.com/andrewartha/korea . The Panmunjeom sub-gallery is interesting, if not particularly stunning photography.

Cheers, Rod


Seoul



Korean Folk Village



The Joint Security Area in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). These conference huts are where both sides meet to discuss armistice issues. They straddle the North/South Korean border equally - note where the grass changes colour. The large building in the background is in North Korea.



A shady looking bloke inside one of the conference huts, actually standing across the border in the North Korean side. This is the only place in the entire DMZ where you can actually cross the border. However, the South Korean guard prevents you from going all the way and defecting to the North through the door just behind. Photo taken by another bloke in the tour group.

Fascinating photographs and I must say that the first two are very vibrant with life and colour

the guard in the last shot looks hard core...

Willy wombat wrote:the guard in the last shot looks hard core...

Hey, what about the bloke NEXT to him...?

Thanks for your comments, guys.

I love the one of the little girls singing (I think). The colours are beautiful and vibrant>

Hey mate, fantastic pictures. Which ones are taken with the 70-300ED? I'm looking at getting one of them and I'd like to see what it's like
Ta.

G'Day Vort,

The one of the girls singing and clapping was shot with the 70-300ED, nearly fully zoomed in from memory (can't check the EXIF data just now - I'm away from the computer containing the raw pic). I find the lens a bit soft (others agree, I think), and that photo has been sharped using Fred Miranda's Intellisharpen, which I love.

The other pics were using the kit 18-70 lens, also sharpened a little.

As to whether to get the 70-300ED, well, I don't know if I'd buy it now in retrospect. It's ok, but I reckon for a little extra you can get a brighter lens - ok, maybe 200mm zoom instead of 300mm, but do you really need the 300mm capability? Yes, it's useful I guess, but on this lens at 300mm you're down to f5.6, so it really suffers in low light. Remember, without a tripod you're needing to shoot at least 1/500 sec, so the merest hint of darkness and the lens struggles.

I'm really considering brighter 200mm zooms from now on, with VR, I reckon. And if I want more reach, will consider a teleconverter for it. But that's just me, mate.

I'm sure you'll find other opinions on it around here, but all in all, it's a fairly good lens at a reasonable entry level price. Just make sure you get the ED version with the better glass (and higher price tag) as opposed to the G version.

Cheers, Rod