I went to the Berkeley Pier today with my Sony and Lee filter system, but upon arrival I found out the pier has been closed due to structural safety. Boooooo! I must admit I was really disappointed. I had originally wanted to go to the end of the pier and take the iconic long exposure people have taken from that spot, but I ended up having to shoot it from the side. Double boooooo! lol
Another dilemma presented itself when I realized I forgot my Sony remote. I did have the Nikon remote though (a lot of good that did me). I found out the Sony A7 is limited to 30″ exposures without a remote. I find that totally strange. The timer has two settings of 2s or 10s and wouldn’t work with bulb, so that wasn’t an option. After this realization, I went down another path thinking of the Sony app I have on my iPhone. I figured out how to connect the camera to my phone via wifi but the app did not allow bulb mode which meant I was still stuck at 30″. Can you believe that? That is a total flaw in this camera or at the very least the app. I do think I should get an “A” for effort, don’t you? Oh well….live and learn. Note to self: Do not forget remote!
Onto the fun part of it all…I used my Lee Big Stopper and a hard .6 GND. Oh, I think I’m going to love these filters although I know I can greatly improve on this technique in the future.
We had just had some rain thank goodness and is why I wanted to drive down there to try some long exposures. This time of year doesn’t present us with many clouds. In the image you can see San Francisco in the distance above the pier and the Golden Gate to the right.
Laura Macky Photography 