Loz Moore Photography

Leica Q2 Macro

Loz MooreComment

The Leica Q2 is a lovely camera for general walk around Street and travel photography.

But it also has a macro mode which is lovely for getting up close and personal with subjects.

Here are some quick and easy shots using the macro mode

New Lens Day

Loz MooreComment

I‘ve bought a Nikon 24-120mm F4 Z mount lens.

I initially was’t attracted by this lens because I have the 24-70 F2.8 and the 24-200 (and some primes in the range) but am going to Hungary in September to photograph a football competition.

Having an F4 lens won’t be an issue there as I won’t need it to deal with low light and I won’t be looking for shallow depth of field, both being situations where you would prefer a ‘faster’ lens i.e. one with a lower maximum aperture such as 2.8 or even 1.8. And it isn’t too large and heavy to carry around all day. I also won’t need a long zoom as the football is a six-aside World Cup where the pitch is relatively small.

I have the 24-70 F4 lens which has always been very sharp so thought that a similar lens with a longer zoom range would be ideal for general event use in decent light.

To try it out I took it to a rock gig when it definitely wouldn’t normally be your first choice as that is definitely going to be a low light situation when you would normally prefer lenses with apertures of 2.8, 1.8, 1.4 or even 1.2.

So how did it get on?

Well I was very pleasantly surprised! Because the Nikon mirrorless Z camera can handle high ISO values very well I wasn’t severley impacted by only having a maximum aperture of F4.

Roll on Hungary ! (and now to sell a few lenses to pay for it!)

Car Theft updates

Loz MooreComment

23 June 2022

THe car has been sent to the insurance company’s repairers in Warwick - DLG. They have assessed it and told me that while they will repair the bodywork damage, but they can’t repair the wiring/electronics damage etc., so it will need to go to Land Rover for that. Part of the damage was having the ODB port ripped out - whatever that is.

HOWEVER, Land Rover have already got another Range Rover Sport in a similar position, have had it for 12 weeks and have not been able to repair it so far - they can’t figure out why it won’t start! So I could be in for the long haul.

My car stolen in 15 seconds - video and lots of advice!

Loz Moore12 Comments

What I learnt from this episode:

  1. How quickly a car can be stolen

  2. That dialling 999 might take a while

  3. Why having a Tracker might be pointless

  4. Why security bollards won’t always work

  5. That a Faraday bag doesn’t always work

  6. Why you should consider disarming the easy entry feature

  7. What a Range Rover looks like less than 24 hours after being stolen

  8. When people advise you that your car is vulnerable - listen to them and don’t think that it won’t happen to you - take precautions!

The theft video

My car was stolen at 12:09pm on a Sunday afternoon in broad daylight.

From my neighbour’s security camera you see a blue Audi Estate drive up my road. It turns around at the top of the road then at 40 seconds, it pulls up on the pavement over the road from my car.

At 55 seconds you see a guy in a grey hoodie approach my car. After he goes out of sight he gets into my car and at 1 min 11 seconds you hear it start!. He then manoeuvres (damaging the nearside rear agaist the wall - thanks) around the bollard in front of it and races off.

90 seconds after the blue Audi first drives past it, and 30 seconds after he approaches it, it is gone.

How I discovered the theft and the 999 call

I was sitting in a log cabin in the garden about 20 feet away. I didn’t hear the car start but I heard it race off as my engine has a distinctive sound (supercharged 5 litre V8). If he hadn’t roared off (stupidly) I don’t know how long it would have taken me to discover the theft.

At 12.11pm I dialled 999. It took about 10 minutes until I could speak to someone as they were handling a lot of calls. They were trying to put me through to West Midlands Police, then Staffordshire Police, then back to West Midands, then on the fourth number they tried, a lady answered. The total call time was 11 minutes.

That’s not the fault of the Police but obviously a lack of resources.

The Tracker

The car is fitted with a standard Land Rover tracker.

The LR App reported that they drove 1.1 miles in 3 minutes then parked up (I was still waiting to be put through on the 999 call at that point).

When I saw the address on the App showing where it was parked, I rang 999 again at 12.31pm to tell the police. That called was answered more quickly and took 4 minutes in total.

Virtually at the same time the Police were ringing me to tell me that they had found the contents of the boot of my car and the car’s tracker as a concerned member of the public had reported men acting suspiciously in a small car park next to some maisonettes. They also took down the reg number of the blue Audi (which was not surpringly a cloned plate).

So within about 5 minutes of my car being stolen the tracker had been removed. The traffic cop told me that Land Rover always put them in the same place so the thieves know where to remove them! It is presumably in the boot area and that’s why they chucked everything on the floor to get to it.

So it’s pretty pointless having a manufacturer’s tracker.

I didn’t think I would ever see it again, cue a visit to the pub to drown sorrows.

The security bollard and the keys

We have two cars parked side by side on our drive, both with a security bollard in front of them.

My partner was out in her car when this happened so one bollard was down. We had thought about always making sure both were up even when just one car was on the drive but it was daytime, my bollard was up and my keys were in a Faraday pouch (more on that below) so nothing to worry about! (how much are we kicking ourselves about that now ).

We have two keys to my car, my partner was miles away with one of them and the second was in its Faraday pouch in the house; so how did they start the car?

Faraday pouch

We have two, one for each set of car keys. We always thought that would prevent thieves accessing the signal from the keys to steal our cars.

I have just tested one of them with our other car. With the keys in the pouch near the car I was able to open its door - so the pouch is useless! I have seen comments saying that they wear out!, so I’ve ordered two new ones but will test them regularly.

Found! recovered and why we had to let the tyres down

At 8pm one of the Traffic cops we had met earlier, when recovering the contents of the boot, rang me to say that they had found the car - I couldn’t believe it! He’s a legend! Apparently they had been looking for it all afternoon and on the off chance they drove into this car park, which is hidden from the main road, to take a look and there it was. Thieves will often park a car up for a couple of days while the fuss dies down and to check whether its got another tracker. I would love to see their face when they return for it!

We grabbed a car key and headed straight over in an Uber to find it parked in the car park behind some flats, 2.1 miles from where we live.



There was bodywork damage at the rear where they had banged into our wall and bits of trim off inside where wires were exposed etc. While our key opened the car it wouldn’t start it so the Police sorted a recovery truck to come out.

After a lot of dragging it on a winch they got it on the back of the truck.


But then when they tried to drive out of the car park the height restriction of 2.5 metres was a problem.

The Cops had the great idea of letting air out of the front tyres of my car which decreased the overall height just enough to get it through and out on to the main road!

Many thanks to West Midlands Police who were brilliant and even gave us a lift home!

So what’s next?

When its been repaired I am going to fit an immobiliser which has been recommended by three separate police officers and will consider a steering lock to give visible protection. We will always make sure that both bollards are up even when one car is out and will get new Faraday pouches and test them regularly.

I will look into disabling the easy access feature on the car so that you always have to press a button on your key to unlock it, not just stand next to it. Hopefully this will mean that a thief would always have to physically have your key, not just be in range of it with one of their gadgets that boosts the signal.

I will save up for the inevitable increase in my insurance premium!

A final warning

This is what a Range Rover looked like less than 24 hours after being stolen to strip it for parts!

UPDATES

23 June 2022

THe car has been sent to the insurance company’s repairers in Warwick - DLG. They have assessed it and told me that while they will repair the bodywork damage, but they can’t repair the wiring/electronics damage etc., so it will need to go to Land Rover for that. Part of the damage was having the ODB port ripped out - whatever that is.

HOWEVER, Land Rover have already got another Range Rover Sport in a similar position, have had it for 12 weeks and have not been able to repair it so far - they can’t figure out why it won’t start! So I could be in for the long haul.

12 August 2022

A phone call from the insurer’s garage told me it would be ready in 2 weeks. I asked if Land Rover had sorted the electrics then and was put on hold for a few minutes ….. back on the line they said no, it’s actually at Land Rover and will be another 4 months 😞






Miami and Key West

Loz MooreComment

Spending our Avios points accumulated over 10 years having a few weeks in Florida.

Wedding Photographer

Loz MooreComment

On Friday I was the second photographer at a wedding supporting Russell Whitehead photography.

Being second photographer gives you a lot of flexibility to move around looking for candid photos and taking the usual wedding highlights from a different angle.

I love using a long zoom for this as it enables you to pick out individuals and situations and get a close tight shot without people being aware so enabling you to get some very natural photos, which give a contrast to the necessary staged photos which are the staple of wedding photography normally.

As well as looking for the candid shots you are also free to take some video of the wedding to produce a short highlights film if the couple haven’t hired a videographer.

So if you are hiring a photographer for a wedding I recommend that you request a second photographer for candid shots and a highlights video.

https://youtu.be/IOmweu7T8rc

https://www.flickr.com/gp/lozzom/001M45

The Zoo

Loz MooreComment

A few weeks ago Russell Whitehead and I went to Cotswold Wildlife Park and Gardens where there’s a great choice of animals to photograph.

Both Russell and I are Nikon mirrorless camera users and we wanted to compare a variety of lenses to see which performed best for this type of photography

We have set up a YouTube channel which has been gaining some momentum over the last few months in the Nikon community; we just added a video about our zoo visit to that channel.

Moskito - Super Yacht

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This super yacht called into Vathy harbour today. According to Google, it is owned by the richest man (£3bn) in Liverpool, Tom Morris, who started the Home Bargains chain when he was 21. It now has more than 550 stores employing 22,000 staff.

When he’s not using the boat it can be hired out for EUR350k per week, plus expenses!

Z50_2314.jpg

Vathy harbour at night

Loz MooreComment

Vathy is close to where we are staying on Meganisi and has the best selection of places to eat.

As well as being a centre for leisure boats it is very much a working harbour and if you are there in the evening you will see working boats going out night fishing.

We are here in September and it is quiet during the day and in the evening.

It is particularly beautiful at night which I have tried to convey in these photos.

Website tweaks

Loz MooreComment

As I’m on holiday at the moment I’ve been able to find time to bring my website up-to-date, get rid of some of the older stuff and hopefully make it easier to navigate. If you’ve got any comments or feedback I’d love to hear from you!

Dennis comes out of retirement

Loz MooreComment

I bought my first drone at the beginning of 2017 and named him Dennis. It was very addictive using him, as a drone gives you a unique viewpoint. It was great fun takng both video and still photos and I would think of places to go each weekend to use him.

I also took him with me when I went on holiday. He has visited Vietnam, Spain and Greece.

Then over time I used him less often, only bringing him out when people asked me to for specific reasons such as checking the rooves of a building etc.

Partly the reason for using him less was because the rules surrounding drones were getting tighter and tighter as a response to people misusing them around airports, for example, which generally gave them a bad press with members of the public and the authorities.

There have been a couple of times in the last couple of years when I’ve gone on holiday and wished I had him with me so this year when we decided to visit a small quiet island in Greece I decided to bring him out of retirement, and I’m glad I did.

Here are some photos that I took early this morning when the air was very still. I’m happy to say that the old guy worked perfectly even though he is now 4 1/2 years old and has been surpassed by many newer models.

Vathy, Meganisi

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We had a wander around Vathy harbour in Meganisi this morning; had a nice breakfast and got some supplies in before returning to our accomodation to chill out!

View from the Meganisi Ferry

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Standing on the small car ferry which takes you to the island of Meganisi from Lefkada provides you with beautiful views; lovely to see mountains combined with the gorgeous Greek landscape

Greece!

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On our way to Greece for 4 weeks 😃

3 weeks on a quiet small island called Meganisi and 1 week on Lefkada. We fly to Preveza airport, pick a car up then catch a ferry over to Meganisi.

Spent sometime deciding what cameras and lenses to take! Decided on Nikon Z50 with both its kits lenses, Nikon Z6ii with 24-200 (great light travel lens) and 50mm 1.8. Also had to take the Leica Q2 of course.

In our hold luggage is Dennis the drone which I haven’t used in ages!

Hopefully that will keep me going for the 4 weeks with my laptop !

Godiva Calling heats

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Local Coventry musicians get a chance to play on the main stage at the Godiva festival. To win that place they take part in heats around the city in the weeks leading up to the festival.

I have judged a couple of them which was good fun. We’ve got the finals of the indie category tonight at the Albany pub.

Here’s a few photos from past heats and category finals.