Captain's Log

Canon SX740 HS

I bought a Canon SX740 HS compact camera last week. I thought it might be cheaper during the Black Friday ‘sales’, but at just short of £500 it put more of a dent in my wallet than I was expecting. I already have a compact camera; a Canon G7x MkII. I’m very happy with the G7x; it takes great photos, but it doesn’t have a massive zoom on it. This means that it is almost impossible to use it for wildlife shots. The SX740 HS benefits from a 40x optical zoom, something quite unusual in the compact camera range. I reckoned this would give me a sporting chance to take a half decent wildlife photo. I wasn’t expecting the world though. I appreciated that I’d never get the same quality as I get from my DSLR with its 400mm lens. There again, the SX740 HS would be light enough to take backpacking and its photos might be ‘good enough.’ 

I decided to do a small circular walk from Penistone, up to the nearby Hartcliff Tower and give the SX740 HS a test. It was a beautiful sunny day. There were blue skies, the odd white cloud and some lovely golden sunshine. At least the light would be good for taking photos. 

Hartcliff Road

I left Penistone and entered the countryside as Chapel Lane transferred ownership to Hartcliff Road. Almost immediately I spotted a Kestrel. It flew across a field and landed in a tree about 100 metres away. I grabbed my camera from my coat pocket. With an astonishing lack of foresight, I’d forgotten to set up the camera settings to take wildlife photos. I lost a few valuable seconds as I struggled with the camera's unfamiliar controls. I finally got the settings correct and then zoomed into the Kestrel and took the photo. I then noticed that I’d got the shutter speed at 1/200 seconds. Damn! I wanted something like 1/1000 seconds on maximum zoom. I changed the shutter speed and just as I was raising the camera to take another photo, the Kestrel flew away. I looked at the image I’d taken at 1/200 seconds. It looked a little soft. The Kestrel had its back to my photo too. It wasn’t my best photo, but at least I had my camera set up now for my next shot. 

Sike Lane

I left the road and joined the stony track of Sike Lane. The lane climbed gradually after Sike House farm. Fields stretched on either side of the lane. I took a photo looking back down the lane towards Sike House. There is an aesthetically pleasing tree halfway along the lane that is full with green leaves during summer. It looked pretty bare today. The low sun created deep shadows from the stone walls along the lane. This would be a test for the dynamic range of the SX740 HS. The camera doesn’t have the option to capture images in the RAW format and so post-processing options are limited to those of a JPEG. Although the photo turned out to be acceptable, it would have been better if it had been taken in a RAW format. 

I took a photo of the 329m high Emley Mast, which is about 7 miles away to the north. The photo looked a bit hazy, but it was a bit of a hazy day anyway. 

I joined the tarmac of Cross Lane and headed north eastwards, before branching off onto a footpath. This gradually went uphill and I got a good view of the windmill farm, about 1.5 miles away  on Royd Moor. I stopped for a photo and zoomed into the windmills. The photo came out well. The lane wound its way through fields towards the animal rendering establishment of Bella Vista farm. I was glad there wasn’t a wind blowing in my direction. I reached Hartcliff Road and headed uphill. A couple of Crows followed me, but they were too far away to attempt a reasonable shot. It was as if they were taunting me. The tall folly of Hartcliff Tower came into view. At least this subject was big and didn’t move. I zoomed in and got  a reasonable photo. 

Hartcliff Hill Lane

I reached the highest point of the walk near to the folly and then headed along Hartcliff Hill Lane. This offered a wonderful view southwards towards Midhope Moors. I was more or less looking in the direction of the sun and I wondered if I’d get any flaring from the lens. The photo showed a little bit of flaring, but less than I was expecting. A Kestrel followed me down the road. It hovered searching for its dinner, but just too far away to take a photo. I wondered whether I was going to be unlucky and it would remain out of reach. After a while it came within striking distance and I reeled off some shots. I was on maximum zoom, but the image turned out to be okay. At least the bird was recognisable as a Kestrel. A little further on, a flock of Goldfinch flew across the road and landed in a tree. I took some photos of them and I was very happy with the results. Although the composition wasn’t very good (there was a branch in front of the bird, I thought the sharpness was very good for a compact camera. The flock flew off as I tried to manoeuvre to get a better composition. 

I caught up with a woman walking her dog, further down the road. I was about 50 metres away when the dog sat down on the verge and refused to move. I crossed to the other side of the road to bypass them.
‘Is she a bit nervous?’ I asked.
‘Not really. She is just curious whenever anybody approaches and won’t shift until they pass’ she replied. The case of the curious dog in the middle of the day. 

Doubting Lane

I reached Doubting Lane and diverted off onto its stony path. Google says the lane got its name from the nearby Doubting Farm. It wouldn't commit as to how Doubting Farm got its name; there is obviously a doubt about it. I once came across a delivery van making its way up this rickety lane. I wasn’t sure whether the sat-nav had sent the driver this way or whether he wanted to test out the suspension on his vehicle. He was a braver man than me.    

I reached Joan Royd Lane and started heading back into Penistone. A flock of Starlings flew into the tops of the trees at Cubley Hall. They were actually too high up to tell that they were Starlings, but I thought I’d give it a go with the camera, even if it was full zoom. I was surprised to get quite decent photos of them.