Iceland 17: Djupivogur to Hofn

We set off from Djupivogur in a thick sea fog, hoping that it would clear as there was some spectacular scenery coming up during the day.  At the beginning of the journey we went in and out of the mist, but eventually it started to clear.  The scenery was, indeed, pretty good, with small farms in the valley floor surrounded by high mountains.  We crossed a couple of wide valleys, with high hills to the right and a large plain to the coastal side.  There was also a black beach with a gravel spit, and at this point we started to see Great Skuas (Bonxies) for the first time.  There were also lots of Whooper Swans in the sea, and the occasional Red-throated Diver.

By this time the weather had started to clear, and we even saw some blue sky and sunshine for a while.

The hills rose in front of us, and the road eventually led us to a tunnel.  Instead of going through immediately we took  the old road for about 1km, following a large coach up to a viewpoint.  It was well worth the climb, as it gave us our first glimpse of the glaciers waiting for us as we travelled along the south coast.  The spot was the windiest we'd found on our journey so far, so I was surprised that any of the pictures came out owing to severe camera shake.  In fact, "shake" doesn't really do it justice, as it was difficult to stay upright.  Incidentally, it seems that Icelandic coaches are sponsored by a well-known manufacturer of vegetable fat...

The view from the pass was one of the most spectacular we saw in the whole of Iceland, despite being both very hazy and blowing a gale at the same time.  Glaciers really are awesome, in the true sense of the word.

Another panorama, in an attempt to give a sense of the scale of the place.  There were half a dozen glaciers clearly visible, stretching off as far as the eye could see.

We then retraced our steps and went through the tunnel, coming out on the southern side on the road to Hofn.  All the time we could see several glaciers in the distance.  In Hofn (also staggeringly windy) we went to look at the harbour and then had a coffee and a pastry at the Netto supermarket.

Suitably refreshed, our intrepid travellers decided to get "up close and personal" with a glacier.  Watch out for the next thrilling installment.

Focus Problems in the Middle of Nowhere

As promised, I thought I'd post a short technical interlude for those who are interested.  I made the classic mistake of buying a piece of photographic equipment immediately before the trip (a Canon 1.4x mkIII teleconverter) and failing to check things out before leaving home.  The converter has the reputation of being very sharp, and I knew the lens I fitted it to (Canon 70-200/2.8L IS mkII) was blisteringly sharp.  The first half of the trip around Iceland delivered the occasional good shot from the combination, but an awful lot which were soft.  Initially I assumed that it must be my technique, so (being an engineer) I tried lots of combinations of shutter speed, aperture, tripod, hand-held, with IS, without IS etc.  The experiments demonstrated something very clearly: it wasn't my technique which was at fault, but that the lens was front-focusing (i.e. focusing on a point in front of the nominal subject).  For example, here is a Tern on a rock (the best place for it, because when in the air it spent the entire time dive-bombing me!).

Not a great picture of the bird as the eye is in shadow, but the problem is clearly visible.  The bird is slightly soft, and the rock about 6-8 inches in front of the bird is bitingly sharp.

Oh goody.  A lens calibration problem in the middle of nowhere.

Luckily Mr Google and Mrs YouTube came to the rescue.  The recommendation was to use a proper lens calibration kit such as the Spyder "LensCal".

Hazard a wild guess as to whether there was a shop in Djupivogur which would sell me such a thing.  Time to improvise, in other words.  I looked around for something which I could use as a focus chart, and the only thing available was a tourist leaflet for the Myvatn Nature Bath (some pictures here) which had crisp text on a white background plus some half-toned pictures.  It also had some nice scantily clad ladies on the front cover, but that's not why I chose it.  Honest.  Next step was to work out how to attach it to the wall so that I could photograph it.  No sellotape, blu-tack or the like, so again improvisation was the order of the day.  Corn Plasters!  You can see one still attached to the back of the leaflet in the second picture below.

Having fixed the leaflet to the wall, I put my camera on a tripod with the offending lens/teleconverter combination, and started the calibration process.  This involves turning off IS, engaging mirror-lock and getting the camera to focus on a known point on the target (in my case, the "R" of "NATURE").  It was then a matter of taking a set of shots at different focus calibration settings before processing them to see which gave the best results.  To cut a long story short I ended up dialling in +15 units of focus compensation, and the results can be seen below.  It might not seem much on the before/after shot, but the difference in normal operation was staggering.  Instead of only one shot in ten being sharp, any softness was down to the inadequate focus-following of the Canon 5DmkII or - more usually - operator error!

Sadly the 5DmkII can only remember a single calibration value for each lens combination, so I was only able to calibrate the long end of the 70-200.  Since this is what I'd brought the 1.4x converter for, however, it didn't seem too much of a hardship.  I know that the 5DmkIII is capable of calibrating both ends of a zoom lens (and, presumably, interpolating between the two extremes).  A good reason to buy a 5DmkIII, perhaps?

Here endeth the technical interlude.  Normal service on the Iceland Front will be resumed as soon as possible...

Iceland 16: Djupivogur

We arrived at Djupivogur just after 14:00, and since there was only one hotel in the small town it was easy to find.  The old building is Norwegian in style, and has a huge new timber extension which contains a dining room and lots of bedrooms (we had one of them).  The corridor was truly amazing in that it was very narrow and very high, with large vertical "beams" outside every bedroom.  A bit like walking into a wooden tunnel.  If we'd been hoping for a "sea view", however, we'd have been terribly disappointed.  The actual view from our window was less than inspiring...

There was no problem with us checking in and getting the room sorted out.  This we did, and then headed out on foot to look for some birds.  We found some (the usual suspects) but still no puffins, so I ended up photographing the plants instead.  It started to rain for a bit, but then stopped.  I photographed some terns and eiders while Harriet went around the headland, but then we headed back to the hotel as some "weather" was quickly approaching.  Very few of the pictures were sharp, though, and I finally twigged why: there was a focus calibration problem with my camera/lens combination.  A brief technical interlude in another post will explain all, if you're interested.

After dinner we went for a walk as the evening had calmed down after the rain.  In fact the sun came out for a while.  We went up to see the "eggs": a row of eponymous sculptures, each on a plinth, and representing the birds of the area - but not to scale.  There was also a rather strange shop, run by a chap who bought and sold skeletons and geological specimens.  There was also the obligatory fire hydrant, but this one seemed to have been planted in the middle of a field.  For reference, the "Langabud" is one of the oldest Long Houses in Iceland, but now holds a craft market.

The last few pictures were taken late into the evening (after 22:00, with the final fulmar at 22:46, according to the EXIF data).  Not much chance of a sunset in Iceland during July.

I think I prefer the monochrome version of the boat house, but I'm sure everyone will have their own opinion.

Iceland 15: Egilsstadir to Djupivogur

We headed away from Egilsstadir towards Reydarfordur, where there was a WWII museum.  When we arrived at the small town, which appeared to be a fishing and small container port, we discovered that the museum didn't actually open until 13:00.  Given that it wasn't yet 9:00 we went to find the Post Office which also wasn't open!  A coffee and a "wedded bliss" (a kind of Icelandic Danish pastry, if that makes sense) later the Post Office had opened its doors, so we sent some postcards and bought a few more.

We kept stopping, as around every corner there was a spectacular - if rather hazy - view.  Cue another panorama opportunity, which again is probably best shown as a video.  I'm sure you've got the hang of it by now.

On one occasion we were visited by a rather friendly Icelandic Sheepdog, which is rather smaller and fluffier than its English or Welsh cousins.  This particular specimen then went on to show its disdain for foreigners by anointing the back wheel of our hire car...

We then headed around the coastline of the fjord towards Stodvarfjordur and Breiddalsvik, stopping for lunch at a parking place overlooking Berufjordur.  Spectacular scenery, made more so by a thick sea-fog which was hanging just off the edge of the coastline.

Although we were on "The 1" (Iceland's main road, which goes all the way around the island) it wasn't exactly busy.  This was the kind of traffic jam we encountered en route.

In the next thrilling installment our intrepid travellers arrive in Djupivogur, a sleepy fishing town with a strange predilection for eggs.