Evolution Festival announces 2012 line up

After a gallon of coffee and a serious amount of bacon rolls the Evolution Festival line up was announced today at the Town Wall hostelry in Newcastle. So if you can't face the Diamond Jubilee celebrations then you're in luck as the Evolution Festival returns to the Quayside in Newcastle on 3rd-4th June. The line up this year is possibly one of the best yet!

Photo GIngercatpictures

Headlining the main stage on Sunday is every festival goers fave and Hip-hop mystro Dizzee Rascal not only does he send your spell checker into a frenzy but with his baggy jeans full of hits including Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers, and Dirtee Disco it's going to be one to remember.

Photo Evolution Press

If you are looking for cheese the this is not the place for you as Deadmau5 knocks your eyes out with a with audio visual spectacular which could possibly be seen (and maybe heard) from outer space. What a finale to the Evo weekend!

Photo Evolution Press

Keeping it local and sporting globe trotting tans Maximo Park will be playing on home turf as Dizzee's special guests. Ear plugs will be a definite when they appear on stage as the Evo crowd let rip and give them a massive well deserved home town welcome.

Photo Gingercatpictures

With a hugely successful album and tour behind them Noah and the Wale will be demonstrating why their UK gigs have been massive sellouts. As master musicians they seem to have  toes in a multitude of musical pigeon holes that have huge appeal to their fans.

Coming out of the blue this year Rizzle Kicks will be sure to feature large in 2012. Its good to see an act having so much fun on stage. But watch out! its infectious however no antibiotics will be required for this outbreak.

With an impeccable musical career Miles Cane musician and Songwriter is linked to bands such as the Little flames, The Rascals and the Last Shadow Puppets. Miles is still going strong as a solo artist with his 2011 album Colour of the Trap receiving rave reviews. It will be great to see him at the Evo.

With artist such as Devlin, Benjamin Francis Letfwich, Band Of Skulls, Spector and Jessie Ware amongst other confirmations on the main stage, Evolution 2012’s line up takes on monstrous proportions.

The Ballast Hills this year will be home of some of the most pioneering electronic music and all tastes are catered for with a truly amazing and eclectic bill across both days.  DJ sets from DJ Fresh, SBTRKT, Jack Beats, Toddla T, Maya Jane Coles and a live set from Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs are certain to have the Evolution crowd partying into the night.

Alongside hosting some of the biggest acts on the planet Evolution will once again introduce the crowd to a wealth of emerging local talent on the third stage - partnered with Generator the UK’s leading Music Development Agency this stage gives local talent a chance to get their foot on the ladder and play to the biggest crowd of their careers to date.

In Support of WaterAid

FULL LINE UP

Sunday 3 June

Spillers Wharf 

Dizzee Rascal

Plus very special guests

Maximo Park

Miles Kane

Devlin

Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Dog Is Dead

Lulu James

Theme Park

The Lake Poets

Ballast Hills

Turbulence & Metropolis present

DJ sets from...

DJ Fresh

Jack Beats

Shy FX

Friction

Toddla T

Dot Rotten

Citizen

Codename:Tyrone

Monday 4 June

Spillers Wharf

Deadmau5

Noah & The Whale

Rizzle Kicks

Band Of Skulls

Here We Go Magic

Spector

Jessie Ware

The Milk

Mausi

Ballast Hills

Wax:On presents

DJ sets from...

SBTRKT

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (live)

Maya Jane Coles

Eats Everything

Jackmaster

People Get Real

Mike Jones

Nikon1, V1 plus FT-1 lens adapter, Nikon 1000mm Reflex lens

I have seen quite a few posts with various lenses attached to the Nikon 1-V1 camera via The FT-1 Lens adapter.
So I thought I would have a shot at attaching my Nikon 1000mm f11 Reflex lens on to my Nikon1 V1 camera via the FT-1 adapter. Giving me in the region of 3000mm shot.


So from the top of Blackford Hill in Edinburgh I shot across the City to St Giles Cathedral Spire which is pretty much in the centre of Edinburgh which was a distance of 1.8 miles,  measurements courtesy of  Google earth.


So here are a couple of pics the first was shot with a D700 and 70-200mm f2.8 at maximum zoom. I have indicated the approximate Nikon V1 shot with a red rectangle.


The second shot is with the Nikon V1 with the Nikon 1000mm f11 reflex. Given that the Nikon 1000mm reflex is a decidedly soft lens I was quite impressed with the results anyhow I did apply some sharpening  and some contrast. I was also very pleased to have caught a guy scrambling about on the roof, what where the chances of that. 

Nikon V1 with the FT-1 lens Adapter

Just back from Tenerife after a week in the sun. Just before I left the UK the Nikon FT-1 Lens Adapter for my Nikon V1 arrived. Not having had time to try it out before I left took with me a DX 18-55mm and 28-300mm FX lenses. F-mount lenses mounted on the FT-1 have a crop factor of 2.7×.

I was not expecting a too much from using FT-1 and F-mount lenses with the V1 so I was very pleasantly surprised with the results. First off the the 28-300mm lens when attached to the V1 comes in at a bonkers 75-800mm with the sensor crop and the 18-55mm is a more realistic 48-148mm. 

The 28-300mm is a big lump of glass and the V1 lens adepter looked very small and delicate compared to it so I did not think the lens adapter would be able to cope with shoving all that glass around when focusing. However the FT-1  worked absolutly fine, although not blisteringly fast focusing was quite up to the mark. Focusing with the 18-55mm lens was a lot quicker and felt more natural. 

As for the results here are a few shots. I have made some showing the amount of zoom achieved with a rough cropping rectangle and the actual shot underneath. To sum up the Nikon V1 FT-1 with the attached F mount lenses was a  very positive experience and he images where much better than I imagined they would be. Shots were well saturated and surprisingly sharp with the lenses I used.  

Although I think the battery life was shortened by having to work harder with the the f mount lenses the battery was still going after 400 shots. My usual travel set Camera set up would be a D7000, 18-55mm and 28-300mm but for future traveling the V1 plus FT-1 mount is the equivalent taking a huge tele lens with you which can be quite useful on occasions.The down side of using the FT-1 are the recycling times between shots is somewhat slow and manual adjustments are limited, but still, having the possibility of an 800mm in your pocket is still quite exciting.

Edinburgh Welcomes in 2012 with an Impressive Display

With the rain easing off we headed off to Napier's University Craighouse Campus with has a panoramic view of Edinburgh and perfect viewing position for the Hogmanay Fireworks. When the bells struck 12 fellow revellers on the hill broke into a spontaneous "happy new year" quickly followed by the detonation of the fireworks at the castle.
Despite the dismal economic outlook it was good to see there was no cost cutting at the Edniburgh firework dept. as it was fine display lasting a good 6 mins with a breathtaking finale.
Then as if on cue the rain started again........time to head home for a large whisky or three.

River of Fire and Vikings Torch Edinburgh

Despite being a dreich night thousands of torch-bearers produced spectacular river of fire through the Scottish capital's Old Town and New Town at the start of the three-day Edinburgh's Hogmanay festival celebrations last night.

With organisers reporting a record crowd of between 27,000 and 30,000, 6,500 being torch carriers. Also in the mix where the Up Helly Aa’ Vikings from Shetland and a collection pipe bands leading Edinburgh's annual Torchlight Procession from St Giles Cathedral to Calton Hill. As if there was not enough fire and smoke in the air the Vikings set their torches to an amazing  bonfire burning off an effigy representing this year’s Hogmanay theme of "Let’s Play" The evening went out with a bang with a spectacular fireworks finale.

Organisers said that there were record pre-sales of torches this year, and 6,500 torches - the largest number ever - were all sold out before the start of the procession. Proceeds from the torch sales, which cost £6 in advance, go to Radio Forth Cash for Kids and Barnardo’s Scotland.

Lord Provost George Grubb said in his opening speech “I can't think of a better place in the world than Edinburgh to “see in” the New Year. Our world famous celebrations are broadcast across the globe, and last year the ‘midnight moment’ of fireworks over the castle was shown in over 150 countries. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all participants in this year's Torchlight Procession and especially to those who are visiting the city for Hogmanay.”