Re: Will you be able to see Half Dome from a high speed train?

Is that question relevant?

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Old Dude

Only if you have a high speed tracking motor on your camera/scope.

And you believe that you can see HD from Turlock.

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qumqats
And you believe that you can see HD from Turlock.

Some people believe you can. I'm extremely skeptical. The photo they show doesn't look right.

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Dave

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qumqats
And you believe that you can see HD from Turlock.

Some people believe you can. I'm extremely skeptical. The photo they show doesn't look right.

I think what makes it look odd is the depth-of-field compression that the extreme telephoto lens used creates.

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qumqats
I think what makes it look odd is the depth-of-field compression that the extreme telephoto lens used creates.

What makes it odd is HD sitting there all by itself with none of the surrounding features. The size is all wrong too.

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Dave

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qumqats
I think what makes it look odd is the depth-of-field compression that the extreme telephoto lens used creates.

What makes it odd is HD sitting there all by itself with none of the surrounding features. The size is all wrong too.

The size wouldn't be all wrong if extreme telephoto plus an additional blow-up of the digital image is used.

We're used to seeing depth of field differences of a few miles. The classic Tunnel View shot shows HD as this little blip compared to El Capitan, which is about 4 times closer.

However - if we're talking 70 miles away, then El Cap is maybe 93% of the distance to the camera as HD is. They'll look almost proportional to their actual size.

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y_p_w
The size wouldn't be all wrong if extreme telephoto plus an additional blow-up of the digital image is used.

I know. I've been an amateur photographer for about 40 years now.

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We're used to seeing depth of field differences of a few miles. The classic Tunnel View shot shows HD as this little blip compared to El Capitan, which is about 4 times closer.

However - if we're talking 70 miles away, then El Cap is maybe 93% of the distance to the camera as HD is. They'll look almost proportional to their actual size.

It's still too big and still doesn't look right. I'm also very skeptical by nature. That has served me well in the past.

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Dave
It's still too big and still doesn't look right. I'm also very skeptical by nature. That has served me well in the past.

It won't this time. (This is rather similar to the case of Classical physics yielding to Quantum Mechanics in the situation of the extremely small.)

See the following thread:
<http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,7686,7686#msg-7686>;

There is also an extensive discussion somewhere on the Whitney Portal board.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2010 04:04PM by szalkowski.

Dave,
I've been there and have taken video of Half Dome showing a zoom sequence from WA to about a 1100mm tele.
Lookie here:

http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/mrcondron/DSC00035.JPG.html
There are several video frames posted. On the earliest date ther were clouds in the valley and HD was not visible but El Cap was. The second day was somewhat clearer although it was a bit hazy and the resolution of video is somewhat less than 1 mega pixel as opposed to the 10 mega pixel camera that was used for the original photo.

Your skepticism is not serving you well this time.

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Old Dude

O geez.

Am eye allowed to CCW?

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Great. I have been gone for almost two weeks, and we are STILL trying to solve the "Half Dome From Turlock" non-Mystery!!!!

Old Dude saw it.

Old Dude photographed it.

Old Dude rocks the truth.

(just ask Da Bird)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2010 11:46PM by Bee.

I haven't logged in for quite a while, but drop in occasional to read and lurk. In the matter of viewing Half Dome from Turlock, the conditions must be just right. I have lived on the east side of Yellowstone for 35 years, but when I was growing up in Atwater, there was less smog and you could easily see the foothills. Farther north, in Turlock, you can look right up the Merced River Canyon and view El Capitan and especially Half Dome. I believe Mt. Bullion blocks the view from the south.

In March, 1971, I was a senior at Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock. At that time, central California experienced a rare arctic air blast - they're REAL common in Wyoming! - that cleared the smog out and presented extremely unusual visibility. I was standing in the second story library building and looked to the east - and there was Yosemite Valley. Ironically, I was looking east on Monte Vista Avenue, or "mountain view." It would appear to me that the people who named that roadway years ago - in a time of superior visibility - did so for a very good reason.

The next time that California is visited by, "The Alberta Clipper" or "Siberian Express," travel to Turlock and look to the east, but don't get your hopes up in what passes for visibility on most days.

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Dave

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qumqats
And you believe that you can see HD from Turlock.

Some people believe you can. I'm extremely skeptical. The photo they show doesn't look right.

I understand you skepticism, which is fine, but do not become a "Half Dome Denier". The previously mentioned long discussion in szalkowski's post goes over all the possibilities and includes
1. multiple personal testimonies
2. map projections of the line of sight
3. photographic examples of background-foreground distortion with telephoto lenes
4. "hoax checker" reference
5. reproduced photos by impartial 2nd observers

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Yogi Berra called it de-ja-vu all over again. Are we really revisiting this subject all over again?

Well let's look and see who's posting here again. Hmmmm...

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Old Dude