Central Park I by John Opie

Olympus, Nikon, Pentax, Leica....

This is a view to the southwest from near the ice-skating rink in Central Park, in Manhattan, New York. This is the Wollman Rink, now called the Trump-Wollman Skating Rink, after the rink had been closed for 6 years for a 2 1/2 year renovation (!). In the summer it is used as a summertime Amusement Aprk along the lines of old-time amusement parks, with less of an emphasis on rides and more on performance, such as magic acts and the like. It's a loud and boisterous place in both the summer and winter.

The GM Building is visible here, as are the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, The Plaza, the top of the Trump Tower, the top of the Sony Building, 9 W 57th Street Building, 40 Central park South, etc . This is one of the classic skylines of mid-town Manhattan, as it is one of the major entry points into Central Park...

Technical:

This was the first gigapan with the Gigapan Pro, which is an excellent piece of kit. I moved from using an Olympus E510 to the E30 (from 10 to 12MP) with a third-party battery pack for two BLM-1 batteries. This, along with the battery pack of the Gigapan Pro, gives me in excess of 2000 pictures before needing to change batteries and solves battery problems of the past. On this particular gigapan, I used the Olympus Digital Zuiko 70-300 lens, set at 300mm. Exposure was 1/400th sec at f7.1.