Saskatoon Construction

[shmakim]

Originally Posted by studentview

the prime 23 retail acres that the city has kept in its back pocket for years in the university heights area will be released for tender this summer. as one whole parcel, which suprised many relators at the lunch. hands shot up everywhere to ask questions. that equates to approx 18 mil for the land which has a very open zoning policy, which will allow almost anything except for a cinema or a car dealership.

Woweewow! That chunk of land was considered for a while to become another big box mall, but got shot down by council because "isn't there one just up the street?" If that plan has been presented but refused, I'm curious to see if some more interesting uses for that land will pop up. I always kind of go when walking or driving around there, cause it's a big chunk of nothing that's slowly being encircled by development. What used to be just a liquor store north of it now has two more strip mall buildings to its east, an oil change place, a Boston pizza, a World Gym taking shape to its west, and even another condo building going up to the west of that.

What can you do with a piece of land like that? If not a box mall, then.... community centre? circus school? water park? launch pad? go-kart track? Maybe all of the above...

[joelpiecowye]

or more condos?

[kgc087]

Originally Posted by shmakim

Woweewow! That chunk of land was considered for a while to become another big box mall, but got shot down by council because "isn't there one just up the street?" If that plan has been presented but refused, I'm curious to see if some more interesting uses for that land will pop up. I always kind of go when walking or driving around there, cause it's a big chunk of nothing that's slowly being encircled by development. What used to be just a liquor store north of it now has two more strip mall buildings to its east, an oil change place, a Boston pizza, a World Gym taking shape to its west, and even another condo building going up to the west of that.

What can you do with a piece of land like that? If not a box mall, then.... community centre? circus school? water park? launch pad? go-kart track? Maybe all of the above...

Maybe they will put in some sort of atriumed boutique shopping centre with botanical gardens and unique water displays. One could only hope for something that immaculate to grace Saskatoon.

[kgc087]

Thinking about the new south bridge again, it would be really cool to see them build something which is extremely classic in design or something incredibly futuristic like this http://www.dubaiinformer.com/uploaded_images/Dubai-Bridge-4-Onlyindubai-787724.bmp I'd like to see the city extend the design of the bridge further into the river banks. The SW is such a strange area to develop b/c of the landfill but I think it would be very interesting to make the bridge look like it is rippling out of the ground across the river and then making the whole area a golf course or woodland area or park. If they did a classic style it would be nice to see them use the canadian style, revival gothic, and build an almost classic style courtyard, obviously on a large scale, that the city could enjoy.

[The Bess]

wasnt the reason they didnt allow big box development in university heights is that they wanted to wait till preston crossing was totally developed?

[joelpiecowye]

ya i think so but i hope the university heights box office area never gets built preston crossing is only 5 minutes away. as for the dubai bridge i do think it is pretty amazing but i have a feeling it is going to made out of 2 rectangles like circle bridge because of construction costs

[kgc087]

Originally Posted by joelpiecowye

ya i think so but i hope the university heights box office area never gets built preston crossing is only 5 minutes away. as for the dubai bridge i do think it is pretty amazing but i have a feeling it is going to made out of 2 rectangles like circle bridge because of construction costs

Our motto for it can be "disappointment at its finest"

[Ruckus]

Originally Posted by swilley

Did you use a tripod? I have found that shutter speed needs to be in the 5 - 10 second range for those night shots to work out, in which case a tripod would be necessary. Also, use an aperture of f16 to increase the depth of field for those far away shots, that is if your camera allows for manual operation. I apologize if you did not need this info, just thought I would pass some of my personal experience on.

The Olympus SP550UZ allows manual operation, at least for some features and under certain requirements/conditions.

Yeah, I use a little pocket tripod, it has seen better days.

Almost all of those shots were shot with a 13-15 second exposure (anything more and I would need a remote). As for adjusting the aperture, at those distances and lighting conditions, IIRC my choices were often limited between 4.3-maybe 6.0 (the max aperture for the camera is 8.0, I don't recall it being available). I found myself using a 15 sec. exposure and the lowest f-value to allow enough light in to reveal the outline of the skyline, but unfortunately sacrifice sharpness.

I can probably tweak the options and shoot earlier in the evening to get some really nice shots.

I grabbed the details from one of those photos, here we go...

[Wyku]

After seeing what happened with the College Drive overpass losing any sort of character they had planned for it to tie into the UofS look, I'm not holding out much hope for anything remotely cool looking for the South Bridge...

[drm310]

Originally Posted by The Bess

wasnt the reason they didnt allow big box development in university heights is that they wanted to wait till preston crossing was totally developed?

No, it was because they were concerned that the businesses in Sutherland on Central Avenue were being decimated by the University Heights commercial district and Preston Crossing.

Source

[shmakim]

Originally Posted by drm310

No, it was because they were concerned that the businesses in Sutherland on Central Avenue were being decimated by the University Heights commercial district and Preston Crossing.

Source

"University Heights commercial district"? Is that the name of the commercial bits adjacent to the would-be 23 acre box mall? (stripmall to the north consisting of liquor store, dollar store, tanning place, gym, BP, coupla restaurants and Dinner Rush, also decent-sized CoOp strip mall, of which I find myself using only CoOp, its gas station, and occasionally DQ)

The tragic, classically suburban feature of Erindale and Arbor Creek is the complete lack of commercial within its depths, save for a lonely Macs. I'm thankful I live close enough to the neighbourhood Extra Foods that I can bike or walk there if I'm motivated. People farther into the neighbourhood simply have no choice for groceries but to drive. Although, I notice chunks of undeveloped land (no trees or pathways) at either end of Arbor Creek park that look about the same size as the chunk for Extra Foods. Possible future retail development? Anybody know where I can find the lofty design plans for Erindale and Arbor Creek, specifying that land's original intended purpose?

[kgc087]

Originally Posted by shmakim

"University Heights commercial district"? Is that the name of the commercial bits adjacent to the would-be 23 acre box mall? (stripmall to the north consisting of liquor store, dollar store, tanning place, gym, BP, coupla restaurants and Dinner Rush, also decent-sized CoOp strip mall, of which I find myself using only CoOp, its gas station, and occasionally DQ)

The tragic, classically suburban feature of Erindale and Arbor Creek is the complete lack of commercial within its depths, save for a lonely Macs. I'm thankful I live close enough to the neighbourhood Extra Foods that I can bike or walk there if I'm motivated. People farther into the neighbourhood simply have no choice for groceries but to drive. Although, I notice chunks of undeveloped land (no trees or pathways) at either end of Arbor Creek park that look about the same size as the chunk for Extra Foods. Possible future retail development? Anybody know where I can find the lofty design plans for Erindale and Arbor Creek, specifying that land's original intended purpose?

I do believe the original inteded use for those plots of weeds were a public and catholic school. I doubt it will become anything retail it will most likely turn into additional park space which is always nice.

[swilley]

Originally Posted by SASKFTW

Yeah, I use a little pocket tripod, it has seen better days.....

The settings look good, 15 seconds is a long time to keep the camera steady on a windy day ....
Night photography has been hit or miss for me lately. I find that when I increase the aperture, the skyline won't get that blurred look to it, but I guess all it takes is a wind gust to shake the camera and you’re screwed. One thing you can do is increase the ISO setting. That will reduce the amount of time the shutter has to be open, but it also adds some noise to the picture.... I wish I could get out more often, but a two year old and a three week old at home doesn’t really allow for that anymore..

[Jerry]

Originally Posted by SASKFTW

The Olympus SP550UZ allows manual operation, at least for some features and under certain requirements/conditions.

Yeah, I use a little pocket tripod, it has seen better days.

After having a look at your EXIF data I have to agree with swilley your ISO should be higher. Try using 400 rather than 50. Your camera is capable of 5000 which is really incredible. The higher you go the more grain you will see. Ooooops I should be saying noise or artifacts (still stuck back in the film age). I would however try the high setting just to get familiar with the camera. Photo below is at ISO 400 will give you a sample of what I mean.

I certainly would invest in a larger tripod and it doesn't have to be expensive. In the good old days we would hang a large brick from the tripod just to stabilize it. Stay away from roads as even the vibration caused by large trucks can be an issue. If your camera has an electronic cable release use that or use the self timer to trigger the shutter release rather than use your finger which will cause movement.

Also try all the ASA ooooops again I should say ISO settings. Get a note pad and jot down all the settings you want to try. Having a game plan before hitting the field helps. List them and execute. Great thing is having EXIF info you will know if you missed something you wanted to try. Find a setting where you are comfortable with the quality.

Also keep in mind that high F stops will give you better depth of field but necessarily the optimum sharpness your lens can achieve.

Hope this helps and good luck.


Source is obvious and makes my life easier gotta love http://www.dpreview.com/

Olympus SP-550UZ Review Samples (13 of 36), 504 mm equiv, ISO 400, 1/2 sec, F4.5, -0.7 EV, OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

[Stewie]

^ That moon shot better have been taken from downtown Saskatoon :-)

[socialisthorde]

^^ That is pretty impressive for ISO 400. My Cannon S2 is much noisier at 400. Just for interest sake you can get a free program online called Neat Image to process the noise out (although you do sacrifice sharpness).

[Ruckus]

Thank you all for the tips

Originally Posted by Stewie

^ That moon shot better have been taken from downtown Saskatoon :-)

How about from the Kinsmen Park parking lot...

[Ruckus]

Originally Posted by Jerry

After having a look at your EXIF data I have to agree with swilley your ISO should be higher. Try using 400 rather than 50. Your camera is capable of 5000 which is really incredible. The higher you go the more grain you will see. Ooooops I should be saying noise or artifacts (still stuck back in the film age). I would however try the high setting just to get familiar with the camera. Photo below is at ISO 400 will give you a sample of what I mean.

I'll try some higher ISO values for my next night out.

I always thought high ISO values were for capturing fast moving objects only...should have paid more attention during my high school graphic arts class.

My Olympus may be capable of ISO 5000, but only if I reduce the quality of the image (from 3072x2304 or 7MP to 2048x1536 or 3.1MP) and would likely have a fair amount of grain. Some of the things I've read suggest ISO 200, perhaps 400 as used in the moon image you posted, but that looks quite grainy.

Some camera manufacturers like to include big numbers (e.g. ISO 5000) for certain features even if those features fail to actually produce something worthwhile, marketing gimmick?...which is okay because I purchased this camera for the 18x optical zoom. I am also contemplating the telephoto conversion lens. The metallic trim of the lens barrel is equipped with thread that serves to screw on the optional adapter (CLA-10) required to mount an optional lens converter (TCON-17F), which adds a 1.7X zoom, extending the power of the zoom to the equivalent of a 856.8 mm in the 35 mm format Source.

In the meantime, I will continue to hone my night time shooting skills.

[jaysfan99]

I was out taking pictures today. Saskatoon Square is one of our downtown's nicest buildings. It is over 27 yrs old, but still looks modern. We could sure use a few more in our city.





I'm also currently working on a drawing of a building I would like to see go up on the corner on 22nd st and 3rd ave. I'll share when I'm done.

[Echoes]

^I agree completely about Saskatoon Square. It still reigns supreme as the nicest office tower in the city, which is kind of sad considering it's been around almost 30 years. Let's hope a new office tower takes its place soon!

On my bus ride home from work this afternoon I noticed that at least one house has been demolished on College Drive. I just caught a quick glance as we passed but I believe it was one of those 2 or 3 pink trimmed houses that had a large sold sign in front of them for quite some time. Let's hope some nice infill will be built there. As nice as College Drive is with the campus on the north side there sure are some lousy looking rental properties on the south side.