DROGHEDA PANORAMA

20/10/2023

PANORAMIC VIEWS OF DROGHEDA AS IT WAS WAS IN 2011 [PRODUCED USING SONY NEX-5 PANORAMA MODE]

My exact location was Millmount Fort and the camera was handheld.

The town is situated in an area which contains a number of archaeological monuments dating from the Neolithic period onwards, of which the large passage tombs of Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth are probably the best known. The density of archaeological sites of the prehistoric and early Christian periods uncovered in the course of ongoing developments, (including during construction of the Northern Motorway or 'Drogheda Bypass'), have shown that the hinterland of Drogheda has been a settled landscape for millennia.

The NEX-5 features an automatic sweep panorama mode that allowed me  to create large, high-resolution panoramas in-camera. The auto-stitch mode did a very good job of hiding stitches and in general created consistent tones, as long as there is no significant subject movement for the duration of the pan.

Back in 2010 I had a two expensive Canon Cameras and I managed to get my hands on a Sony a pre-production Sony NEX-5 and while it was not in the same league as the Canons I decided that mirrorless was the way forward and I almost immediately began to switch away from Canon to Sony. I kept some of the Canon lenses and still use them with an e-mount adaptor. Last year I got my hands on an unused Canon 5DIII.

The NEX-5 (together with its smaller sister model, the NEX-3) was Sony's first contribution to the mirrorless interchangeable lens camera sector. Both NEX cameras were both built around the 14.6 megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor announced at the PMA 2010 exhibition in February 2010 and the mirrorless E-mount. The NEX-5 offers a high-resolution tilting screen, fast continuous shooting and 1080i HD AVCHD video capture.

Millmount is a large fortified complex situated on a great mound on the South bank of the River Boyne located in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. The fort has played a crucial part in Drogheda's history and has been a dominant feature from Norman settlement, to Cromwell's invasion to the more recent Civil War in 1922, in which the famous Martello tower was shelled and all but destroyed. Today the complex houses the Millmount Museum which houses a wide variety of artifacts of local and national importance. The complex is Drogheda's most dominant feature, clearly visible from all parts of the town. The Martello tower is affectionately known as "The Cup and Saucer" by locals. The whole fort is a national monument and has been designated as Drogheda's Cultural Quarter.