I spent Saturday Morning out at the Colorado Railroad Museum trying out a new camera. I’ve got some nice shots that I thought I’d share with you all. These aren’t actually from the new toy (it’s a film camera, and I don’t have a very good scanner), but rather from my “Light Meter.”
Let me explain. The new camera is a B&J Grover 4x5 View Camera. You can check out a shot of one here. At any rate, view cameras don’t have onboard light meters, so I could either buy a dedicated meter, or use my digital camera. The latter seemed like the cheaper, better alternative, so that’s what I did.
Enough babbling already, though. Here’s the shots:
MC’s Baby:
Anyways, must be on my way. Hope you all have a great evening!
Second from the top ought to be Mookie’s Monster. (Her dad must have run it at some point in his career)…PS the switch will be moving to a backtrack in order to preserve it. (rare, only one of two left… stub switches are only found on non-common carrier lumber lines, if at all)…Open track to the right is the museum’s operating loop track.
Thanks for all the comments guys. Brian, I do agree with you about the third shot being a little busy. I’m waiting for that shot to get back from the lab, but I think the 4x5 version should be a little bit better. The camera angle is a little different and I was able to use camera movements to keep things a little more level.
Aw Chris - even your “off day” pictures are enjoyable. I always enjoy anything you choose to post!
MC - interesting information - I will have to do some research on that one - but you are probably right. He covered a few years and never missed many days of work.
Great shots as always Chris. I’ve been haveing fun with the Canon but haven’t really shot anything interesting or worth posting. I really need to get out and do some railfanning.[:D]
Thanks everyone for the kind words. It’s always fun to post them on this forum. When I post my shots on some of my Photo-forums, they usually get torn to shreds. Thanks again!
BTW, Chad, you really do need to get out and shoot some trains with my old Canon. I still miss that camera a lot! The colors and saturation out of it are just perfect (at least for my taste). The Pentax takes a little more processing to get the “look” I like!
The camera does take great pictures. But I am not impressed with the full auto mode. It seems to make a lot of bad decisions and I hate it when there is a delay between trigger and shutter. So I have to get use to shooting in manual again (something I didn’t do much with the EOS). I am impressed with the 60s ability to pull in light in rather dark situations. I have taken some pictures around the house at night that almost look like they were taken in daytime.
Another bonus is that it takes the same batteries as my Canon video camera so I have enough batteries that I can keep both cameras loaded while two are on the chargers.
I’ve never been a fan of “auto” modes, and sort of customize every camera to my preference. I think a lot will depend on your shooting style and preferences, but here’s how I had the D60 set-up when I was shooting with it:
I shoot in Av (Aperture Priority) mode 99.9% of the time. I know some sports shooters prefer Tv mode, but if I need shutter speed, I’ll just select a wide aperture. As a rule, I keep the setting around f5.6 or so. If I need to make a grab shot, and don’t have time to adjust, it’s generally a nice compromise aperture with the lenses I use. Stopped down enough to sharpen the lens up and give some DOF, but not so small as to slow the shutter speed too much. If I have time to choose another aperture, I will.
I shoot in “One Shot” focus mode most of the time. The D60 doesn’t follow focus very well, and can’t predict focus at all, so the AI Servo mode isn’t terribly useful. With practice, I was even able to shoot basketball with that camera decently, so you can get action shots with it. If you’re having focus issues, let me know, as I can give a couple more hints (the D60 didn’t have the fastest focus system ever, but I generally found it to be really accurate).
I’ve never been a fan of “auto” modes, and sort of customize every camera to my preference. I think a lot will depend on your shooting style and preferences, but here’s how I had the D60 set-up when I was shooting with it:
I shoot in Av (Aperture Priority) mode 99.9% of the time. I know some sports shooters prefer Tv mode, but if I need shutter speed, I’ll just select a wide aperture. As a rule, I keep the setting around f5.6 or so. If I need to make a grab shot, and don’t have time to adjust, it’s generally a nice compromise aperture with the lenses I use. Stopped down enough to sharpen the lens up and give some DOF, but not so small as to slow the shutter speed too much. If I have time to choose another aperture, I will.
I shoot in “One Shot” focus mode most of the time. The D60 doesn’t follow focus very well, and can’t predict focus at all, so the AI Servo mode isn’t terribly useful. With practice, I was even able to shoot basketball with that camera decently, so you can get action shots with it. If you’re having focus issues, let me know, as I can give a couple more hints (the D60 didn’t have the fastest focus system ever, but I generally found it to be really accurate).
Yes they are very nice shots. Chad where have you been keeping yourself. I have emailed a couple of times with no answer. I want to eat a steak and discuss the current railroad situation.
