Photographing model trains

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m researching how to take good pictures of model trains and landscapes. I want to take pictures in or slightly above eye level “inside” the scenery. I’ve seen periscope lenses for use with film or video cameras, but none for use with still image cameras. Any input on this?

2

MR or RMC had at least one (maybe two?) construction article on just such a device many years ago. Try taking a look in MR’s periodical index under model railroad photography.

Personally, I think placing most 35mm cameras right on the layout will do just about as good a job and would be significantly less bulky. It’s likely that obtaining the necessary fairly large first-suface mirrors (not cheap) and building the housing would constitute quite a bit of effort for a marginal gain.

John

3

There are 90-degree periscope lenses for 35mm cameras. I’ve seen them advertised in architectural magazines, to be used in photographing architectural models from “street level.” That said, I can’t ever recall seeing a model railroad photo taken with one, especially not in our magazine. That’s nothing against such attachments, I just don’t think I’ve seen it done. John’s suggestion about placing 35mm cameras in the scenes works for most model railroad photography.

So long,

Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine

4

You might check Railroad-Line.com. There’s a forum there that is devoted specifically to model railroad photography. The moderator (PaulT) is a professional photographer as well as a logging modeler. He has posted several photos of the very sort you’re asking about, and I know he’ll be more than happy to tell you how he shot them.

Mike

5

I got the idea of using a periscope from looking at a documentary from the shooting of the KLF music video “Last Train To Transcentral” where they use a periscope lens and the film camera on a crane to move around inside the set at eye level.

To place the camera in the scenes may work for some shots, but for many angles, a big camera won’t fit in. A small mirror at 45 degrees placed on the “ground” may be a good enouggh trade-off.

Thank you all for your input.

/anders

6

Thanks for the tip, I’ll check that out.

/anders