In our new online feature, Trackside with Erik and Mike, Trains.com staff members Erik Bergstrom and Mike Yuhas go trackside and share with you their results, as well as what they’ve learned. In each installment, we’ll include let our users vote on who got the best shot. Read this week’s installment.
I like Photo 1 cause it shows the train coming around the curve and looks like its pulling a slight uphill grade.Good shots both of them.
stay safe
Joe
I voted for number two just because I like the visual contrast of the CN red against that beautiful blue sky! I’m also going to guess that #2 was shot by Bergie because #1 seems to show the compressed perspective you’d only get with a telephoto, and unless Bergie ran out to buy a tele lens just before he snapped the picture, I think the tele shot must belong to Mike?
I’m going to have to go with photo number one.
I like the angle that it was taken on, the way that you get the loco head on and still see the rest of the train.
Any possibility of you guys making some really good quality copies in 1024x768 res so we can use them as desktop pics? That would be awsome if possible, both would make great desktop wallpaper.
I liked Photo 1 because it was upright and had a bit of a curve to the train as opposed to the standard “wedgie” of Photo 2. The lighting in Photo 2, however, was better.
Question: How does the Rebel react to the cold temps?
Both are good photos. I would be proud to have taken either one of them. My choice is number 1 because it has that “in your face” attitude of railroading.
Voted for nimber 1. I like the head on shot around the bend with the slight uphill grade effect. Both were great though.
I will learn how to spell the word number eventually.
Photo 1 because of the composition, with curve and overhanging tree on right as framing device. I usually prefer a train on a curve to a train on the straight track, all other things being equal. Enjoying this photo comparison,polling, and response opportunity. Keep it going! Any steam or other vintage excursion comparisons planned?
I voted for photo #2. It gave me a good look at the motive power and It looked pretty cool. If it were a magazine cover vote I would have voted photo 1 but I think photo 2 was the nicest.
Good work guys. I liked both pics (and the local too), but I chose number 2 because it captures the motion of the moving train, and as MOBrien said, the CN orange does contrast nicely with the sky.
I think picture #2 is a little cockeyed, however, and it should be straightened and cropped a bit. I say this because the train is leaning into the curve, which is OK, but the trees in the background are leaning too. This indicates that the camera was probably not held straight.
I am not sure if taking an afternoon off to shoot trains really counts as playing hooky if you work for Kalmbach. Nice life! [;)]
Hey guys both were great shots. But to show the massiveness of a train u need to try a shot lying down showing the train coming at u at an angle where u can see what the locomotive is pulling! Or try a trestle shot where u could show the same thing!
I’ll go with No. 2 simply because of the quality of the photo. The second appears to have been taken late in the afternoon with shadows off to the right side. The first is a slightly more neutral sunlight. On the other hand I like the composition of No. 1 a little better - just take this same shot with the sun overhead rather than off to the left. You might even open the f-stop a little bit or use fill flash (the pop-up works fine for this) to fill in the shadows.
As somebody else mentioned, I love the CN because of its variety of power. We have an ex-Illinois Central line just a few miles to the south and it’s not unusual to see Grand Trunk, Illinois Central and even the occasional Wisconsin Central on the line.
I love your series and I hope we can read more as the year goes on.
I voted for photo # 1. Because it has that taking care of bussiness attitude look to it . The curve gives it a more of a 3D effect with more detail of the train. I’d have to admit…# 2 looks pretty good too. PS; Another good curve shot area would be just north of Hwy NN in the village of Mukwonago Wi. Just to the west of the crossing on NN would be a gravel acces to the north. Take back to gravel parking lot in the trees & walk to track side . Nice vantage points. You’ll see what I mean. ( just a thought )
I picked #1, i like how it shows the train leaning in to the curve.Yet both shots where great. Hay do you all just get out of work a railfan, I hope i can get job there so I can do that [:)]. Also to answer the Question about how it reacts in the cold, A friend of mine was using a digital cam in the below 0 temps of Brownville Jct, Maine and it was still working. I’m not sure what type it was though. However I do have a Rebel 2000 film cam (Thanks to a Trains photo contest) I used it in December and the battery power droped in half after taking it out of the car. Of course it was once again below zero (Up here we seem to do more railfanning in winter) Great camera though, and of course cold like that cuts though anything.
-justin
mc367
As others have said, it’s clear that photo 1 was taken by Mike, since Erik doesn’t have the telephoto, and Erik’s photo of Mike lined up for the shot shows the telephoto in place on the tripod. It is the more striking shot, but Erik’s would be better for anyone wanting to know what the second unit was, or needing a detail shot of the leading unit.
What is Mike’s lens? My Canon telephoto is a 75-300, and I didn’t know they made a 100-300 also.
For those of us outside the USA, the camera is known as a Canon EOS 300D (this is a feature of cameras in the USA, and is used to differentiate between cameras purchased inside and outside the USA).
The EOS 300D wasn’t available when I purchased my EOS 10D (Sorry, I don’t know the USA name) but the 10D cost about $1500 without lens, and can’t use the lens that comes with the 300D because the back element fouls part of the body (something to think about if you were trying to use it on another Canon camera). I just use a 28-80, and I miss the wide angle I used to get on the film cameras, but like the extra telephoto effect (80 x 1.6 = 128mm).
In general, I’ve never used a better camera than the EOS 10D, and it seems much better in most respects than the EOS 50e I used before.
What modes do you use for taking the photos? I have found “Sports” mode useful, because it allows multiple exposures in quick succession, and allows a higher ISO rating for the exposure, (useful for “last shots of the day”) although the file size is a bit bigger. The appearance of the two shots would suggest that Mike was using a higher ISO rating than Erik.
Do you guys use “Large Fine JPEG” or “Raw” file storage for the example photos? I think “Large Fine” gives as much definition as the Canon lens allows in most conditions, and there aren’t many compression artefacts visible on enlargement.
Peter
Hi Pathfinder,
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll let Mike try that laying on the ground stuff. It was under 30 degrees and very windy that day. The air was cold enough, let alone the snow-covered ground. [:)]
As for trestles, we’re in southeastern Wisconsin… not too many of those around here (unfortunately).
Take care,
Erik
My lens is, indeed, a 100-300mm zoom, f4.5-5.6, at least a dozen years old. There’s still one in Canon’s catalog, though I’d buy the 75-300 if I had to do it today. (M636 is correct in stating the 18-55mm lens bundled with the Digital Rebel cannot be used on any other camera body.)
The Sports mode on the Digital Rebel limits you to ISO 400. That can be a drawback when shooting very early or very late; it’s useful for fast-moving trains on sunny days. I tend to use manual exposure mode with longer focal lengths… otherwise, the train’s headlight and ditch lights wreak havoc on the exposure.
While I’ve tinkered with the Canon raw format, I’m sticking with large and fine jpegs for now, primarily because the third-party utility I use to extract the exif data doesn’t work with raw images.
I must be the guy that this series is being done for. I can’t tell you why, but I like number 1 better. It just appeals to me.[:D]
Both were good but I like #2 .