Well I have never had much interest in photography, but that changed to some degree for two reasons. The first thing that sparked an interest was the amazing photographs I have seen on this forum. The second was Santa bringing my wife a new camera last Christmas. This I think may have sparked a hobby within a hobby for me.
When I was a kid and had learned to play the guitar, it was fun. But what made it so enjoyable and changed it into a life long passion, was when I saved up for my first of two very good quality and more expensive instruments. There was no looking back. The same thing seems to be happening with photography. I don’t know where the Nikon D5000 is on the camera food chain, but the quality of the photographs I seem to be getting is a very pleasant surprise. I can’t wait to see what happens as I learn more.
I am blown away when I see the photos of the inside of structures like roundhouses and engine sheds and other railroad related buildings built by some of you. My question is what lenses do you use for these close up shots? Especially the interior shots.
I don’t plan on running out and buying lenses right away, but would like to know what to keep my eye open for until I get better educated in the art of model railroad photography. Thanks for any suggestions and help.
Any Nikon always deserves respect. The D5000 is well up the food chain although not at the very top. It should take excellent model railroad pictures.
I find myself using the “normal” setting of the zoom lens on my digital camera more than anything else. In this day and age of zoom lenses the concept of a “normal” lens is growing hazy. If you can get a decent composition of your photo with a little zooming in and out, you have the right focal length lens. You are doubtless aware of the need to stop the lens down as far as it will go to achieve decent depth of field. This may demand lengthy exposure time, for which a tripod is essential to steady the camera. You can use the self timer to trip the shutter to avoid any camera shake from unsteady fingers.
I upgraded from a 35 mm to an economical digital point & shoot and I find I am getting better model photographs with the digital than I could with the 35mm. The digital has greater depth of field, greater sensitivity to light, and much greater dynamic range than 35mm does.
The Nikon DSLR Cameras have been getting some great reviews. It should be a fine camera for model photography. The kit lens that comes with the camera appears to be an 18mm - 55mm lens. It will do fairly well in most cases.
I am using the Canon Digital Rebel Cameras, an Xt, and an SXi. I now have 3 lenses in my arsenal, the standard kit lens, a 17mm - 85mm lens with image stabilization and other “bells and whistles” (most of those bells and whistles are not needed for hobby photography BTW but are nice for other types of photos), and a 100mm Macro/medium telephoto lens. Each of them are useful and are used at times. The one lens I use most is the 17mm - 85mm. Be prepared for some sticker shock…
If you have any friends who are professional photographers that use the Nikons, get in touch with them as they will be able to steer you to the most suitable ones for what you want to do. Above all, if you want to get great shots, do this: READ THE MANUAL!!! Get to know the cameras capabilities and how to get the most out of what you have.
Digital SLR Guide - I found this site helpful in learning about lenses and DSLR’s in general.
If you are on a budget you may want to consider a third party lens instead of a Nikon. IMO, Nikon makes some of the best glass in the business but some of the other brands are apparently pretty good too. Check the reviews and ask around before making a decision.
I use a Nikon , though not quite up there with yours, I use a lens from my old Nikon SLR that is a 55 MM lens with a f32 for the smallest f stop. the f stop is key to getting nice shots with something as small as model trains. the f stop controls the dept of field , which means how much of the shot is in focus. in the attached photo , which is N scale , you can see that most everything is in focus,
For interior photos of my HO scale structures I’ve been using an “extreme” wide ange lens, a Tamron 11-18mm, mostly at the 11mm end. Wide angle lenses give great depth of field, and when used at their smallest aperture (lens opening) of f:22 can do wonders:
My enginehouse, 10" long and 8" wide:
My machine shop, 10" square:
How the machine shop photo was taken:
I made both structures with large side windows and large skylights, so I could shine in a whole lot of light.
Check out my model railroad photography website in my signature for more information.
I use a cheapie Kodak point-and-shoot, although in many ways it’s much more complex (needlessly) than the one with which I started, an even cheaper (and simpler) point-and-shoot that belonged to my daughter. The pictures are generally passable (good enough for posting, at least).
Prototype photos:
General indoor shots (no flash):
Layout scenes:
…and fairly close-up views:
For more detailed close-ups, I shoot through one lense of my optivisor:
I’ve also shot extreme close-ups by placing a loupe over the lense (a perfect fit), but it turns the camera into a very critical eye [swg]:
I don’t use the flash and if you can’t hold the camera steady for longer exposures, use a tripod or place the camera on something solid.
Great info. For the D5000 you can stick with the stock lens and use manual mode. set the zoom to about 35mm or a little closer. Set your fstop to the highest number available. Also set the iso to around 400-800 to keep the grain down. The camera should adjust the shutter speed depending on the lighting. When doing this you must use a tripod since the shutter speed will be about a second or more.
Experiment with the lens that came with the camera. Set it to the hightest possible f-stop value, put it on a nice sturdy tripod, and use the timer to trip the shutter. Using the timer eliminates the vibration of pushing the shutter button by hand (see photo below). Do this and I am guessing you will get some great shots with the lens that came with the camera. Personally, I purchased an infared shutter button because I got tired of waiting for the timer.
Below is a photo that was ruined by the tiny vibration of pressing the shutter with a finger. The camera is on a good tripod and the exposure was something like 45 seconds. The vibration for a tiny amount of time made a blur. Unfortunately at the time I could not tell from the camera’s viewer that the ghosts were there, and did the whole series like that. I never got a clean shot and have never found time to get back and set up the shots again. It is obviously more noticeable on larger versions (too big to post here).
I agree with Texas Zephyr, you should experiment. I have a Sony point and shoot and for now, it does everything I need it to do and more. My dad has a Canon Rebel, but his is film. He is looking at buying the Rebel DSLR. I have played with his current Rebel and it has some nice features.
I have an older model Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1, which sports an excellent Leica lens. Experts will tell you, that it is not the pixels, but the lens, that makes the difference.
My little beast does exactly what I want it to do. It is so small, I can place anywhere on a layout and get fantastic shots, using the self-timer.
This thread is a perfect example of “thread drift”, where a question is posed and all sorts of answers, comments, etc., are made that don’t exactly answer the original question!
The original question was
“I am blown away when I see the photos of the inside of structures like roundhouses and engine sheds and other railroad related buildings built by some of you. My question is what lenses do you use for these close up shots? Especially the interior shots.”
Most comments are helpful, for which I assume the original poster can make use of them.
In addition to my own personal comments which did answer the question, I should have added that you can use the kit lens that came with the D5000, assume its the same 18-55mm that comes with most of them. It will work just fine, but won’t get in quite as close as the 11-18mm I use. I used my 18-55mm until I got the 11-18, which I bought used for a very good price, that’s why I have it!
One mention was made of using ISO 400-800 - if your camera is on a tripod, the length of the shutter speed is irrelevant, so use the lowest ISO your camera offers - 100, 200 or so. Lower ISO means less grainy photos but longer exposures.
Don’t forget to set you camera white balance to the lights you are using, incandescent, fluorescent or whatever.
One thing you might look into if you have a real DSLR is mirror lockup. Even if you don’t bump the tripod or layout and stand perfectly still for the entire exposure, the mirror inside the camera moving from viewfinder mode to exposure mode can actually cause enough shake to be visible. If it’s not a real DSLR then there’s no mirror.
Mirror lockup locks the mirror into exposure mode the first time you press the shutter, then the second time you press it (or when the self-timer triggers) the actual shutter opens to start the exposure. Helps get rid of that tiny amount of shake that can kill you especially in night photographs.
Thanks to everyone who responded. The thread will be read over a few times I’m sure, as I find my way with the help of all your suggestions and links.
The camera came with two lenses. A 18-55 mm and a 55-200mm. With the 18-55mm, I can get to within about 4" and get a focused shot (at least with what I know so far).
I pulled out all grandpa’s (he died in 1961) old photography stuff and found some light stands, tripods, a monopod, a flash setup with a couple of cards of one time use flashbulbs that must be at least 70 years old. We’ll see if the light stands are of any use anyway. I may want to at least upgrade to those new DCC kind of light stands.[(-D]
Bob your work is incredible and inspirational. I hope you don’t mind if I bend your ear sometimes with a question or two.
I may start a new thread and call it pick apart my picture as I seek out opinions from the more seasoned photographers on the forum. Thanks again.
The “better half” owns a Nikon D100 DSLR, and it takes great shots…after you learn it all. I’ve been on the lookout for some studio floods so I can start using it on the layout.
Since you have a high MP camera you don’t have to be soo close for the pic. Once you have the photo you can crop the section you want to concentrate on and when posted here will simply look like it’s a zoom, but it will still have the same quality. You’ll also find with that camera that you can go a little higher with iso because the newer sensors like yours are less grainy at 400iso than many only a couple of years old are at 100-200. Another thing to note is if most of your pics will be used on-line you could even go higher and the average person would never know.
There seems to be a misunderstanding of the ISO/sensitivity of the digital camera sensor. Increasing the ISO will only shorten the exposure time.
If a camera is on a tripod, an exposure of 4 seconds at ISO 100 doesn’t make any difference from an exposure of 1 second at ISO 400-800. All the higher ISO does is increase the grainyness. When film is/was used, longer exposures could cause problems with reciprocity failure (look it up!), but there is no such problems with digital sensors.
If you’re talking about hand held shots, then yes a higher ISO is a good idea, but not with a camera mounted tripod. When I shoot closeups I set the ISO at the lowest, the aperture at the smallest, and let the camera pick the length of time the shutter is open; it doesn’t matter how long it is. I use the self timer or a remote shutter release and it seems to work.
I have a four year old Nikon digital 5400 and use the camera for model photography. Also pictures from the 5400 used in several MRR articles several years ago. The camera small enough to sit on the layout and take quality pictures using its automatic timer.
Always glad to help whenever I can! As I read somewhere “information not shared is information lost”.
Please do submit photos for constructive comments, a great way for many people to learn. Also questions on photography, I’m sure myself and others will be able to help in some way. I started a similar thread on another forum some time ago, but it fizzled out due to lack of participation.
