Yard Goat Images Hi-Def Steam DVDs
Big Steam on the Mainline
NKP 765 on the Norfolk Southern
UP 844 – 150 Years of Steam
Iowa Interstate QJ 6988 95 minutes—$24.95 + shipping
www.yardgoatimages.com Or call 612-623-0167
Send SASE for free brochure/order form 112 3rd AV NE, Minneapolis MN 55413
TRAINS &TRAVEL
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www.traintrips.biz
MORNING SUN BOOKS
These all-color 128-page hardcover books will be available April 1, 2013
SEABOARD COAST LINE By
William G. McClure III The motive power of the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line railroads were merged to form this new sys- tem in 1967 and later augmented by new power. Item# 1472
RAILROAD CRITTERS
VOLUME 3 By Stephen M. Timko
A visit to the industrial “backyards” for a view of railroad operations using cookie-cutter and special-order locomo- tives built by Atlas, Baldwin, Davenport, GE, Plymouth, Porter, Whitcomb and others. Over 300 new photos. Item# 1473
Order today at price of $59.95 apiece plus $7 shipping (add $2 for each add’l book) Canada-$12; foreign-$21, each. All books are shipped via U.S. Mail.
PA (6%) and NJ (7%) residents add Sales Tax
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PO Box 326 ~ Kutztown, PA 19530-0326
www.morningsunbooks.com
14 MARCH 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM Morning Sun Books, Inc.
BNSF Powder River Basin coal loads southbound on the Joint Line at Greenland, Colo. Note how the 300mm lens on a Nikon D200 has greatly exaggerated the ascending grade, compressed the perspective on the train, and made the hillside in the background very prominent (top). Taken with a different train but at the same location, note how a 17mm lens on the Nikon D200 has changed the perspective (above). The grade looks almost flat, the entire train has a “stretched” look, and the background hill now looks very small.
Stop Down Two or Three Stops
Most lenses are sharpest when the aperture is stopped down a couple of stops, which will be ƒ8 or ƒ11 on most lenses that have a max- imum aperture of ƒ2.8 or ƒ4.
Depth of Field If you want your entire scene from the train to the far background in good focus (deep DOF), use a wide angle or 50mm lens. Small focal length lenses have an inherently greater DOF than larger lenses. Other fac- tors that increase DOF are smaller aper- tures and a farther focus point. If you must use a wide aperture (such as ƒ2.8) to main- tain a fast shutter speed in low light condi- tions, your background may be soft but it is more important to render a sharp train by maintaining a fast shutter speed. A large telephoto focused on the loco- motive on an on-coming train, even at an ƒ8 or ƒ11 aperture, will render the far end of the train out of focus. This will usually be unavoidable, as even stopped down to the smallest aperture on the lens, the
DOF will not extend back throughout the entire train.
Lens Equivalents The term “35mm film camera equivalent” was mentioned above. As virtually every photographer understands what 50mm, 28mm, 200mm or any other focal length size means on a 35mm camera, the 35mm format has long been the standard by which lenses for other formats are compared. But with the plethora of different format cameras typically used by railfans today, not only dif- ferent film formats (35mm, medium format and 4×5) but the different sized digital sen- sors (“APS-C” or “DX,” full frame or “FX”, Four Thirds, and point and shoot small digi- tal sensors that vary in size), at times it can be a bit confusing which lens in one format is equivalent to which lens in another for- mat. Below are some easy to use conversion factors to determine the 35mm equivalent for different film and digital camera formats. DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras that take 35mm film format lenses will have
WORLDWIDE RAIL TOURS
PHOTOGRAPHY: GREG MONROE
2013 RAILROAD TOURS
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