WRP_RailsBeyondRutland_Jan15_3v_Layout 1 11/30


Beyond the Rutland


Rails


Now operated under the Vermont Rail System banner, you’ll see the early operations of the Vermont Railway, Clarendon & Pittford, and the Green Mountain Railroad! From the marble quarry pits to piggyback trailers, from steam excursions to heavy freight!


A good use for a tele is to get you “closer” to rail workers while staying well back out of their way, such as with this track gang in Palmer Lake, Colo., using oil-soaked fire rope to warm and lengthen a section of rail on a cold day for repositioning.


Control,” “Anti-shake,” “SteadyShot,” or “Shake Reduction” system, which can allow hand-holding at slower shutter speeds. But again, if you need 1


/500 /125 of a second for a mov-


ing train, anti-vibration allowing a hand-held 1


is of no value. If using a tripod, be sure to


turn the anti-vibration off, since it can cause internal camera vibration when the camera is locked down securely. Many wide angle-to-telephoto zooms for


From the Rutland’s last gasp to the Vermont Railways modest start, you’ll enjoy great black and white photography documenting this picturesque New England shortline from end to end. A detailed locomotive roster and diverse equipment photos round out this look back at Vermont Railway’s early years. Order your copy today!


VERMONT CLASSIC


$19.95


Plus shipping & handling Order Item #RBTR-CRS


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WHITERIVERPRODUCTIONS.COM P.O. BOX 48, BUCKLIN, MO 64631


56 APRIL 2015 • RAILFAN.COM


SLR cameras (18-250, 16-300, 35-300mm, etc.) may be sharp for most of the zoom range, but have a minor but noticeable loss of sharpness near the maximum tele setting. Read reviews before purchasing a new lens, or test your current tele zoom to see if this is a problem, but if for example a 35-300mm zoom lacks sharpness at the 300mm setting, you can probably still use it in confidence up to about 250mm. Another problem occurs with telephoto


zooms with a variable aperture, such as an ƒ4 to ƒ5.6 zoom that changes to the smaller aper- ture automatically when zoomed out toward the tele end. Losing a stop of exposure might not be a problem if you are shooting in aper- ture-preferred autoexposure on a sunny day, but in lower light it might cause your shutter speed to drop too low to freeze train motion. Also, if you set exposure manually, you will have to remember to change the aperture or shutter speed when you zoom out or in. Mirror lenses are an inexpensive way to


get into large mm telephoto photography, but there are negative considerations. These are usually single-aperture (or occasionally two-aperture) lenses of maybe ƒ5.6, ƒ8, or ƒ11, meaning you only can control exposure by changing your shutter speed which, with these small apertures, might be too slow in


Depth of Field


Another consideration with telephoto lenses is their reduced depth of field (DOF) or depth of acceptable sharpness. Several factors control the amount of DOF with any lens — closeness to your subject, a large lens, and/or a wide the aperture will decrease DOF. With a wide aperture and a tight, frame-filling composition with a telephoto, all these factors are working against you if you desire a deep range of sharpness, such as from the front of the locomotive back through the trailing en- gines and the cars. For example, a 500mm telephoto wide open at ƒ4 in a near-head-on view and focused on the front on the lead lo- comotive will yield a DOF of only a few feet, leaving the rear portion of the locomotive and trailing units out of focus. Shallow DOF can be used to advantage at


times, such as for a candid portrait of an engi- neer in the cab window or a brakeman throw- ing a switch being tack sharp with the back- ground fading to a soft blur. An interesting use for shallow DOF is seen in Ron Flanary’s photo of a howling dog with an out of focus train in the background in the FINAL FRAME photo on page 58 of the November 2013 R&R. So which type of tele is the best for railfan photography? A mild wide angle (28 or 35mm) to small tele (120 or 200mm) zoom is proba- bly the best choice due to its versatility and ease of handling, while eliminating the need to change lenses for different situations you will encounter.


DO YOU HAVE A RAILROAD PHOTOGRAPHY QUESTION? Send your questions and comments to camerabag@railfan.com.


less than optimal sunlight to allow 1 /500 to


freeze a train’s motion. Also, any bright point of light in the out-of-focus areas of the scene will render as a “donut” shape, which you may not consider to be appealing.


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