WRP_RailsBeyondRutland_Jan15_3v_Layout 1 11/30
Beyond the Rutland
Rails
PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES BY GREG MONROE Wide Angles For Railfanning
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!
The lead locomotive looks overly large on a northbound train at Palmer Lake, Colo., caused by the distortion of a 17mm lens on a DX format DSLR (35mm equivalent 28mm) while standing close to (but a safe distance from) the tracks. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREG MONROE
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
(877) 787-2467
WHITERIVERPRODUCTIONS.COM P.O. BOX 48, BUCKLIN, MO 64631
54 JUNE 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
SIMILAR TO WHAT I WROTE in the April 2015 CAMERA BAG regarding telephotos not being fa- vored by many railfans, this month we will discuss another lens that is at times misun- derstood, the wide angle. A telephoto’s disre- spect is due to its “mashed” distortion effects; conversely, the potential unwanted effect with wide angle lenses is just the opposite, a “stretching” distortion when they are used up close to a subject, giving an exaggerated look with the lead locomotive looming a bit too large, and the trailing train rapidly di- minishing in size. The wider the focal length and the closer to the subject, the greater the distortion. In addition, extreme wide angle lenses like 21mm, 18mm, 16mm, and wider can also exhibit a very noticeable “rectilinear distortion” which causes straight lines to ren- der as a curve radiating out from the center of the frame, almost as if the lens was trying to “bend” the subject matter to get it all into the frame. But like a telephoto and despite its distor-
tion, a wide angle lens can have a very useful place in a railfan’s camera bag. Just as you may occasionally want or need a more power- ful telephoto lens to pull in distant subjects, at times you may simply need to put up with wide angle distortion in order to enable pho- tography in tight confines, such as in a loco- motive cab, inside a shop or roundhouse, or in a small rail yard where you cannot back up enough to get all of your subject(s) in the viewfinder. A wide angle is also indispensable when you desire a scenic view of a train. And maybe the creative type of photographer can, similar to using telephoto compression, find this stretching distortion to be pleasing at times. (Note: When photographing a moving train with a wide angle, be careful that you
are not standing too close to the tracks when trying to get a frame-filling composition. Be- cause of the perspective distortion, your sub- ject will look farther away in the viewfinder than it really is.) Long-time readers may recall a Jim Boyd
CAMERA BAG column on wide angles, when the choice of a wide angle lens was relatively sim- ple. How things have changed since the 1980s. Then, the 35mm film cameras that comprised the vast majority of cameras railfans used were commonly bought with a prime (single focal length) 50mm “normal” (and distortion free) lens. The few zoom lenses then available, especially wide angle zooms, for the most part had a reputation of not being as sharp as a single focal length lens. If you needed wide an- gle capability, that was a separate purchase, although many fans stayed with the single 50mm that came with the camera. If a wide angle was needed, prime lenses of
24mm, 28mm or 35mm were often the choice for general trackside photography. (My old- est lens is a 28mm ƒ5.6 Nikkor I bought in 1979 when I switched from Mamiya 35mm cameras with screw mount lenses to Nikons. Common to virtually all lenses of that time, it had to be stopped down a couple of stops for the best resolution, but today — three and a half decades later — it still delivers quality photos.) Compared to a “normal” 50mm lens, a 24mm will give about 45 percent more cov- erage; a 28mm about 38 percent more; and a 35mm lens about 26 percent more coverage. Today the choice of a wide angle lens is
not that simple. Whereas a 28mm lens was a 28mm wide angle on a 35mm film SLR, today 28mm could mean the equivalent of anything from a super wide angle to a mild wide angle to a small telephoto. With the different film
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74