Re: Semi-Trainless Train Pictures - the camera

Chiloquinruss Wrote:
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> Very nice. My only comment is that it's a shame
> that they didn't take a little more time and make
> the tunnel portal a little more photogenic. It's ob-
> viously a concrete pour and I've seen some very
> ornamental cement pours. Just a little wood grain
> and some pseudo beams would have been better.
> Just sayin' . . . . .

> Very nice pix, thanks for posting.  That night shot
> was terrific.  What kind of camera? Digital or film?


Hi, Russ -

Thanks for the compliments!   Anyone named Russ can't be all bad - whether a Curmudgeon like me or not!!

Several years ago Roger Hogan showed me his Panasonic FZ-30, which IIRC had an 8MB sensor; I waited for the 10MB, 12x Zoom FZ-50 to become available, and used it with very satisfactory results for about three years.*   Last fall the 14MB FZ-100 with 24x Zoom came on the market, and I sold the FZ-50 to Brad LaRose of the San Luis Obispo RR Museum after buying an FZ-100 for about $450 plus $50 for an extra battery.   The camera body and electronics are made by Panasonic, and the 25mm-600mm lens (35mm equivalent) is made by Leica.  I've seen the same camera and lens, but with the much more glamorous Leica logo on it instead of Panasonic's Lumix brand, advertised for $949 including a copy of Photoshop Elements 9 (which sells for well under $200, IIRC) ...

One of my favorite features of both the FZ-50 and the FZ-100 are "fireworks", "night scenery" and "starry sky" settings - which are great for lunar eclipses and night RR photography, etc. I used the "starry sky" settting for that shot of the bridges, with the "sensitivity" set to 800 ASA equivalent.  I'm not really sure how it works, but it seems to keep the shutter open for two minutes or until it's gathered enough light to make a good photo - whichever comes first. IIRC, that two-minute time limit can be reset as necessary.

- Russ

* Satisfactory to me, at least - see [ngdiscussion.net] et seq.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2012 09:35PM by Russo Loco.