6201 at Crofton-Still

This is my first post but I see all the posts (I've seen) are videos. I do stills so I hope this is ok. Obviously I was surrounded by members of this forum on Tuesday. I went to Patney,Wilts to catch it on the return journey but it was too near sunset and the sun was blocked by a wood and the ISO was up at 12,800. Don't believe what Canon tell you about high ISO's being ok. I had to bin the shots.

 

I really like the crimson lake colour and here it is again with 'Galatea' at Kingham,Oxfordshire on the 13th. of this month.

 

I'm not being over critical, the shot of 46599 is spot on but the 6201 shot would be better taken a fraction earlier to avoid that bush. Regarding high ISO, I don't know what you use to process your pictures but it is possible to get acceptable results using noise reduction software so never bin the shot later you may acquire experience to deal with it or the software will improve. Firstly it is essential to expose in Raw to preserve as much data as you can. I use Photoshop CS6 but I've never been impressed with the Adobe noise reduction facility and I use the Neat Image plugin. You do have to be careful and it is a compromise, to much and you will lose detail. It's just a matter of trial and error but I have got a half decent image at 12800ISO out of my Nikon D800. The D5 goes up to an insane 3.28m ISO and I would be interested to see what results can be obtained at that level.
Hope this may help

 

Thanks, I'll take that on board and no, I don't think you are being over critical, it's a good point and I'm pleased you raised it. I'm very happy to get feed back and fortunately I can do something about both issues you raise. The camera takes 10fps and I still have all the shots so I'll take one or two back from that bush. I hadn't noticed noise but I'll put it through Define 2 to make sure. I've just checked and it got to ISO 500.I've lost loco photos because of the the shutter speed dipping when the focusing point hit a dark area and to keep the exposure the shutter speed dropped and ruined the photo so what I do now is to set the shutter speed at 1/000 sec, I suppose 1/800 would be ok but on such a sunny day I thought 1/000 would be better, I didn't want to take any chances with this loco at that location and on such a fine day, 1/800sec would drop the ISO too but I'd rather take the aperture to f7.1…..1/3 infront and 2/3 behind would be in focus anyway and that would also drop the ISO.

Galatea was at 1/640 sec ISO 640 and f8 again. I mentioned to someone at Crofton that I had the shutter speed on 1/640 sec and he advised 1.800 but as I say,I thought better make sure then and went for 1/1000 sec.so maybe 1/000 is not necessary. I usually have f7.1 but upped it to f8 to get most of the scenery sharp on this occasion.The ISO I now leave on auto. The other thing I now do,very recently is to focus on auto on something trackside and then slide the lens into manual. It works fine, it is keeping them sharp now.

I appreciate the advice, thank you and if you have any comment on this reply that would be most welcome too.

 

Interesting that you leave the ISO to its own devices which is unusual but if it works why not. For daylight photography and anything moving at night I always use manual and the lowest ISO I can get away with and make sure I expose to avoid burning out highlights, it's easier to brighten up a dark one than try and recover blown highlights. If you shoot jpegs you can't recover Highlights at all so another good reason for Raw mode, you have got the highlights and shadows bang on so the camera has a pretty good dynamic range. Did you do any Photoshop or other editing? If not then the out of camera results are most impressive

 

I forgot to say that I do shoot everything in RAW..with a Canon 1D1V and the 24-105mm f4 lens. I have the 5D11 for landscapes, and sky photos. (clouds) etc. but it's only 3.9fps.

I have Lightroom4 ..My neighbour has Photoshop and its way more than I need,infact you'll probably know that Adobe introduced Lightroom for that very reason,most people just want good quality fairly basic editing features. My neighbour has Photoshop and does all sorts of creative work with it..well beyond my capabilities or even interest,really. In October Apple are coming out with a new iMac..so the Mac Rumours community people say, so I'll wait and when I get it I'll get Lightroom 6. I think they've ironed out most,if not all the bugs by now. I think it's always best to wait for them to do that rather than dive in as soon as it out despite their fee trials by users.I do the usual editing in the Basics section of Lightroom .Highlights, shadows,exposure,blacks, contrast and sharpening and may have to address any hue. I do see if having the 'As shot' is the b set as there is ''Auto' 'Daylight' 'Cloudy,tungsten etc.. 'As shot' is invariably the best so,as you suspect, the camera does a pretty good job.I used to do very minimal editing until it was pointed out to me that the photos could be greatly improved just by using what was there in Basics.It has lens correction too and it makes a wee bit of difference when I click on it,difference to the size,proportions only, it 'jumps' a tad.

Hopefully, I'll catch Duchess of Sutherland tomorrow south west of Bristol. I need to leave home at 7.15 am but being a Sunday the M5 should be clear. It''s great to have found a forum dedicated to locos.Posting them anywhere else just gets a couple of responses or sometimes even none. Views but no comments and comments help improve photos,as you've done with this one.

 

Just another thought. I was aware of the bush but thought it could pass as trackside bits and pieces and the reason was that two photos back the loco appeared a bit smaller. I'm sure it's my imagination though but I went for the nearest shot that had the whole of the loco in with a bit to spare in front but as it's something you noticed then I'll go back and look at the two positions before the bush. I'm sure the nearest shot prior to the bush will be fine. I should have gone with my instincts..lol. You were right.

 

Agree with Johnb about the Crofton shot, an earlier image before the bush would be better, you shouldn't have any issue cropping it from a 16 megapixel raw file. Making me wish I'd made the effort !

Like Johnb I now use a Nikon D800 having switched a few years ago after a major failure of my 5D mk 2. Tempting as it is to let the camera make decisions for you I too use it almost exclusively in Manual mode prioritising shutter speed for moving subjects, generally 1/640 sec for steam, and aperture for static ones (landscape) - iso I would manage manually too to keep control of the desired shutter/aperture combination. Maybe that's a legacy of years of using film where iso wasn't a variable ?
As an aside when I had my 5D mk2 noise became noticeable from 800 iso and above, which is another reason I would manage it manually.


For processing you could try Ps Elements, I have ver 14 which seems to give me all the facility I need for making corrections, otherwise I have Lr ver 6.6.1 which I use for the exposure and colour management. That seems to be an acceptable combination.

Earlier this year I did some night shots of 34046 at Wellington and Oakengates ( LE and ECS movements thread ) which were at 12800 iso using dfine2 to manage noise which was acceptable if not perfect. Just out of interest I tried dfine2 again on an older shot where I had let the 5D mk2 expose on Program (6400 iso 1/125 @ f4 - and still under exposed ) previously processed with DxO Optic pro, while that copy was ok the same shot from dfine 2 had white spots remaining in dark areas and the noise management was nowhere as good as Lr - so I guess it's a case of finding software which works for you or maybe having several means of managing noise !

 

Apologies,,seems something went wrong posting I tried to quote so you get an alert but also deleted most of your post in my reply box so it wasn't too long. Best intentions and all that..

 

That's made a big difference, thanks. I thought you'd like to see the result. I also cropped it as per your advice too, jmb8. I've lost nothing of the 'size' of the loco. I'm really pleased to have righted this before it goes for a print.

 

A very nice result !

 

John, Scott and John 101 what a nice change to see decent constructive comment on here instead of the usual whingeing crap
Lets hope it lasts
Enlightened Northumberland

 

John 101, a video has been put on Youtube and a still photo on Faceache both taken at this location and both show other photters. Are you one of them by any chance?



Photo by R. Barton....

 

Thanks for alerting me. I am there but behind the chap with the baseball cap. I also saw the lass at the end of the video who was sitting down..eventually on the far side. She was on a barge and wasn't going to open the lock gate but wanted to turn the noisy mechanism to allow water in or out.."Too noisy" said the chap (blue shirt) in your shot with the huge video. Then there was the young man who was flitting from the tow path side to the other and couldn't make up his mind which was the best place to go..he wanted a still shot and a video and had two camera. We all shouted humorous advice ..mine was to hire a helicopter next time. lol. It was due at 1138 and I got there at 10.05 and the man next to me, who wanted to get a reflection in the canal so had to have the right spot, was already there sitting on his canvas stool. Someone at the back behind the gates asked the first of us to arrive if we wouldn't mind moving when a stone train(diesel) came through as he wanted the lock gates framed without anyone in the shot. We said fine but eventually too many arrived. Infact that train came through after 6201, a couple of us were still there and we moved. Sitting down right in front of me were two young men who had a video with a huge TV-type fluffy microphone that they laid down the sloping grass next to the canal.The Canada geese definitely came up to check us all out..lol

That's an excellent video as is the photo.That's a good spot too. I'd be torn between getting very close like that and the whole scene with the tow path but I'll bear it in mind. Is this video the same as the one on Facebook ? I assume it is. If not my wife's on Facebook so I could take a look. Crofton is the only place I've been in this region where a crowd gathers,usually it's just three or four. Thanks for posting it for me.

I did speak to a young man from Bournemouth suggesting he go to Patney,Wilts. as he was staying for the return journey but not at Crofton..wasn't yourself was it ?

I'm hoping to catch 46223 next week Bristol > Kingswear, that's Saturday the 3rd. and the next day, same run is either Braunton (Lord Dowding) or Royal Scot So far it's a good forecast for both days. I'll go to Flax Bourton. Too many cancellations,these days so between these and good weather it's really hit and miss.

Thanks,again.

 

Yes, the video is on Faceache and no it wasn't me you spoke to...I was nowhere near there M'lud!

If you do see 46223 please let me know......I thought it had been scrapped!

 

Slip of the fingers there..lol..46233

 

Unfortunately the weather forecast for Saturday has changed. 46233 is likely to get rather wet. <BJ>

 

Yes..it looks like it for Saturday but the Points West forecast tomorrow evening at 6.50 pm give or take a minute or two will have that rain/time/location more accurately placed than this evening..they weren't sure of it's progress.. As 46233 (got it right this time..lol) departs Bristol at 10.22 I don't think it will run into rain until it's near Paignton.I think rain will be in Bristol about mid-day but of course it depends on how much and how thick/deep the cloud is regarding light conditions. I did read a forecast (Accuweather I think) stating that it would be thin cloud. Sunday morning looks good though for Tornado leaving Bristol at 9.15am for Kingswear.

On Saturday morning I'll take a look at this live weather webcam which will show how much rain/cloud/light there is . It's saved me a wasted journey in the past. http://www.martynhicks.uk/weather/data.php?page=webcam

If you don't live in that locality just try a google for where you want to go for any live webcam/weather webcams.