RTC 2022

Yes, the service that was supposed to overtake us was running late, so happily we were allowed to plough on. Newcastle and Durham stations had the expected Christmas merrymakers loitering on the platforms, so good job the doors were bolted from the inside! All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable trip, and a fitting end to my railtouring for 2022. Many thanks to all involved, and I hope to do it all again next year.

 

Those are excellent night shots at speed. What camera, ISO, etc. did you use, may I ask?

 

Good stuff - you were lucky at Keynsham with the HST vs. 158!

 

My fingers have finally thawed out after filming 6233 at Fleet last night in sub-zero conditions:



Well, one has to suffer for one's art!

Ron.

 

It's a Canon R5. Had it for two years next week and I love it. It's got excellent low light performance regarding noise and in normal use on wildlife with a long lens it's usable up to ISO 6400 without too much trouble. I tried the same shots with the same train last year, but ever mindful of noise performance at high ISO, I limited myself to 12800 that night, which seemed to give me reasonable results when tested on Azumas and such the previous evening.

When I went back on the Saturday to photograph 46115 coming through, I realised an error in my assumption. Those overhead LED lamps are so directional, they illuminate the platforms just fine, but there is next to no useful light spillage onto the space where the track is between the platforms. It worked fine for pale-coloured Azumas, but a BR Green Royal Scot was a couple of stops underexposed. This was fixable in post, but only at the cost of increasing the noise I'd been trying to avoid with the (to me) 'high' 12800 setting and introducing a horrible waxy texture. With that in mind I went back earlier this week and experimented with higher ISOs, 16000, 20,000, 25,600 up to 50000!

I discovered that ISO 32000 was a good compromise between exposure & noise, with not too aggressive noise reduction in PP, so last night I went with that. Exposures for last night's shots were ISO 32000, Shutter Speed 1/500, Aperture f2.8. I always shoot in manual exposure, never using camera auto setting unless it's unavoidable.

These are a few of my test shots from earlier this week. First two ISO 32000, then 25600 & 20000 for the others two.

 

I did wonder - I too have the R5. I also find its 8K video very good as I can extract fine quality stills (in camera). I think our shooting preferences sound very similar as I use manual 99% of the time.

 

Here's a shot of 6233 yesterday, at Red Post Junction west of Andover (start of the disused Ludgershall branch, once the Midland & South Western Junction Railway to Cheltenham). It comes after earlier shots of 70000 and 7029 closer to my home in Oxfordshire.

https://youtu.be/Q2VjfwjenHw

 

Looks like both remaining RTC trips have now been cancelled as they are not on the website. Very sad if true.

 

I just contacted RTC and they confirmed this is the case.

 

Yes I too use manual where I can especially with long lens settings. I have used a Canon EOS for 10 years and it’s faultless