At 08:05 1/2/98 EST, Danny Johnson wrote: >Hey Everybody, > >For several years, the longest lens I've used for railroad photography is a >300mm. Lately, I've been considering purchasing a longer lens, between 300mm >and 600mm. I'd like to get some opinions and recommendations before I sink >the bucks into big glass.
Danny, A couple of considerations: (1) lens speed and (2) lens weight and size, if you get a reasonably fast lens. I love my 300mm f2.8 and sometimes use it with a 1.4x extender to turn it into a 420. However, travel with this lens is a real pain, and on many trips, the main question is whether or not to take the 300mm. (I'm talking mostly air travel -- not when I'm working out of my own car.) I shoot mostly 100 speed film. I also use a polarizer for most of my shots, which costs me two stops. Using a minimum shutter speed of 1/250, in many dramatic (or marginal) lighting situations, I'm shooting either wide open or almost wide open with the 300mm 2.8. I also shoot mostly with a monopod when using the 300mm. That's faster and more flexible than using a tripod, though I do use that, too, when possible. Even when shooting from a tripod, with a long lens you need to stick with the higher shutter speeds to minimize any vibrations -- unless you opt for a super heavy-duty tripod, which adds its own complications. Consider how much hiking you do to get to photo locations. If it's a lot, then a big lens has a lot of impact in this area. How clear is the air where you usually shoot? In urban areas, the long lens is going to magnify the smog and other atmospheric phenomena. Will you be doing enough shooting in terrain where you can get to vantage points that make the longer lens worth while? (I have owned an 500mm f8 mirror lens at two different times in my life and basically found it unsuited to the kind of photography that I was trying to do. The lens was simply too slow and too difficult to focus accurately when I was trying to work fast.) For me, the question about getting a lens longer than 300mm, provided I could afford it, would have to be answered this way: Only if (1) I have someone else along to carry it; and (2) only if someone else pays for the person to carry it. Your mileage may vary. -- Ernest -- Ernest H. Robl, Durham,NC,USA Stock photography; photojournalism; writing Specializing in transportation and travel subjects for more than 25 years. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone +1 (919) 286-3845 Fax +1 (919) 286-1696 http://www.robl.w1.com "I'd rather be on the train." At =NS milepost H-52. Intermodal Container FAQ: http://www.robl.w1.com/Transport/intermod.htm -> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs
