Christmas Day in Durham

Durham riverside

We decided to go for a walk around Durham this morning to build up an appetite for our Xmas dinner. The weather was relatively kind, with a low winter sun and cold, but no rain. 

Our walk took us to the cathedral grounds - the loos are reliably open - and then through the cathedral itself. I'm not religious, and I have to say that "Away in a Manger" is far from being my favourite carol, but that was what the choir were singing as we entered. It was in fact a wonderful arrangement with beautiful harmonies, quite magical, we had to stop to listen. 

The photo shows the light catching buildings as seen from Elvet bridge, something that I had not noticed in the past and only visible when the trees are bare.

NEX 6 Pentax M 75-150 mm  f4 

Sony 55-210 Versus Pentax 75-150 and 200

Pentax 75-150 mm M f4 versus Sony 55-210 at f8

Right

Centre

Top left

Pentax 200 mm M f4  versus Sony 55-210 

Centre 

Top left 

Top right

The Pentax lenses are sharper in the corners and don't suffer from a warm colour cast, but the Sony provides a similar level of sharpness in the centre of the frame and is less prone to chromatic aberration.

The file sizes of the JPGs produced by PS from TIFFs resulting from a Lightroom raw conversion are as follows: -

150 mm

Pentax 75-150  13913

Sony 55-210     13179

200 mm

Pentax 200     12721

Sony 55-210  12037

Suggesting that both Pentax lenses are collecting more data.        

Edit - since writing this I have discovered that my Pentax 200 mm f4 lens is not focusing to infinity. Once I get this sorted I'll do another comparison. 16-8-2015