Steam Trains

‘The Wansbeck’ special train hauled by K4 61994 The Great Marquess and K1 62005 ran, on Easter Saturday, from Newcastle to Morpeth on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and then around the old freight lines back to Newcastle, before heading south on the ECML. 

Operating with one loco at each end of the train, reversing was easy, but the sight of a steam loco operating at speed in reverse was a tad unusual.

There is a bit of speed blur here, but I think that adds to the excitement! Heading north on the ECML through Bedlington

Passing Marcheys House crossing

Crossing the Wansbeck

Heading south through Plawsworth. Glorious sunshine, but a strong wind blowing the exhaust over the train.

The Great Marquess running in reverse!

Canon 5DII 24-105L

Pontop Pike Mast - Snow

It was bitterly cold up at Leadgate this morning, with a brisk easterly, but, when the sun shone, the scene was glorious. I stood for about 10 minutes waiting for the sun to appear; well worth the wait in my view!

I used the old Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.8 for this shot, and the detail is incredible. It's a rather long focal length for general usage, but I use it whenever I can.

NEX 6 Zuiko 50mm f1.8

Sony 16-50 versus Pentax 28mm M f2.8

Is it worth carrying heritage primes rather than use the Sony kit zoom?

Shot as raw files using a tripod and 10 second delay. Developed in LR4, and then PS. 

Click for a larger image.

Overall view

Sony 16-50 at f5.6

Original overall view JPG 10.9MB

Pentax 28mm f2.8 M at f5.6

Original overall view JPG 12 MB

My interpretation. The elderly prime is a good deal sharper and more contrasty in the centre, while the zoom might have a very slight advantage at the edges. The kit zoom is usable, but, if there is the time available, the ancient prime is the better bet! I should have taken out the CA from the Pentax shot, the Sony image was processed using LR's auto profile for the lens. CA is a fixable problem with older glass.

Note that I have provided the processed (from raw) JPG file sizes for the uncropped images. I have found this to be a useful guide to lens performance, but the data needs to be interpreted with care. For example the light has a significant affect upon the result while a very grainy image also produces a high score. Further, I have seen an example of a lens producing an outstanding centre image result and a large file size, but with unusable edges, so you do need to look at the image as well. That said these two shots were taken in similar light, and, from a range of different images, I have noticed that good heritage lenses produce larger files than the standard zoom.

To put this into perspective, I have obtained poorer edge sharpness results at some focal lengths from the expensive but complex Canon 24-70 L f2.8 lens and a 5D camera. 

As I gain experience in using my collection of old manual focus lenses I continue to be impressed by their performance on this crop frame camera, however they are prone to chromatic aberration (CA). This is easily dealt with in Lightroom, but it adds a step to the process. You need to check all those hard edges against a clear sky!

If you are listening Mr Sigma, I want a 16-70 f4 zoom with IS in Sony E mount,  and I will pay good money for such a beast.

NEX 6

Racing Model Yachts - South Shields

Model yacht racing South Marine Park

There is a lot of running around involved in this sport, as the yacts fly through the water on a windy day and the competitors track their boats as they round the marks defining the course.

Sony NEX 6 Pentax 28mm f2.8 M

Newcastle Shops

Contrasting shops, a traditional  bookshop, a fashionable boutique, and an independent music store

Boutique within Eldon Square

Book shop within Grainger Market

Get your vinyl here

Sony NEX 6

Zuiko 50mm f1.8 on NEX 6

I have a collection of old lenses from film cameras that I have acquired over the years. You can buy these lenses quite cheaply now, and they are very usable on a Sony NEX 6 camera. Of course you don't get  image stabilisation or auto focus, but for many subjects this isn't a problem.

The NEX 6 has an electronic viewfinder, with dioptre correction for users of specs, and allows approximately 5 x and 10 x magnification of the image, so precise focusing is relatively easy. There is also a focus peaking feature, but I prefer to use that at its minimum setting as it can give false positives, and also obliterate sections of the image, making composition more difficult.

I recently ran a quick test of 4 old lenses, all standard 50mm jobs from the past. Pentax f1.4 and f1.7 and Olympus Zuiko f1.4 and f1.8. My findings were a little surprising as the cheaper f1.7 and f1.8 glass outperformed their f1.4 stablemates as far as sharpness at f5.6 was concerned.

The Olympus lenses both performed better on the NEX than their Pentax cousins in this limited test.

Here's an example of the Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.8 in action. Not a very interesting subject I fear, the bus garage in Hexham. Click on the photos for a bigger image.

The overall view at, from memory, f8, and from the camera's record 1/60th at ISO1600

The 100% crop. You can read the word Plaxton at the bottom of the number plate.

This 50mm f1.8 Zuiko lens was bought, with camera attached, for £10. It's comfortably sharper than the zoom lens supplied with the NEX camera, but, nothing like as convenient to use.

Kern Morris at Whitley Bay Playhouse

Prior to the start of the folk meets street dance "The Lock In" performance, Durham based Kern Morris were invited to do a warm up act outside the theatre.  We could have done with some warmth as it was very cold, and of course quite dark, but the Morris people put on a super display. Full marks to the musicians for playing with frozen fingers!

The Lock In was great. We enjoyed all of the varied routines that we were treated to, but the supercharged traditional rapper dance was quite incredible, with unbelievable speed, energy and accuracy, and not a drop of blood spilt. I have never previously found Morris dance to be edge of seat exciting, but this was something else.  

If you get the chance, see this show! 

NEX 6 Sigma 19mm Nissin Di622 flash.