Camera Information

Modern Times:

On January 1, 2001 digital photography became real for me with the the Olympus E10, 4mp DSLR camera. I used this camera until Canon released the D60 in mid 2002. Although I liked the E10, the D60 with it's improved features: faster shutter speed, 6mp CMOS sensor and the ability to use my Canon lenses, caused me to return to Canon and at that point I sold all of my film gear. I migrated to the 10D when it was released. After the 1DSMarkII proved itself in the field, I shifted to this camera. It's low-light, low noise full frame capability gives me the images I need to provide large detailed prints. Although with care the earlier cameras also provided excellent images up to 16x24", the additional detail and cropping ability with this camera gives me the flexability that I have wanted in a digital camera. I wanted a rugged digital camera that wouldn't become obsolete in a year or two.

Current Gear:

Camera: Canon 1DS Mark II, 16.7Megapixel full frame (35mm size) sensor, Single Lens Reflex digital camera.

Lenses:

• Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS
• Canon EF 70-200mmL IS f/4
• Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS.

For railroad photography I now use only image stabilized lenses. All images are taken in RAW mode. The "workhorse" lens is the EF 100-400mm image stabilized lens. The f/4 EF70-200mmL IS lens is my newest lens. Although these are relatively "slow" lenses, the ability to use higher ISO's (200-400 and even up to 800 with the 1DS MKII) with relatively little noise compensates for the lens's "slow" maximum aperture. The 1DSMKII produces essentially noiseless images at ISO speeds of up to ISO 400. ISO 800 is also very useable with little noticeable noise. This allows me to keep high shutter speeds and yet retain a good depth of field.

While the Canon D60 and 10D are excellent cameras, there is a huge difference in image quality with the 1DSMKII when making large (16x,,,) prints. The detail is amazing. The full frame (35mm size) image allows for some cropping and still resizes well. While scanned 35mm and 2-1/4" slides produce excellent large prints, the capability of the !DSMKII's images exceeds 35mm and edges toward medium format (2-1/4") quality.

My goal has always been to produce tack-sharp images of trains at full speed, with as much depth of field as is possible. With today's gear and imaging software such as FixerLabs' FocusFixer it's amazing to see the small but clearly visible "Tool Box Inside " decal lettering on the front door of Union Pacific's newer locomotives or the "74V Bulb" decal under the lights. This is in images taken with the 100-400mm telephoto lens at distances of greater than 100 feet and trains speeds of 40-70 mph. I only wish this gear was available 25 years ago. The image below has been extremely compressed to show the full image. The segment below is enlarged to 100% (far larger than it would appear in a print), and with JPEG distortion. The full original image also suffers from excessive downsizing and compression, but it does indicate the relative size of the extracted example.

Here is the source Image:

Here is the detail from the door/headlight area:

Memory Cards: CompactFlash: Sandisk 1GB Extreme and Ultra II. SD: Sandisk 1GB Ultra II.

Portable Image Storage: Epson P-2000 mulitmedia storage unit (40GB Hard Drive). This device really works if you're on the road and take many images. It even displays raw images.

Gitzo and Manfrotto tripods. Manfrotto monopod.

Middle Ages:

1966-79: My fiirst SLR camera was a Canon Pellix - 35mm SLR with a pellicle instead of a mirror. 50mm lens. 1979-83: Nikon F2. 50mm lens, Tokina zoom lens, Nikkor 200mm lens, Tokina 24? mm lens. In 1983 it was stolen and was replaced with a Nikon F3HP. Lenses included 50mm, 300 f/4.5 EDIF, 80-200mm f/2.8 EDIF, 55mm macro, 35-105mm. 1985: medium format: Hassleblad 500cm, 80mm /f2.8, 150mm f/4. 1988 - Autofocus with Nikon N8008 - my first Autofocus, 1990: Nikon F4 50mm, 80-200 f/2.8AF ED, 300mm ED IF lens. 1999: Traded in Nikon gear for Canon A2, 24mm f/2.8, 50mm lens f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8, 70-200mm f/2.8L.

Films used over the years were primarily slide films mainly: Kodachrome 64, Kodachrome 200 (faster than 64 but the grain - ouch), Ektachrome 100EPP, Fujichrome 50, 100, Fuji Velvia, Fuji Provia - 100. Occasionally used others on trial.

Ancient (!?) History:

My first camera, around 1950, was a Kodak Baby Brownie Special a little plastic camera which used 127 roll film. This was followed in 1952 by a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye when I was a freshman in high school. This camera used 620 roll film. In 1954, a Kodak Pony became my first 35mm camera. This had a 44mm f/4.5 "Anastar" lens and a top speed of 1/200 sec. (tough for high speed trains, but still a neat camera for me at that time). The early color photos on this site (1954-58) were taken with the Kodak Pony.

last revised: 11/28/2006