A Video On the Lenses I Use

 

Southern Upland Way Photography: From Film To Digital, From DSLR To Mirrorless

Sony NEX-5

Searching through images for my piece on the fortieth anniversary of the Southern Upland Way I realized that my two walks of this trail in 2003 and 2011 came at times when my photographic approach and gear were changing in major ways.

Ricoh RDC-5000

In 2003 my main camera was a film SLR, the Canon EOS 300, but I’d started dabbling with digital cameras. As well as the EOS 300 with 24-70 zoom lens I took the Ricoh RDC-5000 compact digital camera, which I’d first used on the Arizona Trail in 2000, on the Southern Upland Way. The Canon was for images suitable for print publication and for slide shows, the Ricoh for online use. The latter had a tiny 2.3 megapixel sensor and a 38-86mm full frame equivalent zoom lens. It ran on four AA batteries, which didn’t last long, and wasn’t that light at 315g without the batteries. At the time the images were just about acceptable for online use though often blotchy and with an artificial digital look. Any current smartphone is far superior.

Ricoh RDC-5000

I haven’t yet scanned any of the hundreds of transparencies I took with the Canon on the Southern Upland Way so I only have the Ricoh ones to post here and I only took 35 with it, making it rather a deadweight to carry.

Ricoh RDC-5000

Whilst not very happy with the digital images I realised that digital was the way forward and I was on the lookout for a reasonable affordable camera that could produce pictures I would be happy to send to an editor for publication. The next year, 2004, Canon produced one, the 6.3 megapixel EOS 300D DSLR with an APS-C size sensor. It was £1000, not cheap but far less than other DSLRs. I bought one and by the end of 2005 I had stopped using film.

Canon 450D 

Jump to 2011 and my time with DSLRs was coming to an end. The previous year I had taken my Canon DSLR, now the 12.2 megapixel EOS 450D, with a 14 megapixel Sigma DP1 digital compact with APS-C sensor as backup, on the Pacific Northwest Trail. Rain quickly destroyed the Sigma so I came home in need of another camera. The first mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors and interchangeable lenses were just appearing and after handling a few I bought a 14.2 megapixel Sony NEX-5, delighted at how light and compact it was compared to a DSLR.  

Sony NEX-5

The Sony was intended as backup to the Canon and on the Southern Upland Way I took just one lens with it, an 18-55mm zoom. I took three lenses with the Canon. However I quickly preferred the Sony and ended up taking most of my images with it, 743 in total, and just 186 with the Canon. Now the latter had become a bit of a deadweight. My time with DSLRs was ending. By early 2012 I’d bought a second Sony mirrorless camera, the 24 megapixel NEX-7, and stopped using the EOS 450D.

Sony NEX-5

Since then I have stayed with Sony APS-C mirrorless cameras and currently use a6600 and a6700 ones, though occasionally the Nex-7, which I still have.  I only bought these cameras last year. I wrote about them here.

All photos taken on the Southern Upland Way, the Ricoh ones in 2003, the Sony and Canon ones in 2011.

Photography Post: DXO Pure Raw 4 produces an amazing transformation of a ridiculously noisy image

Original on the left, processed in PureRaw 4 on the right

Last July I posted about the amazing power of DxO PhotoLab editing software and the noise removal abilities of Deep Prime XD. I've been using DxO PhotoLab for raw file processing ever since. 

The Deep Prime denoising software has always been available separately under the name PureRaw as a plug-in for Lightroom and other processing software and DxO has just brought out the fourth version of this and it's more complex and powerful than ever before. I've been trying a preview version of DxO PureRaw 4 for the last few weeks and while I still have much to learn I'm impressed enough already to have bought it. 

To give it a thorough test I searched my images for a ridiculously noisy image and came up with this one of noctilucent clouds taken at night at ISO 16,000 with a Sony NEX 7 camera and Sony E 16-50mm lens at 1/60 second and f4. The resulting image is painfully noisy, as the crop below shows, as ISO 16,000 is way beyond what this camera and lens can handle.

I ran this through PureRaw 4's Deep Prime XD2 denoising technology and the difference is astonishing. There is now virtually no noise.

I also processed the image in DxO PhotoLabs 7 which has the previous denoising technology, Deep Prime XD, and the result is also impressive, though there is a little noise (probably not visible here). Either Deep Prime version is vastly superior to the original.

I haven't done any other processing to the images. This shows what DxO Deep Prime XD and XD2 can do on their own.

The image in DxO PhotoLab 7. Original top, processed below

I'll be using PureRaw 4 on more noisy images (I have plenty!) to learn more about its capabilites. 

Photography Gear: My Lenses

Having been asked recently what lenses I used with my Sony cameras I compiled a list and thought about whether I needed all these lenses. Here’s what I came up with. Note that my cameras have APS-C sensors so the focal lengths need multiplying by 1.5 for the full frame/35mm equivalent

Sony 18-135mm f3.5-5.6        My most used lens, sometimes the only one I take on walks, due to the      

                                            wide focal range.

Sony 10-20mm f4                  The second lens I take on walks - for wide angle shots.

Sigma 18-50 f2.8                   My newest lens, an alternative to the 18-135mm - less reach  but                                             better in low light.

Sony 11mm f1.8                    The third lens I often take on overnight trips, for night shots and       

                                            astrophotography.

Sony 70-350mm f4.5 - f6.3      For wildlife, 525mm 35mm equivalent at long end! Quite heavy so                                             local use and occasional day walks. 

Sony 30mm f3.5 Macro          Mostly used for photographing slides on a lightbox.

Sony 50mm f1.8                    Portraits & sometimes low light shots of gear and other items. My               

                                            only full frame lens – it works fine.

Sony 35mm f1.8                    Low light lens - often used for gear photos and on evening walks.

Sony 55-210mm f4.5-f6.3        My oldest lens (2010), much lighter but less reach and poorer      

                                            quality images than 70-350mm.

 

Sony 16-50mm f3.5-5.6          Tiny & ultralight kit lens that came with the a6000 camera in 2014.

                                            My main lens for a few years but poor quality compared to 18-135 and   

                                            18-50 lenses.

The last two are the only lenses I could easily dispense with.

I’m not thinking of any new lenses this year as I bought three last year – the 11mm, 10-20mm, and 18-50mm, the first two to replace a 12mm and a 10-18mm, which I sold. The only lens I’d really like doesn’t exist and probably never will – an 18-135 f2.8 that doesn’t weigh much more than the f3.5-5.6 one. Oh, and it would be nice if it was 16-135! 

That said, a macro lens with a longer focal length would be nice. 30mm can be hard to work with. Maybe ........

Favourite Photos I took in 2023

Allt an Dubh-lochain & the Dividing Buttress, Beinn a' Bhuird, Cairngorms. Sony a6700 & Sony E 10-20 f4 lens at 15mm. ISO 100, f8 @1/250 sec.

Going through the images I take each year to select favourites is a pleasant if time-consuming task. It's a useful way of analysing my photography too and considering if any themes or changes from past years emerge. Looking at the photos I chose a year ago I noticed an interest in complex cloud landscapes and tree details. I wondered if this would continue in 2023. It did!

Walkers & clouds, Cairn Gorm. Sony a6000 & Sony E 18-135mm lens at 105mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/1250 sec

In 2022 my favourite images were all taken with my Sony a6000 camera and Sony E 18-135mm lens. These 2023 images come from four cameras and seven lenses! With the cameras this was because for the first time in many years I bought new cameras (for details see here, here  and here) to replace my ageing ones before they stopped working completely. I also replaced some lenses with newer versions.

View down An Garbh Choire from Braeriach, Cairngorms. Sony a6600 & 11mm lens. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/500 sec

Focal lengths of the images range from 11mm ultra wide angle to 200mm telephoto, a far greater spread than last year's 43mm to 135mm. I don't know why! The 18-135mm was still my most used lens, used for ten of the photos. Second was the Sony 11mm for three images. I suspect this will change  with a whole year with the new lenses.

Mist in the forest. Sony a6700 & 18-135mm lens at 45mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/15 sec

As every year these are images I like because I can see new details every time I look at them. I like the complexity.  

I also took many photos of camps. Some of the first can be seen in my post on favourite camps of 2023. Several of these could have featured here. 

The Barns of Bynack, Cairngorms. Sony a6600 & 18-135mm lens at 105mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/160 sec

View west from Meall a'Bhuachaille, Cairngorms. Sony a6700 & 70-350mm lens at 200mm. ISO 125, f8 @ 1/200 sec

I always shoot raw files and much of my processing is now done in DxO Photolab. The latest version, Photolab 7, is especially good for converting images to black and white, as in the two photos above.

In snow. Sony a6700 & Sigma 18-50 f2.8 lens at 47.3mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/320 sec

Under storm clouds. Sony a6600 & 11mm f1.8 lens. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/640 sec

In mist at dusk. Sony a6000 & 18-135mm lens at 87mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/100 sec

I've been photographing a lone birch tree in the field opposite my home for over three decades. In 2023 I took three of my favourite images of this favourite tree.

Goosander family, Loch Morlich, Cairngorms. Sony a6600 & 18-135mm lens at 135mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/140 sec

 

 

I'm not a wildlife photographer but I do take wildlife photographs when the opportunity is there. The above image is cropped as I didn't have my 70-350 telephoto zoom with me when I saw this goosander family on a rock in the loch (if I was a wildlife photographer I would have had it with me!). As it is the cropped image is still fine.

Anyway, here's a final selection of images.

River Luineag exiting Loch Morlich, Cairngorms. Sony a6700 & Sigma 18-50mm lens at 18mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/125 sec

Lochan na Cruadach & Ben Aden, Knoydart. Sony a6600 & 18-135mm lens at 24mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/1000 sec

Loch Morar, Knoydart. Sony a6700 & 11mm lens. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/200 sec

Oak sapling in the mist, Anagach Woods, Grantown-on-Spey. Sony a6700 & 18-135mm lens at 42mm. ISO 400, f8 @1/25 sec

Sgor Gaoith, Cairngorms. Sony a6600 & 18-135mm lens at 42mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/100 sec

Pool on the Cairngorm Plateau. Oppo Find X5 Pro, 5.97mm.  ISO 64, f1.7 @ 1/2000 sec

Sunset, Strathspey, Cairngorms. Sony a6700 & 18-135mm lens at 18mm. ISO 100, f8 @ 1/125 sec

I wrote a piece last September about all the photographic gear I've used over the decades. A few of the cameras became favourites for a while., The Sony a6700 has joined them.

I dabbled with film again after discovering some unused rolls for a few months a year or so ago. It reminded me why I like digital so much! In this piece I said I'd post some results from those films. I never bothered. I lost interest too quickly. What I will be doing this year is photographing more of my film slides and prints and posting some of those.

 

Meandering Thoughts On Recuperation, Local Walks, Photography

Across Strathspey to Cairn Gorm at dusk. November 9. Sony a6700, Sony 18-135mm lens at 125mm, ISO 100, f8 @ 1/25 seconds

Recuperation is frustrating! Especially when you feel well. A recent long-awaited operation (nothing serious but necessary before it became so) means I can’t lift anything heavy or drive for a couple of weeks and probably not carry a big pack for quite a few weeks more. But I feel energetic! Ah well, I guess November is a good month to miss hillwalking and camping if I must do so.

Sunset clouds. November 12. Sony a6700, Sigma 18-50 lens @ 18mm, ISO 400, f8 @ 1/320 second

As during the lockdowns this has made me aware of how grateful I am to live here, in this corner of the Cairngorms National Park. I can go for short walks in fields and woods with a backdrop of hills from the front door. These are the walks I do most weeks anyway. I’m just doing them more often now. And as the wound from the operation heals and doesn’t hurt so much I’ll start making them longer.

Dusk. November 10. Sony a6700, Sigma 18-50 lens @ 50mm, ISO 400, f8 @ 1/10 second

Of course there’s desk work to get on with – there always is – ranging from the tedious (accounts) to the interesting (gear reviews) and the exciting (new book project). Now the anaesthetic has worn off my brain is working!

Late afternoon clouds over the Cairngorms. November 12. Sony a6700, Sigma 18-50 lens @ 41mm, ISO 100, f8 @ 1/250 second

It’s an opportunity to concentrate on photography too – I can carry a camera! – and seek out different viewpoints and details. Maybe take out some lenses I rarely use. I’ve been thinking more about photography this year anyway, for several reasons. A *new camera, **new lenses, new processing software have all required attention. Finding old film photos for the upcoming book project and then scanning and processing them is also interesting and involving.

Across Strathspey to Bynack More at dusk. November 12. Sony a6700, Sigma 18-50 lens @ 50mm, ISO 50, f8 @ 1/30 second

The new processing software has recently had a major update (DXO PhotoLab 7) with enough changes that, having barely learnt how to use the previous version, I now have to start again in some areas. That said, the changes do make some processes easier and give more options for others so overall I am impressed. I’ll be posting some results soon.

There is still some autumn colour in the woods and recent days have seen skies clearing late in the afternoon and the low sun creating some gorgeous light.

Bynack More. November 8. Sony a6700, Sony 70-350mm lens @ 350mm, ISO 800, f6.3 @ 1/160 second

Anyway, it’s local pictures I’ll be posting the next few weeks. Mountains will only appear in the distance or else in telephoto images. Camps will have to wait.

*Sony a6700 - http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2023/08/photography-post-new-camera-surprises.html

** Sony 11mm f1.8, Sony 10-20mm f4, Sigma 18-50mm f2.8. I’ve written about the first two - http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2023/08/photography-thoughts-new-cameras-lead.html - but not yet the third, which I’ve only had just over a month. It supplements the Sony 18-135 f3.5 -f5.6, which I’ve had for many years. Overall I prefer the 18-135 because of the long reach but it’s not weather-sealed. The 18-50 is weather-sealed and also faster with a constant f2.8 aperture and so better for low light photography.

Photography: Sony's In-Body Image Stabilisation - an accidental test

With in-body stabilisation on.

 

Without in-body stabilisation.

How good is the image stabilisation in Sony's a6600 and a 6700 bodies? I've just found out by accident that it works well. Until this year I didn't have a camera body with stabilisation, just lenses, and hadn't got round to seeing just how slow a shutter speed I could handhold with one.

I took a handheld photograph of my current camera and lens set-up with the Sony a6600 and the Sony E 30mm macro lens, uploaded the image to Lightroom, and was surprised to see it was blurred. A second shot was the same.

Thinking about it I realised I had forgotten two things. First that the 30mm lens isn't stabilised, unlike all my other lenses, and second that I'd switched off stabilisation on the a6600 body as I'd been using it on a tripod. (Sony advises this, I'm not sure it really matters - something else to check).

I switched on Steady Shot (Sony's name for stabilisation), took another image with the same settings and this time it was sharp, handheld at 1/8 second. I'm impressed and pleased with that.

Now I'll have to find out how long a shutter speed I can handhold with a camera and lens that are both stabilised. 

The photo, by the way, was taken for a forthcoming post on my camera gear for long-distance walking.

Photography Post: the amazing power of DxO PhotoLab editing software

Image after processing in DxO PhotoLab

DxO PhotoLabs is raw photo editing software designed to bring out the best in your images, I've been using it for processing noisy images for several months now. I've been impressed with the results and wondered what it could do with older images. After working with a few I'm astonished. Images I'd kept just for the memories have leapt in quality revealing details I never knew were there and losing ugly noise.

The above photograph was taken handheld in 2010 on my Pacific Northwest Trail walk with my 8 megapixel Canon 350D DSLR camera and Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens. The ISO was 1600 and the settings 1/5 second at f5.6. On the original raw file the dark sections are solid black and the whole image has a great deal of noise, which isn't surprising given the equipment and the settings.

Original raw image

DxO has a huge database of camera and lens information and tailors processing to the specific equipment used to take the image. In this case it has produced amazing results from an under-exposed image taken at far from optimum settings with camera equipment that whilst okay for its day doesn't compare with current gear. Details have appeared in the shadows (these show up better with a high resolution image on a large screen than on this small JPEG), the noise has been minimised, and the image is sharper. Here's a crop from the processed image. I wouldn't have believed I could get such detail and sharpness from cropping an image from that camera and lens.

Because of the noise and underexpsoure I processed the image with DeepPrime XD, the most powerful of four denoising options. This does take a little time and the resulting DNG file is 38mb. The original raw file is 13mb. For most images this isn't necessary and processing is much quicker. But for images like this it's wonderful.

Meall a'Bhuachaille, forest regeneration, and the power of photography

View over Ryvoan Bothy from the lower slopes of Meall a'Bhuachaille, April 2004

Visiting the same locations year after year you can’t help but notice changes. How great these are may not be apparent though. I’ve walked through Ryvoan Pass and climbed Meall a’Bhuachaille in the Cairngorms several times every year for over thirty years. It’s a great hill for a half day, for bad weather, to show other people the area. The views are superb, and the walk takes you from the forest to a bare summit, a journey through the Cairngorms in miniature.

View over Ryvoan Bothy from the lower slopes of Meall a'Bhuachaille, June 2023

One of the many joys I find in this walk is seeing the regeneration of the forest, seeing the trees spreading and advancing across the landscape. This year I went up Meall a’Bhuachaille on the last day of June, a muggy day with mist and drizzle. The land was green and lush. I took photographs as usual, mostly as a record as the light was flat and hazy. Such record shots can be significant though.

Back home I was looking for an old image on my computer when I came on ones of an ascent of Meall a’Bhuachaille in 2004. I was immediately struck by how bare the landscape looked. Where were all the trees? I hadn’t realised just how much had changed, just how much the forest had spread. The photographs are a powerful record of this.

Looking over the plantation to Loch Morlich, July 2007

Looking through other photographs I found ones showing the large plantation that lay south of the mountain, the bare ground after the plantation was felled, and, from my recent trip, the regeneration now springing up. The land has gone from a dense regimented tree farm to bare ground to a new forest in a little over a decade.

The felled plantation visible in the centre of the image. Note the block of pines left standing. April 2013.

Felling may have removed the mature spruce trees of the plantation, but their seeds of course remained and many young spruce trees are springing up. However there are pines, birch, rowan, and juniper as well. The new forest won’t be the same as the old pine forest that was there before the spruce, but it will be a far more diverse, natural forest than the plantation.

Regeneration on the site of the plantation around the block of pines. June 2023

Photographs convey all this far more than words or charts or facts and figures. The changes are clearly visible. I’m glad I’ve always taken photos even when conditions weren’t promising. I just wish I’d taken more.

Another view over Ryvoan Bothy, April 2004

Similar view to the one above, June 2023