First Wilkinson Trail Hike with New (Old) Lens

This morning was my first hike on the Wilkinson Trail at Saratoga National Historical Park since trading the 16-28mm and 28-70mm lenses for the 24-105mm lens. Although the "new" lens weighs less than the two other zooms together it is significantly heavier than either one of them so it's heavier in use if not in the bag. Still, it's about the lightest good quality single lens option and I just need to get used to a little extra heft again.

Tomorrow will be a busy day at the park as it's the 249th anniversary of the first battle and there will be a variety of activities spread out over the park grounds and at the Visitor Center. I expect to post some images later in the day. Here are some from this morning.

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/22, 1/90 sec., ISO 400

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 87mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 61mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 43mm, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 61mm, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

 

First Sunrise with New (Old) Lens

This morning was the first time I've been over for a sunrise since the RF 24-105mm f/4L lens arrived. Of the six images I chose here without checking the focal length, four are beyond the limits of the 28-70mm lens I traded in.

This copy of the lens, my fourth, has a scratch near the edge of the front element but it doesn't seem to affect images and may even be outside the image circle of the lens. I could return it for a different copy but that copy also may have issues and it would mean over a week with only the 45mm lens again. 
So I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist.

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/4, 1/8 sec., ISO 3200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 83mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 32mm, f/5.6, 1/180 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/22, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/22, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 28mm, f/22, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

After Dark at Saratoga NHP

I volunteered at a night sky event at Saratoga National Historical Park last evening and I used the 45mm lens for some very low light photos. I would do things somewhat differently the next time I'm doing this kind of shooting. 

As the camera meter wants to expose everything to a middle tone you need to underexpose, compared to the meter reading, to have it look like it actually looks. And I will not bracket exposures, which I routinely do. As exposure compensation settings don't really go far enough, I will switch to manual adjustments to get the brightness where I want it with exposure simulation in the viewfinder.

But, I did get some decent images after I was through directing parking.

RF 45mm f/1.2 STM, f/1.2, 1/30 sec., ISO 1600

RF 45mm f/1.2 STM, f/1.2, 1/30 sec., ISO 1600

RF 45mm f/1.2 STM, f/1.2, 1/10 sec., ISO 1600

RF 45mm f/1.2 STM, f/1.2, 1/6 sec., ISO 1600

RF 45mm f/1.2 STM, f/1.2, 1/15 sec., ISO 3200

RF 45mm f/1.2 STM, f/1.2, 1/10 sec., ISO 3200