85mm Landscapes

I've been out a few times since my last post. I did decide to sell the R6 after my outing at Grafton. Since that decision I've been to Oakwood Cemetery and several parts of Saratoga National Historical Park with the new bag setup, which is the Think Tank Photo Speed Freak. 

I did add a Peak Design Capture clip to the strap for securing the camera, while on a Peak Design Leash strap, while hiking around. Here is a selection of landscapes made with the 85mm lens.

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 400

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

Three Lenses, One Body

Back on 9/27 I mentioned that I'd been thinking about using only the R8 with the 3 lenses and that I'd decided it didn't make sense. But it might.

I used both cameras at the battlefield yesterday and used the silent electronic shutter as I was shooting a talk at a tour road stop on the anniversary of the second battle. The better, but older EOS R6 can not bracket exposures using the electronic shutter. The newer, cheaper EOS R8 can - at 40 frames per second.

I set up a test this morning with the R8 and the three lenses in one bag for a drive and walk around Grafton Lakes State Park. I used all three lenses, changing intentionally, and found it reasonably convenient. You wouldn't do it in the rain, but then my lenses aren't designed to get wet anyway. A strap on the camera so it can hang from my neck during the changes is mandatory. 

I don't usually have straps on when I'm using dual cameras. They're either in shoulder bags or on a Black Rapid harness which attaches to the tripod mount which would make straps a nuisance.

I'll try this system out at some more upcoming events at the battlefield. It is nice dealing with files from a single camera. It makes organizing and storing the files from an outing much easier.

Here are some shots from this morning, It started out clear and ended up mostly cloudy.

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/6.7, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

"Saratoga" Two Ways

There are a lot of locations I visit which contain "Saratoga" in their names. All of them are within Saratoga County. Only Saratoga Spa State Park is in the City of Saratoga Springs which is what most people associate with "Saratoga." Springs and horse racing.

What was called Saratoga in colonial times is now Schuylerville, which is a village in the town of Saratoga. The Town of Saratoga is home to Saratoga National Cemetery. Almost all of the battlefield part of the park is in the Town of Stillwater. 

I visited the cemetery and battlefield over the past two days and will share some photos made with the 24mm lens at each location.

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 400

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 400

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 400

Black & White and Color

It was a foggy morning with the sun burning through a bit later on. I walked around Waterford with the 85mm lens and captured some images I processed in black and white and some I processed in color.

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 800

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 800

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 800

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/11, 1/125 sec., ISO 800

Peebles Island With 24mm Lens

The RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM lens is my most recent acquisition and it's a focal length that fits Peebles Island well. At one point in the past I had 24mm, 28mm and 35mm lenses with my DSLRs and it was always the 24mm lens that saw the most use there.

So I started out yesterday with that focal length and although I carried the 35mm lens as well, it didn't see any use. Here are some of the results.

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

24mm and 85mm

I've toyed with the idea recently of using only the R8 body with my three current lenses. It's newer, smaller, lighter with a few more megapixels and the spare batteries are also smaller and lighter. 

But, as I'm well aware, the tendency is to keep using the lens on the camera and not take the time to change lenses even when a different lens would be preferable. Today, for instance, I had the 85mm lens on the R6 and started off with the 24mm lens on the R8. I never did get around to using the 35mm lens.

Having only the single body with three lenses is not really sensible. Here are some of the scenes from today at the battlefield.

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

Encampments at the Battlefield

It's the time of year for encampments and interpretations at Saratoga National Historical Park. Today was the first of several I plan on documenting. 

EOS R8, 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6, 85mm f/2 STM, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R6, 85mm f/2 STM, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

EOS R8, 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

EOS R8, 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

The 24mm Lens Has Arrived

MPB must not function on Friday afternoons, much like other New York based photography stores. This is at least the second time I've had a Friday morning email telling me the item has shipped and FedEx confirms a label was created but the item never gets picked up by FedEx until Monday. So instead of receiving the lens on Saturday, I receive it on Tuesday. 

I made some sample photos at lock E5 late this morning to show the results with my three current lenses. Here is the same scene shot from the same spot.

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

EOS R6, RF 85mm f/2 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

And here are two images showing the 24mm and 35mm lenses at their maximum aperture focused on the valve to demonstrate background blur.

EOS R8, RF 24mm f/1.8 STM, f/1.8, 1/4000 sec., ISO 50

EOS R8, RF 35mm f/1.8 STM, f/1.8, 1/4000 sec., ISO 50

Another interesting aspect of the 24mm STM, and other similar Canon lenses that rely on digital corrections to fill the frame, is that you can process the files with some extra image on the sides. In this case, the final original resolution is 6314x4000 as opposed to the standard 6000x4000. The following image shows how much it widens the view from the first image in this post.