Empire QuiltFest

The 28mm focal length worked out very nicely yesterday for a biennial quilt festival. For the most part, the subjects were large and you needed to be relatively close to them. In a college athletic complex, the lighting was also very nice compared to something like a county fair, at least the ones I've visited.

The results were interesting enough for a project gallery containing 23 photos. https://www.trulandphotography.com/Color/Projects/Empire-QuiltFest-2026

Here is a sampling.

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 1/180 sec., ISO 400

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 1/45 sec., ISO 400

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/3.5, 1/90 sec., ISO 400

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/3.5, 1/90 sec., ISO 400

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/3.5, 1/45 sec., ISO 400

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/3.5, 1/30 sec., ISO 400

Oakwood Cemetery Sun

The effort to come up with a manageable bag and gear combination with what I'm currently using continues. If I'm carrying two lenses I don't want to have to put the bag down to change lenses. This eliminates the backpacks and sling bags.

Yesterday, I carried the 28-70mm zoom and the 85mm lens in a Case Logic Kontrast shoulder bag at Oakwood Cemetery. This bag has rigid sides and a molded bottom. It's one of my older and cheaper bags and lacks a rain cover but it is sturdy. I never did use the 85mmm lens or any filters.  

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/2.8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 31mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/22, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/22, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/22, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

 

Readjusting to 28mm

My most recent prime lens focal length concentrations have been 35mm, then 50mm, then 45mm and now back to 28mm. The three longer focal lengths seem to not be that different and moving a few feet forward or backward, when that's possible, can compensate for the focal length difference. All three can be considered a relatively "normal" focal length. Normal in the sense of how far away objects seem and that their size seems normal. 

28mm, however, feels different in that it is clearly over the borderline between normal and wide angle. Objects that can fill the foreground with the longer lenses move backward at 28mm. Foreground subjects either need to be larger or closer. And yes, readjusting is the right word. I had this lens a couple of summers ago and used it a lot but haven't concentrated on the focal length since then. Back in 2022, I had a Sigma 28mm Art lens that I used with a Canon 5DS R, a great combination.

Earlier today, I parked along the Mohawk River under the Twin Bridges, formally known as the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge, and followed a bike/hiking path into the Vischer Ferry Nature & Historic Preserve. All of these images are made with the RF 28mm pancake lens,

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/8000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 1/6000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/3000 sec., ISO 100

28mm and 70mm

It's been nice enough lately for leaves and blossoms to progress but the next few days will be more like February than April. Here are some shots from Oakwood Cemetery with the 28mm pancake lens and from Saratoga National Historical Park with the 28-70mm zoom.

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8, f/22, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/60 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 400

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/8, 1/2500 sec., ISO 100

Moving On

Sometimes after a gear change transaction is completed there are regrets. This time my only regret is that I was cheated by MPB in their assessment of my trade in lenses and hoods as I ended up with significantly less than I should have. I could have declined the deal and had them send everything back to me but once a decision to exchange lenses is made it's hard to go back. I suspect MPB knows that.

But I consider this a net positive as I've resolved to do no further transactions with them. Their short term gain, my long term gain. 

I am very happy, cost aside, with the decision to exchange the 24mm f/1.8 and 45mm f/1.2 lenses for the 28-70mm f/2.8 lens. With the addition of the 28mm pancake lens I have a very small option and a very versatile zoom option. The 85mm f/2 half macro lens will also see occasional use.

Both the color and B&W versions of the Vertical 28 project are active with links on the sidebar to the right. Here are some shots added to the project along with some others from yesterday with the zoom lens.

Matton Shipyard
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/4, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

Cluett Peabody & Co. Bleach Plant
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 66mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 50mm, f/5.6, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

Peebles Island
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

Mohawk River
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

Newest Project

I have created a new gallery for a project I've just begun, Vertical 28. Eventually there will be galleries in both color and black & white but for now only the color gallery contains images. The subject matter is portrait orientation with the 28mm focal length. Aspect ratios will be either 2:3 or 3:4.

Either the 28mm pancake lens or the wide end of the 28-70mm zoom lens can be used. There is a link in the ongoing projects link list to the right. Here are some of the initial images.

Russel Sage College
RF 28mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

Troy, NY Alleyway
RF 28mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

Oakwood Cemetery
RF 28-70mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

Peebles Island
RF 28mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

Peebles Island
RF 28mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

Peebles Island
RF 28mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

Waterford Visitor Center
RF 28mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

Pancakes

I hadn't intended to have my most recent gear transaction include the RF 28mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens. But it did. This is the third copy of this lens I've had, most recently over the summer of 2024. I traded it in with some other lenses when I picked up my prior copy of the RF 28-70mm f/2.8 lens.

I'd like to say I'll hang on to this lens for an extended period. It's a very interesting design and the end result is pretty impressive. You can watch a tear down video showing the design of the lens here. Note the concave front element in the diagram below. You don't see that very often.

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM diagram

Camera/lens combinations which have the angle of view of a 28mm lens on a full frame, or 35mm film size, sensor are having their time in the sun. Main cameras on smart phones are generally this focal length equivalent. 

Ricoh makes a crop sensor camera with a built in 28mm equivalent lens in both color and black & white only versions. Leica has a series of full frame cameras with incorporated f/1.7 28mm lenses also in both color and black & white only models. More interesting to me is the Fujifilm GFX100RF with an f/4 lens which has a medium format sensor but lacks image stabilization. The design of these lenses are all pancake like to varying degrees. 

My version, with a full frame body with image stabilization and the f/2.8 pancake lens, seems a very respectable alternative. In comparison to the Leica Q series, the f/2.8 is slower than f/1.7 but the body has some better features like a 1/8000 sec. maximum shutter speed versus 1/2000. Advantages versus the GFX100RF include an f/2.8 rather than f/4 lens and image stabilization. Plus, I already have it.

Here is my now current kit with the pancake lens on the R6 Mark II.

And here are some scenes from my first outing with the combination in downtown Troy, NY this morning.

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28mm f/2.8 STM, f/4, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

28 Again

The RF 28-70mm f/2.8 IS STM lens arrived late last week and I've been out with it a couple of times. Looking back at past blog articles about my former copy of this lens I noticed that a lot of the images I chose to include were at the 28mm focal length. 

It's generally accepted by reviewers that the wide end of this lens is its weakest performance. A comparison with Canon's 28mm pancake lens from The Digital Picture appears to bear this out. 

Having traded in my 24mm and 45mm lenses when I picked up the new zoom lens, I was without a small option as the new zoom is as large as the 85mm f/2 lens. The logical conclusion is that I need another copy of the 28mm pancake lens. I have a place for it in the Case Logic Kontrast DSLR bag I'm using for the rest of the gear and I have a small Lowepro bag which just fits the R6 Mark II with the pancake lens. 

Here are some photos from the new zoom lens.

Old Champlain Canal
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 37mm, f/4, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

Old Champlain Canal
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 61mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

Oakwood Cemetery
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/6.7, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 39mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

General George Thomas Grave
RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 50mm, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 100