Travel Photographers Network

How a trainspotter went digital!

Text and images by Ian Lawrence - All rights reserved.

Initial considerations

When digital photography first came along, I saw no need to be the first in line to get a digital camera. DSLR cameras were simply too expensive, and budget P&S cameras were not a valid alternative. Little plastic lenses meant poor picture quality, and shutter lag meant the train was long gone before you had taken the shot. They had no use in serious railway photography.

Digital photography evolved and became affordable, but I still didn’t want to replace a perfectly good system (SLR) by a different system (DSLR), which I thought was equally good, just for the sake of change or progress. I preferred to spend the money on photographic tours.

For the last few years I’ve had my negatives scanned at my local photoshop for any (limited) post processing needed. Then the owner of my photoshop started expanding, buying a second shop, going for the large turnover instead of the quality. Suddenly I decided I needed to be independent of the quality of any specific photo lab. With digital files you can get prints made anywhere over the internet or print them at home in all price and quality ranges, but there are few shops I’d trust with my negatives. So it was time for change.

The new 20D had come out and “old” 10D bodies could be found secondhand on Ebay for quite reasonable prices (EUR550), but I needed more than just a body. I’d done the maths, and the total changeover would cost me around EUR1200 if I went for just one digital body. Due to the crop factor I needed to cover the wide angle side and get one or two new lenses. I also needed a portable hard drive, memory cards, batteries, a USB hard drive to backup the large RAW files, and UV filters.  On the plus side I’d be saving approximately EUR600 per year on film purchase, development and scans. So the setup would pay for itself within two years.

My old analogue setup for tours

• EOS 33 + EOS100

• 35/4mm manual focus with EOS adapter

• Canon 50/1.8

• Canon 70-200/4L

• 1.4TC

• Spare batteries for bodies

• Plenty of film

My new digital setup for tours

• EOS 10D

• Voigtlander (cosina) 19-35/f3.5-4.5 (30-56)

• Tamron 28-75/2.8 (45-120)

• Canon 70-200f4L (112-320)

• PD70X 40GB mobile hard drive powered by 4 AA cells (no charger needed on tour)

• Memory cards 2 x 512MB

• 4 batteries for camera (often there may be no charging possibilities for several days on tour) with charger.

• EOS33 with some film as backup

The gear is carried in a conventional camera bag. I know backpacks are easier to carry, but the limited accessibility means you need to put the pack down to change lenses. Not only does this slow you down, but you simply don’t want to put anything on the ground in a railway depot (grease, oil, coal dust)!

Choice of new equipment

I bought a Canon 10D 6MP body (not the 300D) because I wanted a rugged body that could stand up to abuse. I don’t shoot wide angle much, so I couldn’t defend paying for a prime or high end zoom in the 17 to 19mm range. I settled for a Voigtlander zoom, which produces astoundingly good pictures when stopped down considering the price.  Flare is a problem, distortion too, but these can be solved in post processing, especially as I don’t expect to use it often.

I tend to use the range between 70 to 120mm to get “atmospheric” shots, and really needed a zoom to cover this. There often isn’t enough time to change primes when action is developing fast. I chose a Tamron 28-75/2.8 due to its reasonable price and high rated optical performance. It came with the well known and dreaded front focus problem. I had to send it to the Tamron repair centre twice, but then it came back unbelievably sharp. It’s sharper than my 28/2.8 prime and equals my 50/1.8.

The PD70X 40GB mobile hard drive was selected after checking out various possibilities. It has one of the fastest data transfer rates available and can be powered by standard AA cells, which should last for a full tour and can be bought almost anywhere, thus eliminating the need to carry yet another charger. I felt systems that allow the images to be viewed are too expensive. And there is no way I’m going to carry a laptop around with me! I’m a photographer, not a mule.

First experiences with digital

I soon had to change my opinion about digital being equal to 35mm film. I was wrong. Digital is far superior!. The first thing I noticed was something that wasn’t there. The noise or rather the lack of noise. Compared to scans of 400 asa negative film, the 400 asa setting produces no noise. Not that the grain level ever bothered me, but in 20x30cm enlargements the grain is visible and really needs some software assistance. Digital needs no assistance! The lower settings are even better and the higher settings of 800 asa is perfectly useable unlike the colour film alternatives I’ve tried.

I was also very pleased with the low light capabilities of my DSLR. Some of my best photos are taken round sunrise and sunset. I can now start photographing moving trains earlier and continue until later. If needed I can crank up the film sensitivity to the 1600 asa setting and continue shooting. Typical early morning or late night shots don’t have too many small details. It’s more about shapes, shadows and colours. The noise suppression options of RSP have proven to be sufficient to turn a RAW file into a photo which can be printed up to 20x30cm for framing on the wall (not for close scrutiny). For the first time I was able to capture afterglow and the lights within a passenger coach of a train traveling at speed.

Thanks to the post processing possibilities of the RAW format, shots I know wouldn’t have worked with film can turn out really good, with a little effort in post processing

Digital unforgivingly shows up flaws and weaknesses in lenses. It’s easy to compare results from various lenses, and once you start routinely cropping images in post processing you find yourself wanting the best possible image your sensor can supply. Some of my primes turned out to be less sharp than I’d always thought and my trusted 70-200/4L needed recalibration to be usable wide open.

Experiences on a 10-day railway photography tour in Cuba

The real test of the new digital setup came with the first rail tour abroad. My setup performed well and I didn’t feel I was missing anything.

Shooting at apertures down to f8 I didn’t find dust on the sensor to be such a big practical problem as is often made out. Even so I did notice a really big spot in the sky of my shots and on the sensor, and decided I had to do something about it. The blower didn’t budge it. I then used a dry cotton bud stick just to touch the spot, without applying any force and that did the trick.

I disable the auto power off and switch the camera on when I approach a shoot location. I switch it off again when I leave the location. This enables a rapid response when a train suddenly appears or a scene develops. Used this way one fully charged battery lasts at least a full day before the camera indicates a “half battery” symbol.

I clearly shoot more frames than with film. It’s easy to try things you wouldn’t even dream of when using “expensive” film. Chasing trains I shot over 100 frames a day, compared to the normal 1 to 2 films.

Overall conclusion

I’m glad I’ve gone digital. In fact I should have done it a lot earlier. For me the better low light capabilities over film make it all worthwhile. The post processing possibilities with the RAW format are the icing on the cake. Be prepared to buy new lenses or have your existing ones recalibrated as digital will show up every flaw or weakness.

The accompanying shots

I needed some images to accompany this article and didn’t want to shoot my equipment.  Recently I visited Cuba on an organised rail tour. It was also my first “digital” tour. We went to photograph the rich diversity of old railway rolling stock in use, most of it bought secondhand from all over the world. At the start and end of the tour we had some time off in Havana and I went out to take the standard tourist shots of which I’ve included the best.

About the Author

Ian Lawrence lives in the Netherlands and works as a civil engineer (piping and pipelining). He spends his spare time photographing trains in their surroundings, always looking for the perfect shot in the best light. As the Netherlands don’t have many locations where he can get the type of shots he likes, he travels abroad whenever he can.

More of his work can be seen on his homepage at www.railway-photography.net

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