weekend photo fun 8/24-8/26

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Chip, I'll go you one better than taking a pic of it. I had already made a scan of it and included the info in the manual.

[SpaceMouse]

Chip, I'll go you one better than taking a pic of it. I had already made a scan of it and included the info in the manual.

I can't make out the symbols but from the specs I'd say that you need two things: A lot of light and you have to fix the camera to something. I doubt it has a tripod mount. That means you will have to build your own possibly with clamps.  

What are the symbols on the dial?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

F 2.8   f=3.9

As for light, the layout is under four flourescent lifgts that are the equavalent of four 100 watt incandescant bulbs.

[SpaceMouse]

It's not going to be much, but you will get a greater depth of field or range of what is in focus with the 3.9. That means more light.

The biggest challenge will be stabilizing the camera.

[UP2CSX]

Jeff,

According my calculation from the specs, the camera you posted is about 1 million pixels, or 1 megapixel. Not great but not awful either. It looks like your camera also has a lower resolution setting. Make sure it's set to the highest resolution. JK did a fine job of giving you some hints (I'm printing them out and saving them since I'm terrible with a camera) but I really do think it's the auto focus that's causing the problem. On my camera, I have to press and hold down the shutter button for several seconds until it has focus on the subject. As I wrote before, and JK seems to agree, having anything non-scene related item in the background will cause the auto focus to "hunt" and that means the plaster of paris box may end up perfectly in focus while everything else is out of focus. That last picture you posted seemed to be in good focus all the way through the depth of field and I think it's becuase it was a small scene with nothing to distract the camera. Keep practicing and I think you'll get better phots as you learn.  

[SpaceMouse]

The problem with the overhead light is that you have no control of the direction of the light. That is why you are getting washouts and poor contrast. Also (depending on the bulbs) you are probably getting excess blue light. Try shutting down the overheads and using other lamps to provide lighting from directions which you control. I started with using my desk lamps and gradually started picking up the cheap metal clamp lights from my "bargain basement" store.  

Bob (Railphotog) has a great clinic that talks about lighting. Maybe some kind soul will put up a link.

[selector]

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/512144/ShowPost.aspx

 

[howmus]

Jeff,

According my calculation from the specs, the camera you posted is about 1 million pixels, or 1 megapixel. Not great but not awful either. It looks like your camera also has a lower resolution setting. Make sure it's set to the highest resolution. JK did a fine job of giving you some hints (I'm printing them out and saving them since I'm terrible with a camera) but I really do think it's the auto focus that's causing the problem. On my camera, I have to press and hold down the shutter button for several seconds until it has focus on the subject. As I wrote before, and JK seems to agree, having anything non-scene related item in the background will cause the auto focus to "hunt" and that means the plaster of paris box may end up perfectly in focus while everything else is out of focus. That last picture you posted seemed to be in good focus all the way through the depth of field and I think it's becuase it was a small scene with nothing to distract the camera. Keep practicing and I think you'll get better phots as you learn.  

I think your calculation is a bit off it comes out to .1 megapixel.  A megapixel is 1,000,000 pixels.  Jeffs camera is 101376 pixels.  The photos he is putting online have been enlarged and are 25 DPI.  What Jeff needs is a better camera.  I like Mouses thread about just that.  I think it would be great to see Jeffrey get a camera that could show off the great modeling work that he has done.  I would send him my old 3.5 MP camera, but it died thus allowing me to justify spending the money for a Digital Rebel XT.......

Jeffs camera is also, according to the specs, a "fixed" lens.  It is basically a "pin hole" type camera. It doesn't have an ajustable focus on it.  For under $20 (retail - Jeffrey got it on sale for $10) you ain't gonna get many bells and whistles. 

[SteamFreak]

Okay, I don't think any of you know but I am presently in Hawaii on the big island for work.  Today being Sunday, I was naughty and missed church and went up the coast to a train museum.  That's right the big island did have trains at one time to haul sugar and passengers.

Zak, interesting shots of the abandoned ROW, and that's a very boxy, unique caboose. But there are no running trains in Hawaii? I thought it was supposed to be paradise!

[secondhandmodeler]

Okay, I don't think any of you know but I am presently in Hawaii on the big island for work.  Today being Sunday, I was naughty and missed church and went up the coast to a train museum.  That's right the big island did have trains at one time to haul sugar and passengers.

Zak, interesting shots of the abandoned ROW, and that's a very boxy, unique caboose. But there are no running trains in Hawaii? I thought it was supposed to be paradise!

  My wife and I took the sugar cane train in Maui.  It's a little narrow gauge tourist ride in the norther section of Maui.  Not exactly a functioning railroad, but fun none the less.

[loathar]

Okay, I don't think any of you know but I am presently in Hawaii on the big island for work.  Today being Sunday, I was naughty and missed church and went up the coast to a train museum.  That's right the big island did have trains at one time to haul sugar and passengers.

Zak, interesting shots of the abandoned ROW, and that's a very boxy, unique caboose. But there are no running trains in Hawaii? I thought it was supposed to be paradise!

I could swear I just saw a program on that old sugar train. I thought it showed that they restored part of the line and were running tourist trains on it. ( I could be wrong.)

Edit-Nope! I was right!

http://www.gomauicard.com/attractions/Sugar-Cane-Train.html

SEE! It IS paradise!

[GAPPLEG]

Okay, I don't think any of you know but I am presently in Hawaii on the big island for work.  Today being Sunday, I was naughty and missed church and went up the coast to a train museum.  That's right the big island did have trains at one time to haul sugar and passengers.

Zak, interesting shots of the abandoned ROW, and that's a very boxy, unique caboose. But there are no running trains in Hawaii? I thought it was supposed to be paradise!

I could swear I just saw a program on that old sugar train. I thought it showed that they restored part of the line and were running tourist trains on it. ( I could be wrong.)

I think I saw the same show , but where did I see it ?

[jep1267]

J.P.: After I left the thread yesterday I got a very surprising number of PM's and emails of encouragement to come back and post again. I finally did, sometime between 10 and 11 pm after I had cooled down. I was unaware of how many people here enjoy my posts.

 

Good deal. Glad to hear you didn't give up

[loathar]

Gappleg-See my edited post.

[secondhandmodeler]

Okay, I don't think any of you know but I am presently in Hawaii on the big island for work.  Today being Sunday, I was naughty and missed church and went up the coast to a train museum.  That's right the big island did have trains at one time to haul sugar and passengers.

Zak, interesting shots of the abandoned ROW, and that's a very boxy, unique caboose. But there are no running trains in Hawaii? I thought it was supposed to be paradise!

I could swear I just saw a program on that old sugar train. I thought it showed that they restored part of the line and were running tourist trains on it. ( I could be wrong.)

Edit-Nope! I was right!

http://www.gomauicard.com/attractions/Sugar-Cane-Train.html

SEE! It IS paradise!

That's the one.  I don't think I appreciated it as much then as I would now.

[SpaceMouse]

I rode about 40 miles or so on a Sugar Cane train on Maui back in 2000. I don't remember the details about like what kind of steam engine it was or if it was narrow guage or standard, but we rode it.

[jktrains]

Jeff,

Sit down.  Honesty time.  The camera will never yield good shots for model purposes.  It simply is not design for it.  The specs of the camera that lead me to this conclusion becuase of the following:

F-stop fixed at f2.8 - this will result in a very, very short depth of field, espcially for objects close the the lens.  This means that your focus will need to be spot on the subject.  This is why in your pictures there is a large amount of perspective with very little of it being in focus. Also, you have no ability to adjust the f-stop setting. 

Shutter speed is limited to 1/60 - 1/1500 sec.  For interior photography you need either a lot of artificial light or a tripod to hold the camera.  On most SLRs the flash synced shutter speed is 1/60 sec.  This camera is at the bottom of the rande for slow shutter speed.  Many of my pics posted this weekend were in the 4-6 sec exposure range for dark scenes and 1.5" for average lighting from the room.  About the slowest a persona can hold a camera still for is a 1/30 shutter speed, maybe 1/15 if you're leaning against something.

While you're using flourescent lights, they don't provide enough light, for this camera, by the time it reaches the subject.  Light follows an inverse quare law, that means the when you move the light source from 1' away to 2' away from the subject the amount of light falling on the subject is reduced by 1/4 not 1/2.  Therefore you need not twince the light but four times to light for it to be equal.

Exposure setting is auto and can not be adjusted.  This means that since the f-stop is fixed the only way the camera can get the right exposure is to adjust its shutter speed automatically.  Because of this all of your pics with have the same basic exposure or at least be underexposed due to a lack of light. 

White Balance is auto which is also bad.  You flourescent lights output of light is at a certain temperature.  While you may not notice the difference, a camera will.  I took a series of pictures using a simply desk light as the light source.  In one set I used a regular incandescent bulb (60watt) and the other set I used Daylight adjust compact floursecent bulb.  The camera was set on auto white balance.  There is a marked difference in the overall color shift between the two bulbs.

Bottom line is that this camera is meant for outdoor use.  I can't see in the specs of the camera itself where it even has a flash built in.  You will never get satisfactory results when used for close-up photography.  Save it for railfanning or overall layout shots.

After checking a few internet sites you can get a decent digital camera that should provide good pics for around $75-100.  These are cameras with a macro setting, automatic and manual exposure settings, anywhere from 3-6 megapixels, good f-stop range and a focus range down to as close as 4".  While I know you have limited resources, the cost of one of these cameras is in the range of a new loco such as a Bachmann DCC equipped one.  IMO a good trade off given your desire to post pics.  One less loco for hundreds of better quality photos.

[UP2CSX]

 

I think your calculation is a bit off it comes out to .1 megapixel.  A megapixel is 1,000,000 pixels.  Jeffs camera is 101376 pixels.  The photos he is putting online have been enlarged and are 25 DPI.  What Jeff needs is a better camera. 

Dang it, I had a feeling I was screwing up that calculation. I know less about math than I do cameras. You're right, at .10 megapixels, it's amazing that Jeff's pictures don't look like a giant blur. I hope the other camera he has will do better.

 

[SteamFreak]

I could swear I just saw a program on that old sugar train. I thought it showed that they restored part of the line and were running tourist trains on it. ( I could be wrong.)

Edit-Nope! I was right!

http://www.gomauicard.com/attractions/Sugar-Cane-Train.html

SEE! It IS paradise!

WHEW! Zak had me worried. And steam no less!

[rayw46]

Loathar and Gappleg, someone, I can't remember who, produced a tape about the Hawaiian Sugar Cane Train which as you discovered, is now a tourist railroad.  Several years ago I checked the tape out of my local library.  Maybe it was on the History Channel or A&E at one time.

Ray

[wedudler]

Westport Terminal RR made some advertising at the bridge over Commerce St.

Wolfgang 

[Bapou]

Well now that I have a photobucket account here does nothing:

This is the Grim reaper bought in Germany on my diorama.

This is done with just a flashlite, and gravestones from Germany.

Here is one more:

That is just an ALCO S1-4 on the diorama.

[Bapou]

Just wanted to make sure you guys get the last pic here.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I've been doing a bit of layout work today. Remember all the exposed plaster where the crossovers are?

I put some glue mix down and sprinkled liberally with WS green blended turf.

After it's dried I'll clean up the excess and work on putting some ballast in.

[ac4400fan]

I've been doing a bit of layout work today. Remember all the exposed plaster where the crossovers are?

I put some glue mix down and sprinkled liberally with WS green blended turf.

After it's dried I'll clean up the excess and work on putting some ballast in.

Jeff thats a nice shot! how are you going to work the ballast in? Looks good my friend

Carl.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

A little glue wash between the ties and down the sides of the road bed followed by a layer of fine ballast applied with a straw. The turnouts of course will be left clear.

[SD60M]

SD60M

First of the C30-7 is an Atlas, not a BLI.  I've installed an NCE DA-SR in it for DCC.  The rotary beacon is a Details West beacon with a grain of rice bulb inserted inside the amber plastic lens.  It is then connected to the decoder and programmed for a rotary beacon.

I've seen some of your videos on youtube.  Based on them, your other postings and your avatar, it looks like your SD40-2s are BLI units.  The problem with BLI and other sound equipped locos is that there are no extra lighting functions on the decoder.  As far as I can figure the only way to add such an effect on them is the add a separate decoder than can provide the lighting effects.

The beacon isn;t hard to do, just takes patience.  It makes for a really neat effect to have 3 or 4 or 5 of them on in a dimly lighted room.

jktrains

Actually my C30-7 is an atlas unit. My SD40-2 is BLI the other loco is a P2K SD45 and most of my fleet is made up of athearn rtr units. BTW is there a way to make the beacons work without DCC? If so please let me know.

-Kade

[Hoople]

Hey guys, I think WPF has ended. It's 10:30 PM on monday here... I think it should be over with.

[CNW 6000]

SD60M

First of the C30-7 is an Atlas, not a BLI.  I've installed an NCE DA-SR in it for DCC.  The rotary beacon is a Details West beacon with a grain of rice bulb inserted inside the amber plastic lens.  It is then connected to the decoder and programmed for a rotary beacon.

I've seen some of your videos on youtube.  Based on them, your other postings and your avatar, it looks like your SD40-2s are BLI units.  The problem with BLI and other sound equipped locos is that there are no extra lighting functions on the decoder.  As far as I can figure the only way to add such an effect on them is the add a separate decoder than can provide the lighting effects.

The beacon isn;t hard to do, just takes patience.  It makes for a really neat effect to have 3 or 4 or 5 of them on in a dimly lighted room.

jktrains

Actually my C30-7 is an atlas unit. My SD40-2 is BLI the other loco is a P2K SD45 and most of my fleet is made up of athearn rtr units. BTW is there a way to make the beacons work without DCC? If so please let me know.

-Kade

I've seen battery powered ones, not sure who makes them tho.

 

Who cares if the weekend is over if we're having fun?

[Tom Bryant_MR]

A little glue wash between the ties and down the sides of the road bed followed by a layer of fine ballast applied with a straw. The turnouts of course will be left clear.

 

A straw ?  Now that's a neat idea.  I've been using a plastic spoon.  At 1/87 scale, the spoon is like a snow shovel.  I've got to try the straw.

Regards

-Tom