I finally managed to arrange for myself, my camera (Canon PowerShot G6), the sun and an interesting train to come together, point the camera in the right direction and shoot at the right time.

Don't know the speed of the train, but these Class 222's of Hull Trains can do 125 mph and are scheduled on some stages at 97 mph start to stop. They are 4-car diesel-electric units. The main picture has been cropped vertically only, no other processing.

More pictures of high speed trains on:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/harold.curnow/ECML/

Enjoy!

Harold J Curnow (UK)

And if those trains were traveling at the speeds you indicated, then you've done a good job of stopping the action. Are you controlling the shutter speed on that G6 or is the camera making that decision? Either way it seems to be stopping the action very well.

Don

Thanks for the comments. I am leaving as little as possible to the camera, partly with the idea of reducing the dreaded shutter lag, though I haven't noticed any anyway. I set Manual Focus to infinity (can't prefocus on a train that ain't there yet) and the shutter speed - 1/1250 seems to work well in reasonable light. The camera chooses the aperture - f 3.2 in that case. I am slowly working my way through all the dials, buttons and menus as situations arise. Keeps me occupied

One comment on this camera compared with my earlier Kodak DC3800: with so much going on before you take the shot there is a lot less to do in photoprocessing afterwards. Often I play around with brightness etc, and end up preferring the straight camera version.

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

"I set Manual Focus to infinity (can't prefocus on a train that ain't there yet)"

Since it appears you were set up at a particular spot and had a reasonable idea of where the train would be before you took the photo, all you have to do is pick out a stationary object like a wire post (or whatever they are called ) or even the rail head. If you can get a good guess at the distance, just set your camera for it.

Depending on the camera (digital) of course most of them are at infinity after 30 feet or so. I don't think you are going to get close to a speeder like that!

Dean

Yes, it is the same place I started at 3 years ago (A4 hitting post).

I did some tests in my back yard and found there is sufficient depth of focus for "infinity" or "5 meters" not to make much difference. I now set the whole thing as a custom mode, which leaves me only the zoom and the trigger to handle in real time.

-- I don't think you are going to get close to a speeder like that! --

Don't tempt me!

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

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And if those trains were traveling at the speeds you indicated, then you've done a good job of stopping the action.

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The credit should go to the camera.

I just went away and did the math(s). A train at 100 mph will move 1.4 inches in the 1/1250th of a second. And the camera does some sharpening by default. I must try taking some sequence shots to check the speed, and try not-sharpening to see how soft the soft-focus is. So many things to try, so little time.

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

Understand about playing around with all the bells and whistles on modern digital cameras. There are still many features on my camera that I have never used........yet!

Don

I presume that the camera is pointing steadily at the train, rather than panning - have you tried panning as well?

John

Thanks for your comments. These trains run from King's Cross to Doncaster, Selby and Hull. So they mix it with the Electras, HST 125's and GNER Eurostar on the ECML to Doncaster.

Panning? I suppose so, but not to stop the train - the exposure does that. It also stops the scenery in the moving camera, so I need to find some way of giving the impression of speed.

When the train appears I aim the camera at its nose and take the first pressure on the trigger. Then I let it draw ahead to fill the optical viewfinder, and swing with it till we get to the firing point. Well, that's the theory and I am just getting the knack of it. The second (heavily cropped) picture in the first message is too far away because the shutter went off prematurely. The camera is sometimes criticised because the optical viewfinder shows only 80% of the scene, but that gives me a safety margin.

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

Thanks for the tips on how you do it; I presume that the first pressure on the trigger is to let the camera set the distance? Or is that already locked to infinity? (Not that it probably makes a great deal of difference over the distance you're presumably shooting at?)

And far better, as you say, to have a viewfinder that shows less of the final shot than is actually taken than the reverse. I'm surprised by how many people hold the camera out at arm's length and use the little screen when aiming - seems a sure way of getting camera-shake to me

John

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I presume that the first pressure on the trigger is to let the camera set the distance? Or is that already locked to infinity?

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So far as I have sussed it out, by reading the User Manual:

If I use the camera in full AUTO mode, when I half-press the trigger the camera has to make five decisions. Focus, Aperture, Exposure time, White Balance and ISO speed. White Balance takes account of the ambient light colour (daylight, fluorescent etc.) and ISO speed is the sensitivity of the retina, which can be increased in poor light. I preset the focus and Exposure time ("Fast train coming!") but the camera still has to set the rest.

I suspect some of this goes on unseen in a simpler Point and Shoot Camera, needed to match the flexibility of film. "Point and Shoot" because there are only two ways to get it wrong - point it the wrong way and shoot at the wrong time. The G6 is a "Creative Compact" camera, which means there are many more creative ways to get it wrong.

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

If you want a good smeared background to show speed then you will have to try panning a few shots. I used to do it with film many years ago at drag races. IIRC, I used 400 speed film mostly and it worked out well or at least a few out of a roll.

Nothing on the rails moves fast enough around here for me to try it.

Dean

Thanks, I must try lengthening the exposure and hope the resultant blur looks intentional

--it worked out well or at least a few out of a roll.--

With digital it is not so expensive to experiment.

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

Dean

--use the Motion Blur (or equivalent) option on your photo software.--

-- Now that just takes all the fun out of the hobby --

It certainly makes it a different hobby. I am trying to improve my pictures by getting them right before exposure, to compete with real film photographers.

These two pictures show the latest and probably the last attempt to rescue an early disaster; there are over 100 saved images between these two. Thanks for the Motion Blur tip. I had everything else done so that is the last change.

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

I presume that you copied the missing bit of the loco from another picture? Certainly the patch doesn't show at this resolution - well done!

Does it take the fun out of things? I suppose in a way it does, but it adds a whole new sort of fun, and it's only what people with decent darkroom equipment have been doing since photography was invented.

FWIW, the UK finescale magazine Model Railway Journal has been touting the idea of building an early 50s model railway (that is, one as it would have been built at that time, not one showing the prototype as it then was) using only the materials available at that time. No decent glues, hardly any scale drawings, no styrene, no electronics and so on. I suppose that what we do nowadays has 'taken the fun out of that' too, but I know which I prefer.

John

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I presume that you copied the missing bit of the loco from another picture?

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I used a newspaper picture taken at York later the same day as an overlay guide to painting and copying the details.

Regards,

Harold J Curnow (UK)

Composition is the most difficult part especially with trains since one cannot always set up where one wants to.

Dean

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Composition is the most difficult part especially with trains since one cannot always set up where one wants to.

Dean

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At least, not unless your name is Nicholas Morant and you're employed by the Candian Pacific Railway!

John