Jump to content
Leica M EV1: Die erste M mit EVF statt Messssucher ×
Leica M EV1: The first M with EVF instead of Rangefinder ×

Didcot Railway Centre

lanetomlane

By lanetomlane
in Landscape & Travel

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Popular Post
lanetomlane

lanetomlane

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Visited the Didcot Railway Centre on Wednesday evening and took a series of photographs in the engine shed. Very dark, very dramatic and a great evening. All taken with the Leica SL2 and 24-90mm Vario-Elmarit lens.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 89
  • Thanks 3
Link to post
Share on other sites
lanetomlane

lanetomlane

Posted
  • Author
Posted
3 hours ago, Sjz said:

Thank you for sharing, I am booked in for Feb, hints and tips would be most welcome 🙂

You'll really enjoy it; at least I did. The only thing I didn't like was Parking. There is a car park directly opposite the station entrance but it's one of those you have to use a mobile phone app, which I couldn't get to work. A fiend of mine did manage it, but it wanted to charge him £19.99 for what would have been 4 hours. In the end I drove round the block and parked for free in a street which was directly behind the official car park. There was a 'back foot entrance' and we just walked through and it perhaps added about 30 metres.

Definitely take a rigid tripod as it is dark. I was shooting 400 ISO mainly at f5.6 with 1/2 to 1 second shutter time. Most of my shots were taken at 24 to 50mm although I did have a couple towards the 90mm range of the Vario-Elmarit. I also took the 16-35mm Vario, the 50mm SL Summicron and a 85mm f1.4 Sigma Art lens but didn't use any of them.

Do make sure to take a torch as it is very dark walking to the shed and there are some obstacles around; I nearly fell over a piece of wood just at the entrance gate to the Railway Centre.

Do enjoy it and I'd love to hear your thoughts after the event.

Tom

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
Sjz

Sjz

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, lanetomlane said:

You'll really enjoy it; at least I did. The only thing I didn't like was Parking. There is a car park directly opposite the station entrance but it's one of those you have to use a mobile phone app, which I couldn't get to work. A fiend of mine did manage it, but it wanted to charge him £19.99 for what would have been 4 hours. In the end I drove round the block and parked for free in a street which was directly behind the official car park. There was a 'back foot entrance' and we just walked through and it perhaps added about 30 metres.

Definitely take a rigid tripod as it is dark. I was shooting 400 ISO mainly at f5.6 with 1/2 to 1 second shutter time. Most of my shots were taken at 24 to 50mm although I did have a couple towards the 90mm range of the Vario-Elmarit. I also took the 16-35mm Vario, the 50mm SL Summicron and a 85mm f1.4 Sigma Art lens but didn't use any of them.

Do make sure to take a torch as it is very dark walking to the shed and there are some obstacles around; I nearly fell over a piece of wood just at the entrance gate to the Railway Centre.

Do enjoy it and I'd love to hear your thoughts after the event.

Tom

Thank you for the advice, I intend taking my SL2 and was going to take the SL 35 and 75 ‘Crons’.  Will also take the 24-90.

My other thought was my M10M with the 28 ‘lux’ and 50 ‘Cron’ it is incredible in the dark, but I don’t want to come back with a card full of misfocussed photos.  
 

I will let you know how I got on 🙂

thank you again. 

Link to post
Share on other sites
lanetomlane

lanetomlane

Posted
  • Author
Posted
40 minutes ago, Sjz said:

Thank you for the advice, I intend taking my SL2 and was going to take the SL 35 and 75 ‘Crons’.  Will also take the 24-90.

My other thought was my M10M with the 28 ‘lux’ and 50 ‘Cron’ it is incredible in the dark, but I don’t want to come back with a card full of misfocussed photos.  
 

I will let you know how I got on 🙂

thank you again. 

Changing lenses is a bit of a pain and that's why I stuck to the 24-90mm. When we went into the engine shed we were asked to leave the camera bags near the entrance wall. The 'King' was located on the road furthest away from the wall/camera bags and because of the darkness and the locomotive 'pits' I didn't return to it between sessions. I was talking to the organiser and he mentioned they were going to change the position of the 'King' for the February session and so it may be easier for you.

One thing I did notice is that the SL2 went through batteries, probably due to the long exposure and noise reduction. The first battery was at a half at the interval and so to be sure I put the second battery in, and that was at the last bar at the end of the session. (Both batteries were full at the start.)

Personally, I would try to keep 'your kit' to a minimum; I also thought about taking the M10, or M10r but am glad I didn't.

I've already posted another couple of images in the 'Blog' section of my website https://photographybytomlane.com and will probably add a section dedicated to Didcot as I process more images. (One thing I did find is that the images took a lot of post processing.)

Tom

Link to post
Share on other sites
Sjz

Sjz

Posted
Posted

Advertisement (gone after registration)

2 hours ago, lanetomlane said:

Changing lenses is a bit of a pain and that's why I stuck to the 24-90mm. When we went into the engine shed we were asked to leave the camera bags near the entrance wall. The 'King' was located on the road furthest away from the wall/camera bags and because of the darkness and the locomotive 'pits' I didn't return to it between sessions. I was talking to the organiser and he mentioned they were going to change the position of the 'King' for the February session and so it may be easier for you.

One thing I did notice is that the SL2 went through batteries, probably due to the long exposure and noise reduction. The first battery was at a half at the interval and so to be sure I put the second battery in, and that was at the last bar at the end of the session. (Both batteries were full at the start.)

Personally, I would try to keep 'your kit' to a minimum; I also thought about taking the M10, or M10r but am glad I didn't.

I've already posted another couple of images in the 'Blog' section of my website https://photographybytomlane.com and will probably add a section dedicated to Didcot as I process more images. (One thing I did find is that the images took a lot of post processing.)

Tom

Hi, 

I truly appreciate the advice.

I found reading your blog a pleasure and will keep an eye open for new additions.

Graham 

  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
farnz

farnz

Posted
Posted
On 1/13/2023 at 4:56 PM, lanetomlane said:

Personally, I would try to keep 'your kit' to a minimum; I also thought about taking the M10, or M10r but am glad I didn't.

A lovely picture, Tom.

I've done Didcot a couple of times with Time Line Events and I thought they did well with the character models, spots, and steam machines. 

Their event at STEAM - Swindon's Railway Museum was very good as well and the period buildings helped set the scene I thought.

I took the M10 and 50/1 Noctilux to Didcot and was very happy with how it performed (I didn't bother with the EVF) and had no trouble focussing in the low light.  If anything, the main problem was other photographers just planting themselves in front of you and blocking your view. 

So my advice would be: don't forget your cattle-prod. :lol:

Pete.

  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
lanetomlane

lanetomlane

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 1/30/2023 at 2:31 PM, fotografr said:

Really gorgeous image, beautifully exposed and composed. It looks like something from the 1930s or 40s.

Many thanks for your kind comment Brent which is really appreciated.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...