Postby Mick Fagan » 17 Jan 2018, 18:29
Maris, this was one of the few instances on that trip where having the CF made the difference between having something I wanted, or just walking away. As soon as I saw this fence I pretty much knew what I wanted and knew the 65mm was the lens; I wasn’t 100% sure about the CF though. That changed as soon as I looked through the GG without the CF. Placing the CF on the GG dramatically changed the image, even my wife agreed.
Normally she doesn’t look too often at the GG image as she wishes to get on with her own electronic photography. But the wind was so severe, I couldn’t keep the camera still as the dark cloth was acting as a spinnaker. So I employed my wife to keep one foot on a tripod leg and stand in between me and the wind, as well as holding the dark cloth away from my face so I could compose and focus. As it was, I was on my knees with the camera about 200mm above the ground and about 500mm away from the closest fence wire loop on the ground.
I also timed the exposure (1/15) to occur, when a slight lull in the wind stopped the fence wires from vibrating. I sort of made a mistake, in that I used f/22, which is pretty standard for most of my stuff, as, mostly, f/22 is where manufacturers make the sweet spot for image quality to be. Back in the ute and driving along being very happy with what I had taken, I remembered that the Fujinon 65mm has best image quality at f/16; oh well.
But yes, the CF is a piece of kit that is almost always on the 65mm lens and as you mention, the evenness of bland areas right across the frame, is something to behold and makes using this quite wide angled lens, easy as anything to use; so to speak.
Mick.