A Short Week - Part Four - The Ability To Zoom

The delight I took in the first part of the day with the prime lens - the Laowa 9mm f:2.8 - was matched in the latter half of the morning when I switched to the Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS lens. The turnover point was when the container ship slid by and I wanted to get a closer shot. Admittedly, close with 24mm on APS-C is a relative term. The colour through the blue glass needed Lightroom correction, but this was a one-click affair. With the lens changed over, I had more freedom to pick and choose framing inside. There was still a need for leveling, but not with some exhibits...and of course the building itself has any number of swooping curves to the basic architecture. Old friends, like Lady Forrest, were seen to advantage now that they are inside and out of the weather. Doesn't do to get lifeboats wet... One thing I never quite understood was why it was a good idea to put the vital crew members like the coxswain out in the rain and wind ...when you could have given the poor sod some sort of wheelhouse. Never mind - the image of the model vessel illustrates the advantage of carrying an external flash and some sort of off-camera wireless trigger. There are a number of these systems on the accessory wall of Camera Electronic. The procedure for a good under-glass shot is to set the aperture small and overpower the museum lighting with the flash held at arm's length above the case. Even better if you've got an assistant who can position the flash head so that it does not reflect in the case. The zoom need not always be at the widest setting to give a good result - remember that the 24mm setting on APS-C is equivalent to 36mm on a full frame camera, and this is just a moderate wide-angle. I had a whale of a time with the Fujinon zoom on the day - and did not miss the extra 1 millimetre of wide from that of the Laowa - but I did notice the extra weight and size as I took it around. Were I on a European museum tour I would consider size and weight carefully.