Category Archives: Reader Questions

Commentary, Reader Questions

About the Yosemite “Rim” fire… and more

Leave a comment

UPDATE and a NOTE:

Update: Shortly after I posted this, my reports on highway 120 through the park via the Tuolumne Meadows area  were rendered incorrect/outdated by way of an updated announcement from the park service as follows:

“Beginning at 12:00pm on Wednesday, August 28th, Tuolumne Meadows and the High Sierra will only be accessible via Highway 120 East through Lee Vining.  The Tioga Rd/Hwy 120 East will be temporarily closed between White Wolf Lodge and the Big Oak Flat Rd./Hwy 120 West at Crane Flat; the closure is estimated to be 3 to 4 days.  Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, the High Sierra Camps, and Tuolumne Meadows and Porcupine Flat campgrounds all remain open.”

Basically, this means that you will not be able to use highway 120 as a route across the Sierra until further notice. I’m not surprised – in fact, I’ve been somewhat surprised that the road remained open this long. Apparently the following URL is also a good source of updates from the park: http://www.yosemitepark.com/yosemite-fire-update.aspx

Note: All of which brings me back to my original statement that I don’t have inside information on this fire, and that anyone traveling to the area needs to check official sources for conditions updates. I will likely not update this page as things change, so the information posted here should be regarded as potentially being out of date!

My original post follows…

—

A few people have asked me for information about the “Rim” fire which started not far from Groveland near highway 120, and which is currently burning along the northwest boundary of Yosemite National Park, generally moving east and north toward the highway 108 area. While I know much of this area fairly well from many years (decades, actually) of visits, I do not have any inside information about the fire itself, nor am I an expert on wildfires. One good source of (limited but objective) information is the Stanislaus National Forest Rim Fire Incident web page. A map on this page is a quite amazing source of information, especially when combined with some familiarity with the area and a reading of various written reports. (The version on the main page seems to be based on Google Maps, and allows you to scroll around and zoom in.) Lots of folks who live and work in the area are sharing updates on the usual social media sites. The Mariposa Gazette is another local news source.

The fire started on August 17 more or less midway between Groveland and the  northwest park entrance and not far off of the highway 120 corridor near the Rim of the World area overlooking the canyon of the Tuolumne River. (Highway 120 is a common route for entry to the park from the west and northwest, and it connects via Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass to the east side of the Sierra at the town of Lee Vining.) The spread of the fire at first was somewhat quick, which is no surprise given the extremely dry conditions in the Sierra following a second very dry winter and almost no real precipitation since late 2012. Then, between about August 20 and 23, the fire exploded, expanding  very quickly to cover a huge area generally to the east and north of the starting point, with the fire generally racing northeast but also spreading to the north and south. Continue reading About the Yosemite “Rim” fire… and more →

Equipment, Reader Questions, Technique

Reader Question: One Lens for Landscape and Wildflowers on Hikes?

2 Comments

From time to time blog readers email me questions about photography subjects. When possible I like to answer them here so that I can share the answer with others who might be interested. Here is a recent question:

“If you were going on a hike to capture landscape and wildflowers, and you could only take one lens, which one and why?”

In some ways that is  a very simple question, but it other ways the answer can be quite involved. Since the question did begin with, “If you were…”, let me start out by literally saying a bit about my own photography – but reminding readers that my approach is individual and idiosyncratic and may not match up with your preferences at all.

If the goal was to cover as much ground as possible in a single lens, and accept some photographic limitations in exchange for carrying less gear, with my Canon full-frame DSLR system I would most likely use my Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L. On full-frame, the 24mm focal length covers a pretty decent wide angle range, and 105mm is long enough for many subjects. The lens also focuses reasonably close – though not macro-close – and the image stabilization feature is useful in situations where I might want to hand-hold the camera. On a week-long backpacking trip through a high and remote section of the Sierra a few years ago, I used only this lens (and tripod, remote release, a few filters, etc) and came back with good results. To extend the usefulness of the lens for close-up flower photography I sometimes carry an extension tube, though others might just bring along a close-up “filter” or two.

There are things that I would miss with this single-lens setup. A personal preference in my shooting is to work with longer focal lengths, so for me having nothing longer than 105mm would seem like a bit of a restriction. And while this lens plus the extension tube works pretty well, it won’t be as good as a dedicated macro lens.

Another alternative that I’ve thought about but have not yet tried (since I haven’t had the gear long enough just yet) would be to use my small Fujifilm X-E1 (seen”Fujifilm X-E1: From DSLR to Mirrorless“) with the 60mm macro and perhaps the fine little 18-55mm zoom. I know that is more than one lens, but the total kit size is smaller/lighter than my full-frame DSLR. You could go with just the excellent little zoom plus a close up filter or two as an alternative. I use this particular brand/model and like it a lot, but there are alternatives from other manufacturers that also have a lot of fans.

Moving on from what I might use, let’s briefly consider some other options that might appeal to other photographers.

If you are primarily interested in the wildflowers and are a very serious photographer, you might prefer to simply carry a dedicated macro lens of whatever focal length seems best for you. This will be your best bet for close-up wildflower photography and, accepting the limitations of having only a single focal length, will produce excellent image quality for non-macro subjects as well.

Another option that would work well for a lot of people is one of the entry-level DSLRs (like the Canon t1i-t5i series or alternatives) with the “kit” lens in the 18-55mm range plus one or more close-up filters. These can produce quite decent image quality and the package is small, light, versatile, and not too costly.

This begins to lead to the question of what your primary goals are in your hiking photography. Are you a very serious photographer who regularly produces large and high quality prints? Or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, are you a much more casual photographer who wants to bring back some beautiful records of your experience and share them with friends and family, perhaps mostly online? More than likely, you might have to determine where you fit between the extreme ends of this spectrum. How important is the weight/bulk of the equipment? Are you going to grab shots handheld or stop and use a tripod?

For some who are more concerned with the weight/bulk issues and perhaps not likely to make 20″ x 30″ prints, there are lots of smaller, lighter and often less expensive options that can be very good choices. These include some of the smaller and lighter mirrorless cameras such as the Fujifilm model I mentioned above (at the high end), and also some of the point and shoot cameras, many of which can produce excellent photographs.

Good luck with your choice… and with your photography!

Articles in the “reader questions” series:

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Commentary, Equipment, Reader Questions

Reader Questions (April 2013)

2 Comments

Blog readers and others occasionally send me questions, and I like to reply publicly so that others who are interested in these topics can also see the answers. Here are a few from the past few weeks. (Some posts are edited slightly here.)

Dave writes:

“I recently was reading a thread here where you posted about the 24-105 vs the 24-70. First I wanted to say thanks for your perspective. I had every intention of selling the 24-105 after much of the hoopla I’ve read about it not being so great and ordering the 24-70 MKII. My first day out with the 5D3 was in a museum (No flash) and the IS on the 24-105 in combination with the ISO on the 5D3 gave me shots I never would have thought possible. In short I’m very happy with the 24-105 when I had zero expectation of keeping it.

The question I have is that my 24-105 does have a fair amount of distortion @ 24mm and I noticed you also use the 17-40. Do you find the 17-40 a better performer @ 24mm and do you like the 17-40 in general?”

There are several interesting questions here, so let me try to take them one at at time.

First, though, an article I wrote a while back that looked at the pluses of the 24-105mm lens: In Praise of the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS L lens

Image stabilization (IS) versus larger apertures – The maximum aperture of the Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS is f/4. An f/2.8 maximum aperture is available on a Canon 24-70mm zoom and larger apertures come on a number of primes. This would seem to leave the f/4 zoom in the dust for low light photography – but maybe not. In situations where the limiting factor is camera stability (and the photographer’s ability to hold the camera steady at low shutter speeds), IS can provide several stops of additional low light performance if the subject is not moving too fast and/or if some subject motion blur is acceptable or even desired. In a situation like this one – photographing in a museum – the IS can work in light that would require a f/1.4 lens without IS. In addition, working at f/4 gives you slightly more depth of field. This can make focus just a bit less critical – important when working handheld with AF – let you keep more of the subject in focus.

Distortion at 24mm on the 24-105mm f/4L IS – One of the perceived negatives of this lens is that it shows more barrel distortion (a bowing outward of the image along the sides of the frame) at 24mm. It also exhibits more corner light fall off (or vignetting) at the largest apertures and especially at wide angles. In most cases you won’t notice either of these, but if you image contains lines parallel to the frame edges you may well see the barrel distortion when shooting at 24mm and you may well see the vignetting at f/4. (All lenses vignette to some extent – so it isn’t a question of whether a lens vignettes, but of how much. Most wide zooms will also show at least some barrel distortion.)

I rarely notice the barrel distortion. First, most of the time I shoot at focal lengths that don’t exhibit the issue. Second, when I do shoot at 24mm the issue is not visible with most subjects. But sometimes it will be visible at 24mm. However, most current raw conversion software auto-corrects for this. Some worry that this will diminish image resolution, but I’ve look for degradation and I cannot see it. Likewise, the software can automatically correct for vignetting and do so in ways that are essentially imperceptible. However, keep in mind that vignetting can be a beneficial effect in your photograph – in fact, it is not uncommon for photographers to add some in post! It serves to diminish the importance of peripheral parts of your image and can bring more attention to central elements.

Continue reading Reader Questions (April 2013) →