This recently restored NSW AD60 from the Canberra Railway Museum was in Wagga Wagga for the weekend. I went along for a ride and a chance to photograph it in action. Coincidentally it was also the first outing for my new Nikon F6 camera.
The 4-8-4+4-8-4 is the largest steam loco in Australia. Due to small scale tunnels originally constructed in NSW no locos reached the size of the American articulated giants. However, at around 260 tons with 63,000lbs of tractive effort this is a still a non-trivial machine.
Enthusiasts crowded the station to take a short ride with 6029 at one end of the train and Alco 5401 at the other. After the return run to Bomen I set off to find some vantage points for gunzelling.
My first stop was only a few hundred metres from the station where the train crosses over the highway and passes through a public park. I had a Sigma 24-105mm permanently set at f/8 and Portra 800 with the F6 meter set at +0.7.
My local camera store developed and scanned my films. I used DxO Pro 9 for some minor white balance adjustments. It appears that the Sigma has a very slight yellow cast.
These shots are from several runs as the train carried hundreds of passengers along the main line. I used Group Dynamic AF with Pattern 1 Center, selecting four edge focus points. I tracked the front of the engine with the rear AF-On button until I liked the framing. The instantaneous response of the F6 and the short mirror blackout made getting the exact timing easy.
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Further out of town I waited near the viaduct across the Murrumbidgee flood plain. Tourist trips were run between regularly scheduled passenger and freight trains.
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The F6 is the best camera I have ever used. Every control is where I need it, focusing is accurate at 5.5fps, the matrix metering never misses a shot and the brilliant viewfinder makes my old digital bodies look very weak by comparison.
I know there are superb cameras available such as the Nikon D750, but I like the way the F6 feels and operates. I enjoy the different photo experience when using film. Old-school no doubt but I can't see myself switching to digital for outdoor shots. The F6 is so easy to use!
