September 2022
I visited the Goulburn Rail Heritage Museum for a stunning display of historic locomotives. I had my Nikon F6, Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 and a roll of Portra 800. Heavily overcast weather can trick any matrix meter into severe underexposure so I used the exposure lock button on most outdoor shots.
Without direct sunlight this film requires only a bare minimum of post processing. No reduction of the red channel in DxO was needed. Portra 800 works best in these conditions with vibrant colours and very little grain. Only a little desaturation and a slight reduction in the cyan channel were used here.
The 15-30mm zoom wasn’t quite long enough for some shots but the choice of a genuine wide-angle view gave me some great perspectives. Although 15mm is close to the 13mm iPhone images now commonly seen online, it is definitely a rare experience on a film camera.
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The model trains were impressive. Three small locos (7.25″ guage?) attested to the genius of model railway engineers. The 1/84 scale indoor layouts were wonderful, with attention to the smallest detail of life around the railway lines.
Sadly I didn’t have the right camera. Film really doesn't work in such low light. Detail was good at the plane of focus but I needed f/11 or some such for detail across the layouts. Exposures were 1/2 second each as it was… A digital Z6II would have been the right tool for this job.
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The Auscision Models loco was most impressive on the turntable, a rolling advertisement for this world-class manufacturer of Australian HO scale model railways.
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The Lachlan Valley Railway was running short excursions to Tarago behind diesel 4473, built in 1966. I switched to my Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G, an outstanding lens with a wide zoom range. This is ideal for the F5, F6 and F100 — a modern design with VR but without the electronic aperture control of the E lenses.
It was raining and misty as the loco drifted through Goulburn station to collect our carriages. As the weather cleared, the train was bought into the station and we enjoyed an old-school ride to Tarago. After a walk into the small township we returned to the station to see The Canberra Explorer on its way to Sydney before we headed back to Goulburn.
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