FL9

Driving to Sweetwater today to see my father got pushed back until next weekend, as the FWWR asked me to photograph a 40-car unit pipe train they would be transporting from Fort Worth to the siding at Waples just north of Granbury in the morning.  The cars were to be unloaded a few at a time at the pipe yard halfway between Granbury and Tolar.  This was important enough to them that in addition to me on the ground, they hired an aerial photographer to get a few shots of the train.  In the end I enlisted John Brigg’s help also due to the number of consecutive locations they asked it be photographed in leaving Fort Worth.

The power was decided to be GP50’s #2009 and #2008 along with GP38-2 #2163, and I took this shot of the cars on the main at Hodge Yard while the crew was getting ready.  Today was going to be a good day for my Discover Card’s new Canon 5D and EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens combination to start paying for themselves. 

The pipe looked to be around three to four feet in diameter, and is intended to be used in the construction of a natural gas line.  The math of an average of 10 pipes per car at 85 feet long each times 40 cars comes out to around 34,000 feet or 6.5 miles of pipe on this train.  The train stayed at Hodge Yard until BNSF DS22 could take him across at Tower 60 so as to not block any crossings.  I shot him first where the light was good coming downhill just north of NE 28th Street. 

After the engines passed by, I widened out to 24mm for a picture of the cars alone.

If you check the picture data, you will see I was shooting close to wide open at f/5.7 with 1/1000 of a second.  It was not until later when I uploaded the day’s work to the computer that I noticed the distinct shadows in the upper corners.  Before buying the 5D, I had read the write-up on Digital Photography Review (I have added the link to their fine website on the right).  It discussed the necessity of using top quality lenses with the 5D because the full-size sensor is subject to lens shading, softness, and chromatic aberrations at full wide-angle at full-aperture, which is what I had used.  I didn’t pay enough attention in that they say the problem of full size sensors exposing the weakest part of a lens–its edges and corners–can happen even with “L” grade lenses.  I put my 17-40 “L” lens on and took a picture at full wide angle at full aperture, and saw exactly the same results.

I didn’t have this issue with the 20D, but then it only uses the middle part of the lens due to its smaller sensor, which obviously has its advantages.  I was shooting in JPG plus RAW mode, and I’m putting the JPG version up here so you can see the problem.  I must give Canon high marks for customer service because when I called to discuss the issue, they immediately offered to pay for shipping the lens to them and back so they could check it under warranty to make sure it was not unduly contributing to the problem.

It can be quickly fixed after the fact in the RAW version with Photoshop, and I should be able to keep it from happening beforehand by taking advantage of the 5D’s low noise levels.  Since the problem goes away once you close down the lens a few stops, if I want to shoot a fast moving subject full wide angle at 24mm, I need to use a high enough ASA setting to allow a fast shutter speed with a small F stop.  I’ll keep everyone informed as I continue to experiment.

After a fast drive through traffic and arriving out of breath on the Lancaster Street overpass, I barely made it for this shot of the train passing the newly renovated Montgomery Ward building west of downtown Fort Worth.

John caught him from the Rosedale and I20 overpasses as we leap-frogged each other and the train.  I stayed at ground level here along Old Granbury Road just north of I20 as he began to pick up a little speed.

The pipe cars were riding well between the two hopper cars being used as cover as they snaked along almost out of sight behind the locomotives.

There was a “dynamiter” in the train, and they went into emergency just south of the Primrose siding, unfortunately not near any road or across-the-field vista.  John and I moved on down to the Mustang Creek area, where I got this shot even though the light would have been more favorable a few hours later.  The train was moving at a steady thirty miles an hour here under full throttle climbing the grade towards Cresson.  No corner shadows here at 85mm.

We followed him on to Waples where he tied the pipe cars down in the siding before returning with light power towards Fort Worth.  John and I indulged in some good barbeque at the Chopping Block in Granbury before heading back ourselves.  We were almost back to Fort Worth when the FWWR dispatcher rang me on the cell phone to let me know a rare daylight switch of the mills at Purina Junction would be taking place shortly.  We were off again on a new mission, but the rest of the afternoon is a story for another day.