Boston at night

SquarePeg · Feb 23, 2020

I don’t do a lot of night shooting so any suggestions or critique on the shot settings and/or processing is welcome.

I think the focus on these could be sharper. I struggle to manually focus the Samyang 12mm even with close up view and focus peaking. It shows sharp on the screen then not quite as sharp once taken. It was a tiny bit breezy but not enough to cause camera shake and I used a remote release so I think focus was just slightly missed? Same with the 16-80. These are not as sharp as I’d like to see. If I wanted to crop these I’d have issues.

1: 16-80 @16mm, ISO 200, 25 sec, f/16

Fan Pier, Boston by SharonCat..., on Flickr

2: 12mm, ISO 200, 21 sec, f/16

Beautiful Boston from Fan Pier on a chilly night by SharonCat..., on Flickr

3: 16-80 @16mm, ISO 200, 1 sec, f/11

Fan Pier, Boston by SharonCat..., on Flickr

4: 12mm, ISO 200, 24 sec, f/16

Fan Pier, Boston by SharonCat..., on Flickr

Sunnydayphotoworks · Feb 23, 2020

That first image is a stunner. well done.

Jeff15 · Feb 23, 2020

Very nice set......

MSnowy · Feb 23, 2020

Nice! I’ve been ask by a group of friends to get out there but Im really not a fan of the city anymoreLoved the night life up there when I was young guess I’m just an old man now

SquarePeg · Feb 23, 2020

Sunnydayphotoworks said:
That first image is a stunner. well done.

Thanks so much!

Jeff15 said:
Very nice set......

Thanks...

MSnowy said:
Nice! I’ve been ask by a group of friends to get out there but Im really not a fan of the city anymoreLoved the night life up there when I was young guess I’m just an old man now

Thanks. It’s amazing what they’ve done with the whole Seaport area. 10 years ago it was a sketchy grid of parking lots and old warehouses and now it’s all trendy restaurants and bars, shopping, public spaces and the MOCA.

PJM · Feb 23, 2020

Very nice set. I think #1 is terrific.

SquarePeg · Feb 23, 2020

PJM said:
Very nice set. I think #1 is terrific.

Thanks!

K9Kirk · Feb 25, 2020

All nice images but the chain in #1 did it for me.

SquarePeg · Feb 25, 2020

K9Kirk said:
All nice images but the chain in #1 did it for me.

Yup. The chain draws a lot of photographers to this spot, myself included.

CherylL · Feb 26, 2020

The first one is my favorite. The chain, the lights, the sky.

SquarePeg · Feb 26, 2020

CherylL said:
The first one is my favorite. The chain, the lights, the sky.

Thanks!

zulu42 · Feb 26, 2020

I don't see a sharpness issue until full size on flickr, then I see what you mean. The distant objects, especially. To me it looks a little more like shake than focus. VR was off? The scene itself is a good candidate for focus stacking a couple shots with that chain so close.

Overall its a beautiful shot and the sharpness doesn't come into play at normal viewing.

jcdeboever · Feb 26, 2020

Very nice set. Have you tried the the split screen image while peaking hightlights on? I would, on a scene like this because you can get a zoomed in split window along with the live view to check around the frame for the highlights. I would probably try different peaking colors prior to putting on a tripod. I have read that the OIS of that lens is automatic when placing on a tripod but I would double check to make sure there isn't a menu setting that is preventing that.

SquarePeg · Feb 26, 2020

zulu42 said:
I don't see a sharpness issue until full size on flickr, then I see what you mean. The distant objects, especially. To me it looks a little more like shake than focus. VR was off? The scene itself is a good candidate for focus stacking a couple shots with that chain so close.

Overall its a beautiful shot and the sharpness doesn't come into play at normal viewing.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. The Samyang 12mm doesn’t have a button to turn OIS/VR on/off so I’m assuming it doesn’t have any image stabilization. I bought it used so will need to look at that. I have had issues finding infinity focus with this lens before. The Fuji 16-80 has OIS but per Fuji the lens can sense when it is on a tripod and will turn OIS off automatically. It may have been the tripod. Hard to get good stability on the cobblestone walkway.

vintagesnaps · Feb 26, 2020

The first one particularly is a lovely shot of the city at night. The thing with wide angle is the distortion; I see some leaning in some. To me it's quite noticeable in the reflection. In the third one the chain appears quite stretched close to the camera. I think the first one is better with less cobblestone (except a nit pick which is the post to the right because it doesn't seem to need to be in the frame).