sjms wrote:
just for reference there is an area in Buffalo NY called Silo City. Buffalo was a major port in the great lakes chain. lots of great history up there.
I see you shot those on your D700. How does this lens compare to the 24-120 F-mount lens if you have used that one before?
The shots done withe the D700 were done with the 24-120G which I still use on my F mount bodies. I used that lens up my D850 and completely enjoyed it's results. Going to the Z mount which is a 10 year later optic I did expect improvement and it was there of course. Still no reason to poo poo the G. It is what it is. That being a highly useable tool that was my primary tool for 10 years.
Fairfield Lake State Park was a jewel hidden at the eastern edge of Central Texas, a bit north of the centerpoint between Houston and Dallas. The park service leased land that bordered the southern eastern side of Fairfield Lake, which was impounded in 1969 to serve the Big Brown power plant, a lignite burning plant built to use nearby lignite that has since been decommissioned, demolished, and remediated. The park was sat just a few miles upstream of the Trinity river lowlands has mixtures of oak, pine, and other native forest species as well as some endangered prairie environments.
The park had large amounts of wildlife including small mammals, large cats (bobcats, mountain lions), deer, wild boar, excellent fishing, and incredible diversity of avian species including bald eagles. We've had very close encounters with boar, deer, armadillos, possums and seen at least 20-30 species of birds and are very confident that we were tracked/followed by a large cat one evening when we ended up delayed on a trail by downed brush/trees that we weren't expecting...
The park system lost the park this spring in a very sad way this spring although it appears the state is likely to complete purchase of the full park and lake via eminent domain. I'm not looking to make a political statement here for or against it. It's been a messy affair with governmental incompetence, developer greed, astroturfing, and even the potential intrigue of foreign invest visa program scandal. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Our family had found out about the park late this winter and set out to hike all of the trails and experience the full park lest it be lost forever by early March. The Dockery trail was the longest trail (5+ miles, one way) over varied and hilly terrain and follows much of the edge of the park boundaries and back stretches of the lake and is very remote. Our youngest hikers are very young still and we trained and built up to 2.5-4 mile hiking days to prepare to complete this trail in a single day, but our style is still to take hikes slowly and have time to explore/investigate/appreciate what we see along the way. It was a logistical adventure to carry water/snacks and sometimes small children on the hike and we were getting very tired about 3.5 miles in with the sun starting to get lower in the sky. I was admittedly a little concerned we might not get off of the trail before dark when we turned around a few corners and came to a glorious glade of old growth loblolly pine (I think based on the bark) with golden sunlight streaming through it. We lingered for a few minutes soaking up the beauty of this magical place that would never be any more beautiful than it was as the golden hour approached, and ultimately were reinvigorated to complete the remainder of the hike. This humble picture doesn't even begin to do justice to what a lovely place this was (and hopefully will continue to be).
@huddy I’m confident the state will assume the park in totality since the developer has seemingly acted in bad faith for a while. The amount of eagles and ospreys there are known to biders all the way to Dallas, it’s a great place to see them at certain times of the year.
I was 2nd shooter at a local wedding yesterday, at one of our gorgeous outside venues. First wedding with the Z8 & 24-120. Absolutely loved it, and the jpeg color coming out of camera. Shot RAW as well, but these are quickie edits of normal jpeg files.
I also shot with the 50F1.8 and Sony 24F1.4
RoamingScott wrote:
@huddy@ I’m confident the state will assume the park in totality since the developer has seemingly acted in bad faith for a while. The amount of eagles and ospreys there are known to biders all the way to Dallas, it’s a great place to see them at certain times of the year.
I expect this to happen as well. My family was able to see eagles on the final trip they made to the park when I wasn't able to come. On the first trip I went, it was still midwinter and the park was nearly empty due to severe weather from a couple days prior; the flocks of waterfowl together on the water numbered in the several hundreds in each group. Only problem with this park eventually getting reopened is that I'll feel much more inclined to accelerate buying a 100-400, 400/4.5, 500PF or 500/4 for birding from either the shore or kayak.
I do expect it will get a little more busy if/when it reopens, but occasional weekday or Sunday afternoon visits in the fall/winter are still likely to give excellent wildlife viewing.
3catsinky wrote:
I was 2nd shooter at a local wedding yesterday, at one of our gorgeous outside venues. First wedding with the Z8 & 24-120. Absolutely loved it, and the jpeg color coming out of camera. Shot RAW as well, but these are quickie edits of normal jpeg files.
I also shot with the 50F1.8 and Sony 24F1.4
Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga in Goliad, TX, rebuilt by the CCC in the 1930's-1940's from the original ruins. Some of the original walls still remain from the 1740's. This is the 3rd and final location of this Mission. The rangers at this state park were wonderful and one of them gave my family an excellent and intimate tour of the mission. I was very glad that we arrived early on Friday prior to weekend crowds arriving for the eclipse. It was somewhat overwhelming to imagine what it must have been like to leave Europe at the time and make the Atlantic crossing and be so isolated from your homelands; I often imagine that space travel and attempts to colonize other planets will result in similar psychological challenges in the not so distant future and also wonder what humans will save/leave behind for posterity.
This had some perspective transformation in LR; I've come to realize that at some point I'll likely want a PC lens.
Lately the 24-120 Z has been been glued to the Z8. Great sharpness wide open and pleasant color/skintones, focus in low light sets the last couple weeks has been fast and snappy (and accurate). I pondered picking up the Z 24-70 f2.8 again but glad I went with the 24-120 as I use the extra telephoto range a lot lately - low distortion at 24mm and has nice rendering at 85-90mm.
The Gutierrez Brothers..
In studio Z9 with the 24-120s
Studio work is pretty much the only time I use this lens as I prefer primes when shooting on location.
jlafferty wrote:
Punches well above its weight. I've been challenging myself to shoot most things on the lowly Z6 and the 24-120 and it hasn't disappointed.
Lol well you produce exceptional world class work with that "lowly combo"
