Cars under the bright sun

I only made it to one Jimmy's Old Car Picnic, and it happened to be the last one. No, I didn't kill the event. Sad to see it gone as there were a lot of sweet cars parked in Hellman Hollow. Some were in concours condition, some had more than a few rust spots.

It's the latter cars that are more interesting, because you can tell that they've been used hard, and yet are still loved.

I had the 35mm f/1.8DX mounted on the V1 when I started taking photos. This was my first outing with the lens, and it's not the ideal length for car shots on a CX body as it's a bit long. It helped that this was an outdoor event with some space, but it make for tough framing. You do get that nice fade to OOF with this lens.

Outdoor car shows are brutal because of all the polished chrome, shiny panels, and other reflective surfaces. It didn't help that the sun was pretty high up in the sky and shining brightly. Dark colors and highlights are a challenge for the V1 as the sensor's dynamic range isn't as good as a DX or FX body.

The flare on this Buick Riviera is interesting because of the inverted points. So far this is the worst case I've seen, and a reminder not to shoot into the sun with this lens. I do like the little touch of the picnic table in the background, gives the shot that '60's feeling.

Chromatic aberration is a bit of a problem with specular highlights and the 35mm DX. Proper NEF processing will reduce it a bit, but there's still a lot more than with the native CX lenses.

The V1 and 35mm DX combination did a lot better at Bayline 2014, aided by the overcast skies. The two did a stellar job when I used them at Super Hero Festival. The 35mm DX is my poor man's 32mm f/1.2, at least until I can afford the 32mm.

I eventually switched to the 10mm f/2.8 to be able to frame a whole car in the viewfinder. Who says you can't get subject isolation at 10mm on CX? And yes that's me reflected in the radiator, yet another problem of shooting closeups with cars.

More images can be found here

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