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I discovered this unmarked government installation today.

This was snapped during a lunch. Total shooting time—a few seconds. We so often read that a proper "portrait" should be snapped with a longer than normal lens, a low ISO to get lots of detail, and have a soft light held up above the head, and slightly to the side. The key, in my opinion, is always carry a camera. Have your camera available to capture candid, authentic photographs. Available light, no posing. This portrait used 2000 ISO, the lens wide open at f4, and 1/100 sec. to stop any movement. I didn't even take time to compose—I just snapped. I leave the "Face Detection" on unless I'm photographing a landscape or subject other than a person. The GFX100RF has the equivalent of a 28mm lens. The large sensor renders fine detail even at fairly high ISO ratings. And the drawing of the lens is just perfect in my opinion. It was set to B & W, with slightly reduced sharpness and clarity (set in-camera). Ideal for "portraits." Now, for some subjects I will likely increase the sharpness and clarity to the normal setting. The camera is new, and I'm still experimenting with it.

Back on page three of this thread is an image and mention of those mythological and astronomical twins, Castor and Pollux. They are back for your viewing pleasure in the night sky with Jupiter joining them, an added bonus this year. At least for those stargazing in the Northern Hemisphere anyway. For right now, you will need to wait until late at night, Very Late. or Very Early in the morning if your clock works that way. A little after midnight. Look a little to the left of Orion and there these three will be forming an arc. Procyon is along for the arc ride... As long as the clouds are not too much, the arc is visible even in cloudy, light polluted skies like the one shown here. This is the equivalent of a just almost but not quite ten minutes stars exposure with a five seconds clouds exposure.

Thank you so much, Jerryy! The article is very interesting and now I'm confident about the aperture stepping. About the parfocal property, I have information that the first FW releases didn't fix the initial issues (focusing mistakes in zooming), but a following resease solved the problem: I would like to have a confirmation by some actual user of the lens. Very kind of you, Jerryy!!

Thanks Jerry Changed both settings and it worked perfectly.

I have a copy of Tamron’s 150 - 600mm G2 lens. It has really good image quality and is easy to use. I have heard the one you are asking about is similar. Will you be able to test it? The only drawback for me with my lens is after carrying it around for a while, it gets heavy and so on the tripod it goes. Also, it was not a FX mount lens, so I use a Fringer smart adapter, but that has never been a problem.

Nothing is perfect and everything is a compromise so other brands and other FF cameras will have their own issues. For myself on my XT30, I've disabled the touch screen and the various function buttons so I can simply concentrate on exposure and composition. My only wish is, and a feature that I'd get a new camera for, is to be able to set a double or triple push requirement for the menu button.

Many star-gazers see Constellation Cassiopeia riding high in the autumn sky as a "w" or "m" shape. It also sits next to Constellation Cepheus which holds some very beautiful clusters and nebulae. One is the Lobster Claw Nebula (Sh2-157): https://www.astronomy.com/observing/deep-sky-dreams-sharpless-2-157/ Other favorites include the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635): https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12247 and the Northern Lagoon Nebula (NGC 7538); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_7538 This region has some lovely clusters you can see simply by looking up in the right place, while using binoculars (or if you have very good night eyesight, just look up) for them. Messier Object M52: https://freestarcharts.com/messier-52 and NGC 7510: https://theskylive.com/sky/deepsky/ngc7510-object This exposure, timed at just under 54 minutes in Bortle 9 skies, almost hints at the lobster's claw, but really it needs more exposure time to make it visible in photos, darker skies would also help. If you search the internet, you can find some fantastic renditions.

My first Fuji was the X-E3, it was bad to hold and I was often accidentally actuating buttons and controls. I purchased the Fuji metal handgrip for it and found it was significantly improved. Then I disabled the Q button as I was often accidentally pressing it, I also disabled the touch screen. I still own and use the camera 8 years later and it's been a great photographic tool. Maybe look into a handgrip and some adjustments to the controls before you jump ship.

Blood Moon and More... This moon is waxing up to be September's Corn Moon. This year, the Corn Moon offers more than telling us it is harvest time. This moon will be the longest blood moon of the year. It happens September 7 - 8 (The Earth's shadow eclipses the moon.). Folks in Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe get to see a lunar eclipse. https://www.timeanddate.com/news/astronomy/moon-september-2025 After the waxing comes the waning... Waning Corn Moon.

Hi I have tried to make Northern lights photos the first time in my life. I used 2000 ASA, f2.8 and 2 seconds. The aurora borealis was moving around quite fast and with more than 2 seconds the pictures came out like fuzzy mush. To find infinity on the fully manual Laowa lens has to be done in advance, I marked it on the body of the lens. What do you think about the result? Kind regards, Hannes