I picked up a K1 about 2 months ago, not only to shoot the Milky Way, but that's what pushed me over the edge. I was really intending to stay with the cropped bodies - but the larger sensor is nice - really nice. I acquired the body, with the intention of also getting the 15-30 to support in part wide stitches of the Milky Way end to end (against the Arizona landscapes here). But, I usually shoot wide - and stitch even with the 8-16, so my thinking was to go with the 15-30. However, in the meantime, I'm using the full frame lenses that I currently have - Voightlander 20, ZK 25, 31 Ltd, K 28 Shift, Contax 28 - so it's not that I have nothing to shoot with.
I have not been shooting as much as I would have thought, due to a number of things going on (Mom @ 92 having some surgery, etc., etc., etc....) [and she is just fine now]. So, I have really only gotten out about 5 dedicated times now. I have a lot to learn (or relearn - especially when out in the dark). The LED's and the articulating screen makes things soooo much easier - otherwise it would be impossible.
So, Wednesday - my wife and I packed up and took a day trip up to Oak Creek Canyon and had a wonderful time. I did some shooting up in the West Fork (noted for its towering canyon walls with a "subway" curve cut into the base). This was somewhat of a reconnoiter trip, and then in the evening - shot some Milky Way on the late drive home.
What did I learn? Well, I need to go out shooting daily for a couple of weeks to really understand the camera along with the new "view" of things it provides. Also, my ability "see" framing is now waaaaaaay off. Also, after a long hot summer, seeing some actual green was really nice.
In the afternoon, I shot with the Voight 20 and it turned out way wider than what I even expecting. At night, I shot with the 31.
- [image 1] and [image 2] were shot with the 20mm. Image 1 is a 4x2 stitch of one of the entry canyon walls along the creek bed (it's 13K x 7K large). The canyon wall is a couple of hundred feet high, and I cropped off the top because the image was just way out of balance, and the sky was way too uninteresting (also somewhat blown out). Image 2 is just a single frame, looking up the creek to the first set of subway walls.
- [image 3] is a vertical stitch of 3 shots using the 31Ltdf of the Milky Way in the meadow of the West Fork trail head. I forgot to disable the tracking so the foreground is blurry - stupid mistake. The lights off to the left are some cars on highway 89A which winds through the canyon and are silhouetting the trees and casting some light on the red rock canyon walls off on the right. Other than stitching it and a bit - it's really pretty much right out of the camera. Since, I screwed up the foreground, I'm just going to leave it as it is and shoot it again sometime.
I'm having to learn how to shoot again. This camera is very different. The field of view of the lenses is very different, but the detail is staggeringly good.
I'm now somewhat re-evaluating what lens I really want.
- The 15-30 will capture what I want to shoot at night. But for landscapes, at least right now 24 to 30mm seems much more reasonable. I was very use to shooting the 8-16 at 8 all the time, but the 20 seems much wider than what I would have thought. Also, we're going up to Oregon to see our youngest son and I want to stop at both the Hiller Aviation Museum and the Evergreen Museum to shoot some aircraft that I have some very specific interests in.
- The 28-105 was also suggested, and I'm thinking that this might just be better for most all around shooting - as everyone has indicated.
Essentially, I'm re-educating myself in wide angle - which I thought that I had down pretty well.