Tag: Lighthouses; Fresnel;

Copyright © 2010 Deborah M. Zajac.  All Rights Reserved.

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening in Pescadero, California with several friends from my Night Meet-up group for the lighting of the Fresnel at Pigeon Point Light Station. It’s normally an annual event, but due to California’s budge woes they didn’t light it last year. We got here several hours early anticipating a huge crowd. We set up along the edge of the first field south of the lighthouse. There were already a lot of people set up down here. Fortunately Sunset was before the lighting of the Fresnel so it didn’t compete with the lighting.  This sunset was gorgeous! I haven’t seen clouds like this here ever before. I loved the texture, and colors. It was breath-taking!

I brought only one wide-angle lens with me for this shoot. My new/ Used Manual Focus Nikkor 18mm f/3.5 AIS prime lens. I do love how wide this shot is! I settled on this lens instead of the newer AF-D 20mm f/2.8 because it’s wider. I was afraid 20mm wouldn’t be wide enough all too often.
I’ve only had the lens since Monday this week, but so far I’m pleased.
The colors are good, it’s seems sharp, and I’m getting used to selecting my Aperture on the lens rather than with a wheel on my camera. Setting up the Non-CPU data in my camera was simple- thankfully.
The weight of it at just over 12 ounces is just what I was looking for.
This evening was a good outing to give this lens a good trial run.

La Pièce de resistance

This was my second location of the evening. I started out in the south field, but struggled there with the light, and I wasn’t getting the points of light I wanted from the beams. After the crowd thinned out some we moved up here and I bumped up my ISO and finally got the shot I wanted.

Using this lens I will have to learn new things like Hyperfocal distances. I have found calibrated Infinity on this lens. What do you think- is this sharp? I think so. I hope in the end I become a better photographer, and have a better understanding of photography through this lens. It is a lot different from sliding the switch over to Manual on my AF lenses.

I had a wonderful evening with good friends. I hope the Park Service is able to get the funding to this again next year. Perhaps I’ll have better luck down in the south field then.