Tamron 35mm on APS-C

Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/8. 1/160th.

Note the inscription 'Machan Scotland' which denotes manufacture at the foundry of Machan Engineering, Denny, Falkirk. The foundry was dissolved in 2016. Orders for new post boxes had dwindled. There are over 100,000 post boxes in the United Kingdom. The 'ROYAL MAIL' legend first appeared on letter boxes in the early 1990s; prior to this letter boxes had the words 'POST OFFICE' cast onto them. The change was prompted by the separation of Post Office Counters Limited and Royal Mail as independent companies. Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/8. 1/180th.

The old HST 125s no longer ply this route. I rather miss them. If you want to see them now, Great Western Railway retain 24 powercars and 48 carriages to form 11 four-carriage sets for use on local services between Cardiff and Penzance. Additionally, 26 HST sets, each with four or five carriages, have been assigned to Abellio ScotRail and will operate on services from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Aberdeen and Inverness. Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/8. 1/125th.

Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/8. 1/125th.

Pressing 'z' improves the experience of seeing how a shaft of sunlight picks out detail. Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/8. 1/160th.

This is the elevated section of Maud Heath's causeway comprising 64 arches at a low point in Kellaways where the River Avon often floods. It is of later origin than the rest of the path from Bremhill to Chippenham, dating from 1811 and sympathetically restored within the last few years. Nikon D2Xs at 100 ISO. Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/5.6. 1/60th.

Maud Heath was a wealthy and childless widow who regularly travelled from Bremhill to Chippenham to sell eggs in the market. At Kellaways the road was often flooded, and so Maud left money in her Will to build a causeway. She died in 1474 and the trustees of the fund erected this monument by the causeway in 1698. Recently it has been cleaned and renovated.

I photographed this with a venerable Nikon D2Xs. Using it is such a pleasurable experience that I prefer it to more modern and capable kit. I try to limit it to 100 ISO (as here) and certainly no more than 400 ISO because high ISO is definitely not where it excels, whereas 100 ISO produces nice images. Years ago we used 100 ISO film and managed alright, and so that's how I approach the D2Xs now. Here it is partnered with a Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens at f/11. A 35mm lens on the D2Xs is akin to using a 50mm lens on a film SLR of what is now classified as 'full frame'. Shutter speed 1/250th. There was plenty of light until the storm broke about an hour later.

A surreal combination of elderly Nikon D40 and Tamron SP 35mm F1.8 Di VC lens. The lens is designed for use on full frame cameras whereas the D40 is a cropped sensor instrument. You'd think that using just the centre of the optics would produce a good result. Yet the processing of this was actually quite dramatic.