CSXT 3184 peeks over the top of empty coal hoppers as it sits on track 2 approaching the New Salem Church Loop overpass at Nortonville, Kentucky. We’re on the Henderson Subdivision on January 30th, 2021, as the train waits for a couple south bounds to pass.
Shooting with long lenses at this focal length (600mm) can be a challenge most of the time, but not difficult! For me, I find that using the lens on a good sturdy monopod (I use a manfroto) and turning off the VR when doing so goes a long way in helping with sharpness. Also, keeping your shutterspeed to at least twice your focal length helps getting sharp images and also paying close attention to your focus.
In my case, I normally pre-focus where I want to shoot the picture and wait for the train to arrive there. This allows me to also make sure that my focus is good as at 600mm as sometimes the autofocus has to work hard to focus on the spot I want sharp. When this happens I get it close using the AF and then manually turn my focus ring to get it sharp and then wait for the subject arrives at that point.
This all works best if you use your focus lock or back focus button. Otherwise if you have your focus set to your front shutter button, when you press the shutter button it’ll try to refocus and you may miss the shot you want.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250, ISO 1250.