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Friday Slide Show: Twin Peaks North Access
27 September 2019
We've taken the Twin Peaks shots you see on the site from the southern access route. Because, you know, that's how we get there. But the other day, in a fit of madness, we thought we'd hike up the other side.
It was refreshing. You're a little closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, Civic Center and Downtown on the northern ascent up Twin Peaks Blvd. than you are at the top. Of course, you can't see them at all from the southern route until you get to the top.
We started at the foot of Clarendon by the reservoir, which makes a nice shot itself. A few details inside the chain link fence caught our attention and we were able to zero in on them with the M.Zuiko 12-200mm zoom we've been using this month.
Twin Peaks Blvd.. Our route (in yellow) from top to bottom.
The shot of the berries was a disappointment. It's just not sharp at 200mm and f6.3. There was a breeze but the 1/200 second shutter speed took care of that. No, the problem seemed to be finding focus. So blame the E-PL1.
Our shot of Mt. Diablo was a disaster at 200mm. We converted it to monochrome to avoid the dismal color (we were using a circular polarizer) so you can clearly see the vignetting (which was not entirely the filter's fault).
Things were a lot better at 200mm and f8, though, as our shots of City Hall and St. Ignatius church demonstrates.
But for the most part we didn't crank the lens out to 200mm. Those shots were uniformly pleasing.
Our Lightroom edits were mainly color correction, applying the Adobe Standard profile, correcting for the warm cast of the polarizer and nudging the exposure up a bit.
With a 12-200mm range (the 35mm equivalent on our Micro Four Thirds system of 24mm to 400mm), you expect some compromises. The 12-100mm Pro lens we tested earlier certainly spoiled us. Of the two, we'd probably prefer the Pro.
But then we walked down the southern side of Twin Peaks Blvd. and saw the local high school soccer team practicing on their field 290 yards away from us. About a sixth of a mile. We zoomed out to 200mm and were shocked to see distinct figures on the field.
We suppose if you want to keep an eye on your adolescent, the 12-200mm would be the better bet.
We'll have more to say about the M.Zuiko 12-200mm zoom but we thought you'd appreciate seeing how it did on our rather standard Twin Peaks test.
