New Background, New Camera

[MichaelE]

I've had this Faller background since my new Br.95 showed up from Germany, but I wasn't certain how I wanted to mount it. 

 

I finally decided on the simple way and used Gorilla Tape patches on the back at about 10" intervals to hold the push pins I used and attached it directly to the wall. It's not perfect, but considering what I had to get around, it'll do.

 

What I didn't know about this background is that it repeats itself. It's three meters wide, but only a meter and a half of the scene and then another meter and a half of the same scene. Bummer, but it looks better than wall paper.

 

The photos are mostly experimentation with a new Nikon Zfc camera that arrived yesterday. I loved film cameras and when they fell mostly out of use, I resorted to a cheaper Canon Sx10 back in 2005,6, or 7. Can't remember exactly when I bought it. I wasn't thrilled with the many menus I had to navigate just to set an aparture or speed.

 

Then I saw this Nikon last week at B&H and fell in love with it. It is an all digital camera, but with many analog controls, ust like the old days. It's my first Nikon, as I've always have Canon film equipment save for my one flirtation with digital.

 

Here are the first of the photos with the new background from the new camera:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gordonwis]

2 hours ago, MichaelE said:

I've had this Faller background since my new Br.95 showed up from Germany, but I wasn't certain how I wanted to mount it. 

 

I finally decided on the simple way and used Gorilla Tape patches on the back at about 10" intervals to hold the push pins I used and attached it directly to the wall. It's not perfect, but considering what I had to get around, it'll do.

 

What I didn't know about this background is that it repeats itself. It's three meters wide, but only a meter and a half of the scene and then another meter and a half of the same scene. Bummer, but it looks better than wall paper.

 

The photos are mostly experimentation with a new Nikon Zfc camera that arrived yesterday. I loved film cameras and when they fell mostly out of use, I resorted to a cheaper Canon Sx10 back in 2005,6, or 7. Can't remember exactly when I bought it. I wasn't thrilled with the many menus I had to navigate just to set an aparture or speed.

 

Then I saw this Nikon last week at B&H and fell in love with it. It is an all digital camera, but with many analog controls, ust like the old days. It's my first Nikon, as I've always have Canon film equipment save for my one flirtation with digital.

 

Here are the first of the photos with the new background from the new camera:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The images don't work on my lap top.

[MichaelE]

I dont' know why, unless Imgur is down.

[swisspeat]

Backscene looks good. Because we generally only take photos of part of a layout at any time the repetition is not that apparent.

 

new cameras take some getting used to!

 

Peter

[bantam61668]

The background looks good, I'm looking one for my in progress (very early stages) RhB layout been struggling to find a nice alpine one for a reasonable price. This Faller one certainly looks good may well end up going for this

[Samedan]

One can see the benefits of a decent digital camera, compared to the ubiquitous phone camera. Nice photos of a nice layout.

Now, the backscenes, for me, are pretty good and the repetition isn’t obvious in the photos, but the mountains do look a bit too “jagged” and dramatic for Graubunden. I suspect they’re actually of, or based on, the Dolomites. 

[MichaelE]

It's supposed to be a photo of the Füssen area near Neuschwanstein. There is no Schloss in the photo, so I don't really know. It sure changes the look of the layout though.

[Gordonwis]

10 hours ago, Samedan said:

One can see the benefits of a decent digital camera, compared to the ubiquitous phone camera. Nice photos of a nice layout.

Now, the backscenes, for me, are pretty good and the repetition isn’t obvious in the photos, but the mountains do look a bit too “jagged” and dramatic for Graubunden. I suspect they’re actually of, or based on, the Dolomites. 

 

I don't think it is too 'jagged' for Graubunden. The backdrop to some views of St Moritz shows 'jagged' peaks, and the Fuessen area is not a million miles from Graubunden so the geography is similar. For that same reason I happily use the 'Oberstdorf' backscene for my Swiss layouts. For me the match that I have seen on some alpine layouts that doesn't look right is a 'Rockies' backscene 

[Mike at C&M]

I have used the Faller background "Karwendel" on my Austrian/German layout.

 

The chimney breast behind where the backscene stands is bigger than the backscene itself, and I decided the best method was to use Deluxe Materials backscene glue to 'paste' the backscene on to a couple of large pieces of card, these were thick pieces which had a previous life as advertising displays in a shop. Because of the size of the attic hatch, this would need to be done within the attic, and therefore done a little bit at a time - the whole process to attach backscene to the card took about a week.

 

Even doing a small section at a time, I still had large air bubbles which can easily be seen. However, as stated in the original post, it is a better alternative than looking the brickwork of a chimney breast.

 

[Vecchio]

I use the Faller Oberstdorf background for my Austrian layout Donnersbachkogel. As the view is against the Alps most of the peaks in the picture are actually in Salzburg (Austria). As the layout was to long for the background I purchased the extension which is available from Faller. And this was an interesting experience. The extension is nothing else but the same background printed in mirror image.... 

You see it on the right hand side, the clouds give it away... 

Well I put some larger trees there and there is also a hill on the right hand side, so nobody so far told me that there is something wrong...  Well, the next possibility to criticize is on the 12th of August in Roade (near Northampton) or on the 19th of August in Milton Keynes (Silverfox exhibition) 

 

20200214_202839 

 

One question to Michael about making your own backgrounds: Are you using a panorama function or is it composed from more than one photos?

Who is printing the background? (This is more a question for UK citizens...)  I used staples for large prints in the past, but they closed their MK shop. 

[MichaelE]

I didn't make the background. It's from Faller. 

 

I too use the Obersdorf background on the other end of the layout that is more level than where I have the Neuschwanstein background.

 

[JimFin]

With a good camera, then next adventure may be to explore focus stacking - it sorts the depth of field issue and brings all the elements into focus. Have a browse at this and you can get Photo2 for a 30 day free trail if you fancied experimenting. 

 

[Gordonwis]

10 hours ago, Vecchio said:

I use the Faller Oberstdorf background for my Austrian layout Donnersbachkogel. As the view is against the Alps most of the peaks in the picture are actually in Salzburg (Austria). As the layout was to long for the background I purchased the extension which is available from Faller. And this was an interesting experience. The extension is nothing else but the same background printed in mirror image.... 

You see it on the right hand side, the clouds give it away... 

Well I put some larger trees there and there is also a hill on the right hand side, so nobody so far told me that there is something wrong...  Well, the next possibility to criticize is on the 12th of August in Roade (near Northampton) or on the 19th of August in Milton Keynes (Silverfox exhibition) 

 

20200214_202839 

 

One question to Michael about making your own backgrounds: Are you using a panorama function or is it composed from more than one photos?

Who is printing the background? (This is more a question for UK citizens...)  I used staples for large prints in the past, but they closed their MK shop. 

 

Looks very good but I will be in Alaska in August!

 

 

.

[Vecchio]

11 hours ago, Gordonwis said:

Looks very good but I will be in Alaska in August!

Probably a bit cooler than here.... 😆

[MichaelE]

20 hours ago, JimFin said:

With a good camera, then next adventure may be to explore focus stacking - it sorts the depth of field issue and brings all the elements into focus. Have a browse at this and you can get Photo2 for a 30 day free trail if you fancied experimenting. 

 

 

Thanks Jim. I'm going to have a look at this. I've heard of the process, but did not know how it worked,

 

If I understood the procedure in the video, I leave the camera settings where they are in manual mode for each photo while only changing the point of focus.

 

[JimFin]

2 hours ago, MichaelE said:

 

Thanks Jim. I'm going to have a look at this. I've heard of the process, but did not know how it worked,

 

If I understood the procedure in the video, I leave the camera settings where they are in manual mode for each photo while only changing the point of focus.

 

Absolutely correct. More points you pick the better the result. 5 is good, 8 is better depending on the scene. Photo2 software makes the processing very easy.

[MichaelE]

After digging in to the 600 page manual for this camera, I found that it will do this automatically. It will take a series of photos at different focus points that I specify. Not the focus points, but the number of photos.

 

Ingenious.

 

All I have to do is drop the photos into the program and the software does the rest.