Tsubasa Mfg Discusses | Capturing the City with a Lens | PENTAX K-1 Mark II | Knowledge #174

Creators who love photography share stories about their cameras. The presence of a 'beloved camera' reflects each person's worldview and values. In this series, Tsubasa Mfg, who loves the PENTAX K-1 Mark II, makes an appearance.

When photographing cityscapes, choosing the right lens is a key to expanding the range of expression. We explain techniques for capturing city details with a macro lens and dynamically expressing with compression effects using a super-telephoto lens. Additionally, we delve into the deep allure of cityscape photography, including how to create dramatic effects by utilizing aperture values.

Equipped with an effective approximately 36.4-megapixel 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor, combined with an accelerator unit and PRIME IV image processing engine, it achieves high-sensitivity shooting up to ISO 819200.

Also featuring the Pixel Shift Resolution System II, it allows for high-resolution images even in handheld shooting. The 5-axis shake reduction mechanism 'SR II' enables stable shooting in various scenes. Furthermore, it includes features that enhance the convenience for photographers, such as an optical viewfinder offering a bright and wide field of view and a flexible tilt LCD monitor.

When photographing cityscapes, you often want everything in focus, but with lenses that have a small aperture value like F1.4, you can make only the intended subject stand out in the cityscape filled with a lot of information. You can easily capture the city with lenses that allow for dramatic effects.

When photographing cityscapes, you might wonder what you can capture with a super-telephoto lens or if it might be underutilized.

The purpose of using a super-telephoto lens is for compression effects. You can strongly feel this effect in places with a sense of perspective, such as shopping streets lined with signs and stores. It richly and dynamically expresses the overlap of buildings and crowds.

Macro lenses, also known as micro lenses, are designed to allow close-up photography by getting close to the subject. There are many close-up scenes even when photographing cityscapes, such as items displayed in shop windows or small objects on the roadside.

Macro lenses and close-up lenses are often considered the same, but a macro lens with a focal length of 100mm is also a medium telephoto prime lens.
When photographing cityscapes with this, you end up cropping a large portion of a building or other structure. This angle of view can reveal unexpected discoveries and insights.

By focusing on small things, you can crop a part of a large city with a macro lens.