Salzburg - City and people with the XF 16-55

Dear Fujians

This year we did something unusual on December 24, Christmas day - we made a trip to Salzburg with friends. Salzburg is a very nice historic town in Austria, approximately a 2 hrs drive including a border crossing from Munich where we live. Everyone wants a white Christmas - no success this year, it was a dark, wet, pale, rainy day. The weather got more and more dark and wet during the day.

During that trip, photography was not in focus. But of course I took my X-T4 with me. We were seven people; I did my photos 'by the way', will say, I did not concentrate on photography. There was of course a lot of conversation going on that was more the centerpiece of that trip.

I had decided to take my XF 16-55 which I mostly used, my XF 23 mm f/2 that I used less, and my Laowa 9 mm f/2.8 that I did not use at all. So why the XF 16-55 most of the time? Number one, I quickly realized that I applied 16 mm as well as 55 mm quite often during this city trip. Number two, I did not have time to change lenses all the time, and number three, you really don't change lenses when it rains. Well, the XF 23 and the Laowa are so small, they always fit in a pocket.

I've had my XF 16-55 for a few months now and I have to say that I am really impressed. Many thanks to the forum members here, especially to Joachim Gerstl, not least because of his posts I purchased that lens. This lens has never disappointed me. I love the rendering it produces.

Thought I'd share a few photos with you.

All photos were done w/ Classic Chrome which is my favorite film sim (followed by Acros). Here's how I emulate Classic Chrome with darktable. I am really sad about the fact that my darktable thread was locked for reason of uncivil comments that were made according to the mod.

Comments welcome.

View of the fortress Hohensalzburg, OOC, 55 mm. By mistake, I left the aperture at f/2.8 although I actually wanted to make use of my X-T4's IBIS with such stills. Such a mistake happens easily if you do not focus on photography but on a nice conversation with others. Well, no damage has been incurred - I find the photo perfectly usable, even for pixel peepers. To those who want to know: my standard jpeg setting is sharpness +1.

City view from the fortress Hohensalzburg. OOC, 16 mm. I love this fl. I know the image seems quite dark, but the day was exactly like this: dark, wet, rainy, with pale colors. I brightened this image up w/ darktable but did not like the result, so I decided to stay with this OOC image and like it a lot.

View of the Alps through a window of the fortress Hohensalzburg. OOC, 36.5 mm.

Fürstenzimmer (regency room), fortress Hohensalzburg, from the early 16th century. I selected 1/30 s manually. fl was 23 mm. The image was brightened w/ darktable. Auto WB did a perfect job IMO. I did another shot at DR400 but did not like the result since the outside was all blue (WB clash) which made the photo look unnatural.

Part of the artwork, 'Sphaera' from Stephan Balkenhol. 55 mm, OOC. I made sure to use base ISO and utilize IBIS. Again, dark, pale, exactly like that day was.

Fortress Hohensalzburg, view from the city, with a garland of the Christmas market in the foreground. Again, I made sure to use base ISO. Again, I did another one with DR400 but did not see a pleasing advantage, so this one at DR100 remained my favorite.

A little street experiments with the 16-55. Christmas market. 43 mm, OOC. I like it how bright the saleswoman's face is, it matches nicely with her white articles. Nothing was edited here.

Mulled wine sold here. 55 mm, OOC. I like the match of the dark red resp. brownish tones (face, checkered shirt, signs). I know I could've brightened up the face in post - but the OOC image looks more natural IMO.

This was with an intentional massive exposure correction. I was attracted by all the golden glitter and wanted to show the salesperson in the midst of all her articles. 41 mm, OOC.

'Christ child'. It's a local fundraising. My last one since I am reaching the limit of 10. 55 mm. OOC. I like her eyes' expression. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Kind regards,

Martin