Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower │ NEX-7 & Sigma 30mm F2.8 DN │ 30mm, ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/20, RAW

Took this the other night, from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building viewing deck, on the 45th storey, 202m up. This is quite a crop, as I didn't have anything tighter than the sigma with me, but I think it does Tokyo Tower justice.

Rikugien at Night

I've been to Rikugien Gardens before, but never at night. Sunset is before 6pm now, so we won't be leaving the work in sunlight for another 6 months, most likely. Sunrise in Tokyo is still relatively early, compared to winter in the UK, however.

In the weeks running up to Christmas/New Year, the park has been lit up rather beautifully, and was full of couples taking a romantic walk... and photographers with tripods and backpacks full of gear. As I'd just come from work, I was trying to be both of the above, but the low-light realm is one of the holy grails of photography. No-one is a master, and no lens is ever "fast" enough (lets in enough light to allow a fast shutter speed and reduce motion blur). That's where the optical image stabilisation of the SEL18200LE came into play, allowing me to take this handheld shot at 1/4". Though one quarter of a second sounds like a very short time, it's effectively eons in photography. Without image stabilisation, I could not have taken the above image, simple as that. Though I have faster lenses, shutter speeds were still hampered, and so this was one of the better photos from the group that evening, though more may follow.