hypothetically, could you take photos from a moving train?

[jann1033]

watching an old TV doc. about the American Orient Express and the Rockies..beautiful shots but wondering would it even be possible to take photos from a moving train like that? ( the cameras being used by travelers on the show were film cameras since it was from 1998, some from the other side of the railroad cars so kind of wondered how they would have turned out anyway) would you need a camcorder with the ability to take out single photos? or how fast a shutter would you need? anyone ever done something like that?

 

[Lachesis00]

I can take them out of a moving car and on an airplane with no problems. I can't see why a train would be much harder? I'd think you would need fast speed.
My old Sony 717 which is from 1997ish took beautiful photos out of the car going 75 MPH even at dusk, so I am going to assume it is possible. I wish I had a photo to go check the EXIF data for you.

 

[MICKEY88]

most definitely...

I used to take pictures from speeding rollercoasters all the time..

to put it in another perspective, it's like taking pictures of a moving car, except the objects are reversed......instead of you being still and the subject moving....you are moving and the subject is not..

 

[seashoreCM]

Things in the distance will usually come out quite well.

You would want a shutter speed of at least 1/200'th second, preferably faster, to get things about two bus lengths away to come out sharply.

Things next to the train as it passes will probably always come out blurred.

Beware of something like a tree passing in front of you just as you snap your picture.

Digital camera hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/digicam.htm

 

[handicap18]

When I went to Thailand we took a tour that brought us to the railroad that the POW's built during WWII. It included a train ride on the rail line and over the "Bridge Over the River Kwai" and I did get some pictures of the landscape along the train route. Didn't have much of a problem, it was a bright sunny day and the pics I took came out without any bluring from train movement.

Not much different from a car. Though if the light was low, just like any other time, you'd have more of an issue.

 

[Groucho]

A camcorder would offer no advantage, it'd just have blurry "stills". Unless it was in the no-blur mode (don't remember what it's called)... I don't like that mode, though; not only because it's darker but I don't like the look. It's popular in Hollywood nowadays and it drives me bonkers.

Anyway, you can of course take a picture from anything, the trick is how it'll turn out. Chances are that a train photo will have landscapes and those should work OK, foreground stuff will likely be blurred.

Here's a moving-vehicle shot I nabbed on my last trip... in a monorail going one way full speed while another went the other way full speed (on the Magic Kingdom-Epcot loop). It's not the easiest shot to get as the cars are only side-by-side for a second or two.

Chances are that your from-train photo would be no blurrier than that.

 

[DisGirlAllie]

Well I took some excellent photos from the train in mk so i don't see why not.

 

[boBQuincy]

I sure hope so! We're riding on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad this Spring and plan to take a lot of photos.

 

[Gdad]

... in a monorail going one way full speed while another went the other way full speed (on the Magic Kingdom-Epcot loop).

Wow- great minds think alike I guess. And me too sometimes!

 

[alan]

Here are three pictures taken from a moving train; it was the train from Fort William to Mallaig in Scotland (on an uncharacteristically sunny day).

#1

#2 - The Glenfinnan Viaduct (may be familiar from the "Harry Potter" stories)

#3

These pictures were taken with my camera outside the window, me looking at the LCD screen through the window, and me holding on TIGHTLY to the camera strap

regards,
/alan

 

[jann1033]

Here are three pictures taken from a moving train; it was the train from Fort William to Mallaig in Scotland (on an uncharacteristically sunny day).

#1

#2 - The Glenfinnan Viaduct (may be familiar from the "Harry Potter" stories)

#3

These pictures were taken with my camera outside the window, me looking at the LCD screen through the window, and me holding on TIGHTLY to the camera strap

regards,
/alan

Wow!!

 

[0bli0]

i will take them from a train
i will take them in the rain
i will take them in a house
i will take them with a mouse

i will take them on a boat
i will take them of a goat
i will take them in a box
i will take them of a fox

i will take them in a car
see them see them, here they are
i can take them in the dark
i can take them in a park

i can take them here and there
a can take them anywhere
i like taking photos whenever i can
i like taking them, ms. jann

(if i were at home and had time, i would probably have added photos but i'm still at work.....)

anyway great shots from trains above, everyone! the last time i was taking photos from a train was in colorado on the gorge train with my older boys. there was a bald eagle across the canyon and all i had was my 70mm oh i wish i had my bigma or 300 2.8 & teleconverters...

 

[jann1033]

i will take them from a train
i will take them in the rain
i will take them in a house
i will take them with a mouse

i will take them on a boat
i will take them of a goat
i will take them in a box
i will take them of a fox

i will take them in a car
see them see them, here they are
i can take them in the dark
i can take them in a park

i can take them here and there
a can take them anywhere
i like taking photos whenever i can
i like taking them, ms. jann

(if i were at home and had time, i would probably have added photos but i'm still at work.....)

anyway great shots from trains above, everyone! the last time i was taking photos from a train was in colorado on the gorge train with my older boys. there was a bald eagle across the canyon and all i had was my 70mm oh i wish i had my bigma or 300 2.8 & teleconverters...

very clever! So you been reading your kids Dr Seuss?

 

[Groucho]

Wow- great minds think alike I guess. And me too sometimes!

Was that timed out? I'm going to be very depressed if you were TRYING to capture it and managed to get just the nose as both were in motion??? How would you know that it was coming, especially from that angle?

Or was this just a basic monorail shot and you happened to capture Monorail Gold (same as me ) unexpectedly?