Dijon, Provence, Lausanne - A Journey with the 24-70 f/4

 

In another post I advertised the zoom for travel photography. Now, I put this on a test for our visit to Dijon, the Provence, the Camargue, and back home over Lausanne. What did I miss?

The Nikon Z 24-70 f/4 S-line is not just any zoom. It benefits from the best lens design by Nikon for its Z mount, including a coating that prevents flare and allows shooting even directly into the sun. The sharpness is excellent in the center and very good overall. Add to this the efficient IBIS in the Z5 II, and you have a camera with a small footprint, ideal for traveling.

This was no pure photo journey. So I had to balance taking photos and seeing the beauty, which is something one should maybe always do. The light was friendly, but usually very sunny and harsh all day long. We also experienced an occasional overcast, and even one thunderstorm with hail. But in general, the huge contrast is the biggest problem.

You got to embrace that light. It makes no sense to flatten it out to an HDR image. The shadows are almost dark, and the sunny spots are very bright. Turning down the highlights a bit in Lightroom avoids blowing the colors beyond their limits. Raising the shadows makes the scene more mysterious. But I would not overdo any reduction of contrast, and aim to keep that light alive.

In March, the usual tourist overload is not happening. Even then, some places were crowded when we got closer to Easter. In high summer, I'd avoid the Provence completely. It is hot and everything is filled with visitors like you. Museums and other tourist places will set up time slots which you need to book in advance. Restaurants and Bistros are overbooked. 

Some may argue that having only an f/4 lens is not good enough. It depends. When it gets darker, I just had to be more careful. The stabilization of the Z5 II can handle quite slow shutter speeds hand-held, and it is no problem to pump up the ISO to 1600. As long as nothing is moving in the scene, I was able to stay below ISO 400, even in very dim places, often switching to M mode. One can also get enough object isolation at 70mm and f/4. Most of the time I missed nothing and left my 50mm f/1.8 in the suitcase.

I do post-process my images, all of them. This has many reasons. I prefer the 16:9 aspect ratio, and often plan the crop on the spot. I also want my walls to be straight. It just takes too much time to get that right. Moreover, as said above, the light always needs some adjustment. On the trip, I was using a Pixel tablet and Lightroom for the editing for the few pictures I wanted to post immediately. The main editing is done at home, including some object removal every now and then.

My pictures are also geotagged. This should be automatic with the Snapbridge application. For me, it sometimes worked, and sometimes did not. I ended by using a geo app to store the locations where I took a photo, just to make sure. 

Sometimes I also used my 70-180 f/2.8 which was stored in the car, but very rarely. This is not my kind of shooting. For wildlife, you need something longer anyway. For landscapes, the 70mm end of my zoom is good enough. Admittedly, I sometimes cropped it. So, yes, the 24-120 f/4 is more versatile. But it is also bigger and heavier, and it has not the same smooth Bokeh as the 24-70 f/4. 

In such a post, I should also recommend some places which are not obvious to the casual traveler. One of them is "Carrières de Lumières" close to Beaux de Provence in the Alpilles mountains. They project art videos on walls of an old quarry. 

Besides the interesting landscape, the Provence also features hills of ocher. Visit the mines at Bruoux, or the Colorado Provencal at Rustrel. But this color is also used to paint houses and it is a landmark of the Provence. You must not blindly clear it off with an automatic white balance. I had to warm up all my pictures to get the correct result.

Almost all smaller towns are worth a visit. Above is Gordes, where I also recommend visiting the "Villages des Bories", a small site in the forests where you find historic stone houses used by the poorer workers to make a living away from the bigger towns.

We ended our journey in Lausanne. If it wasn't that expensive this town would be a recommendation too. It is simply beautiful. Make sure to include the Cathedral if you are there.