It’s All About the Big Lens: Garnering Attention at the Kyoto City Marathon
Hamming It Up for the Camera near the end of the 2012 Kyoto City Marathon 2012 京都マラソン -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 360 — map & image datanearby photos
Hamming It Up for the Camera
near the end of the 2012 Kyoto City Marathon
2012 京都マラソン

There's something about the physical size of the Nikkor 300mm f/2 lens (also seen here) that draws smiles and attention wherever it goes. I had it out a couple of years ago for the 2012 Kyoto City Marathon, and with the 2014 race coming up this weekend, I was reminded of a post from 2012 that I've been meaning to write.

Because I've seen many fun reactions to the big lens (such as seen here and here), it didn't surprise me when folks hammed it up a bit for it when I positioned myself at the last turn of the marathon, perhaps 20 seconds from the finish line. People seemed to notice it from quite a distance away, even though I was in a scrum of folks with cameras. It's a big lens.

Some Folks Just Look -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 280 — map & image datanearby photos
Some Folks Just Look
Some Wave -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image datanearby photos
Some Wave
Fist Pump -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Fist Pump
Victory -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 320 — map & image datanearby photos
Victory
Peace -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 320 — map & image datanearby photos
Peace
As Macho as having just run 26 miles can leave someone -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 450 — map & image datanearby photos
As Macho
as having just run 26 miles can leave someone
Too Tired -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/2500 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Too Tired

I was happy people were reacting to the lens, but the number of folks having the energy to do that after having run 26 miles seemed oddly high to me, so it make complete sense when I stepped away from the throng of folks at the turn and noticed that I'd been right beside a big SMILE sign!

Smile for an official race photographer -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/1000 sec, f/4, ISO 220 — map & image datanearby photos
Smile
for an official race photographer
Official Photographer photographed by a runner -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/250 sec, f/22, ISO 3600 — map & image datanearby photos
Official Photographer
photographed by a runner

Of course, I felt really silly having thought that everyone was smiling just at my lens. Luckily, no one else knew my self-centered secret. 🙂

I moved around the corner to aim at the finish...

Heading Around the Corner -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/2000 sec, f/2.8, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Heading Around the Corner
Final Stretch -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/1000 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Final Stretch
Not Very Satisfying photographically speaking -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/800 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image datanearby photos
Not Very Satisfying
photographically speaking
Slightly to the Side was Better but still not great -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Slightly to the Side was Better
but still not great
That Guy Had a Good View he was not standing on anything; he's the tallest person I've seen in real life -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
That Guy Had a Good View
he was not standing on anything; he's the tallest person I've seen in real life
Finish -- Kyoto City Marathon (京都マラソン) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2012 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — 1/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 900 — map & image datanearby photos
Finish

The 2014 Kyoto City Marathon is this weekend and the finish line is right by my place, so I may pop out again to see whether I can't do something more photographically worthy...


One comment so far...

Hi Jeffrey

I really liked your blog, I found it last night. I laughed at the faces these guys were making so much. Specially funny was that picture with the tall guy, really tall indeed! Its great to see photos made with such a huge lenses, the depth of field and fov are peculiar. 🙂

— comment by nnkka on January 27th, 2015 at 1:00am JST (9 years, 2 months ago) comment permalink
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