Photographed By William Murphy - Select Image To View Photographs

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I USED A ZEISS BATIS 135MM LENS

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The Canvas: Stormont Estate

Located in East Belfast, the Stormont Estate remains a premier destination for nature photography. While many are drawn to the iconic Prince of Wales Avenue and its towering double rows of lime trees, the estate encompasses over 100 acres of meticulously managed parkland and woodland.

The Trails and Vistas

The estate features six distinct walking trails, ranging from accessible one-mile loops to the more demanding three-mile Long Woodland Walk. For a photographer, these paths offer a diverse portfolio of subjects:

Architectural Grandeur: The imposing lines of the Parliament Buildings.

Intimate Woodlands: Secluded paths characterized by dappled light and mature beech, oak, and chestnut trees.

Wildlife and Texture: Established trails that provide a rich environment for capturing the fine details of local fauna and ancient bark.

The Hardware: A Marriage of Precision

In 2019, the pairing of the Sony A7R III and the Zeiss Batis 135mm f/2.8 represented a pinnacle of mirrorless technology—a kit that remains formidable today.

The Zeiss Batis 135mm f/2.8

This lens is celebrated for its Apochromatic (Apo) Sonnar design, specifically engineered to eliminate chromatic aberration. Even in high-contrast scenarios—such as sunlight piercing through a dense canopy—the lens prevents the colour fringing that often plagues lesser glass.

Key technical advantages include:

Integrated OLED Display: Provides precise focus distance and depth-of-field data, essential for exacting landscape compositions.

Optical SteadyShot (OSS): When paired with the camera’s In-Body Image Stabilization (IBIS), it ensures rock-solid stability, mitigating the handshake common at longer focal lengths.

The Sony A7R III

Built around a 42.4-megapixel back-illuminated sensor, the A7R III was designed for maximum fidelity. By omitting an optical low-pass filter, the sensor allows the Zeiss optics to resolve every minute detail, from the intricate texture of a leaf to the fine patterns of a bird’s plumage.

The Software Evolution: DxO PureRAW 6

While the original 2019 edits were, in my opinion at the time, impressive, the arrival of DxO PureRAW 6 has redefined what can be extracted from those legacy files. This software moves beyond standard noise reduction, acting as a "pre-processor" that cleans the data before it even reaches a standard editor.

Why It Surpasses Standard Processing

Most editors, including Lightroom Classic, apply corrections after the image has been interpreted. PureRAW 6 changes the logic of the workflow:

Demosaicing & Denoising: Unlike standard linear algorithms, the DeepPRIME XD3 engine uses AI to demosaic and denoise simultaneously. This prevents artifacts from forming in the first place, maintaining a natural, "analog" grain rather than a "plastic-y" digital look.

Laboratory-Grade Lens Profiles: While many programs use generic manufacturer profiles, DxO utilizes custom-mapped Optics Modules. These are created by lab-testing specific camera and lens combinations to surgically correct edge softness and vignetting.

Preserving the "Zeiss Pop": Zeiss lenses are famous for their micro-contrast, often called "3D pop." Standard noise reduction often "muddies" this effect. PureRAW 6 enhances it by removing noise at a sub-pixel level, preserving the crisp transitions between light and shadow.

A Refined Workflow

The latest iteration of the software has addressed previous industry concerns regarding file "bloat" and over-sharpening. The introduction of High-Fidelity DNG Compression ensures that the processed files remain manageable in size, while the ability to dial back "Lens Softness" settings allows for a natural look that avoids the aggressive digital edge found in earlier AI versions.

Revisiting old archives with today's tools proves that a digital photograph is never truly "finished"—it is simply waiting for technology to catch up with the reality.

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