Light experiments

Few experiments with lights.

Moving car..

After a long break restarting the blog..

A shot from the BigSur visit..



ISO 400
f/4
1/1000

Some Rose shots

Canon 70-300 vs 70-200L Comparison

Both are very common telephoto lenses. Now which one to buy? My thoughts..

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
----------------------------------------

D Adv
Not compatible with the Canon 1.4X and 2X extenders
Rotating Front element -If planning to use a polarizer you wouldn't want this.

Adv
IS - The IS is 3rd generation and will achieve 3 stop adv - Good for hand held shots. Esp at the telephoto end.
300mm at telephoto end.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM Lens
------------------------------------------
Adv
Fixed size - Size does not change while zooming - I personally like this feature.
Non rotating front element.
L quality glass.
Fixed wide aperture (4) - Good if you use zoom a lot. Other wise after zooming, you might need to change the settings (recompose).
Compatible with Canon 1.4X and 2X converters (With 2X no autofocus unless you want to do the 'tape tricks')

Compared to 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM,
Auto focus is faster.
Sharper.

Dis Adv
No IS. (IS version is available - for more $$ :-))
$$
Only till 200mm at telephoto side. Have to use extenders.

Neutral
Weight is same for both the lenses.
If you use a 1.4X extender, the L lens will become 98-280 f/5.6 which is almost same as the other lens.

Difference between X notation and A-Bmm notation

Actually 3X, 4X etc is a relative term.
It is used mostly in point & shoot cameras which is meant for 'all-purpose'.
The zoom for the point and shoot camera is considered as max telephoto/max wide angle.

Most of the p&s camera max wide angle starts at 28mm. So a 10X p&s means 28-280mm.(280/28 = 10x).

Now for an SLR lenses, term nX is not used. Coz not every lenses are general purpose lenses.
One example..
Assume there is a lens 10-40mm is 4X
similarly a 100-400mm is also 4X.
These lenses will be used for different purposes. First one is a super wide angle lens and will be used mostly for landscape photography. Second one is a super telephoto lens and will be used mostly for bird/insect photography.

In a nutshell the X notation is a relative term where as A-Bmm is an absolute term.

My first L lens

After shooting with my Canon 100mm macro lens, I almost stopped using my 28-135 IS. The sharpness of 28-135macro is not at all comparable with the 100mm macro!!!

So I thought of upgrading my 28-135. I started my research and finaly ended up buying a new lens. Its the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM!!!

Yes.. Now I am a proud owner of a canon famed "L" lens.

The options I had for a general purpose lens were 

1. Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM (outdoor) + EF 50mm f/1.4 USM (indoor)
2. EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM 
3. EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM 

The decision was very hard to make - I would say one of the toughest 'photography' decisions I have made ever :D..

I have read so many reviews, which if I would have spent on my certification materials, I would have scored 200% :-)... Something I learned - (Don't read lot of reviews... You will end up shedding money.) :D

My new lens on my 40D.

--- Factors I considered --- 

1. Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0 L USM (outdoor) 

+  -> Color/Contrast, L, Build, Sharpness.

-  -> Less zoom range (40mm only), No IS, Low light (Am getting another lens for low light.. oh not now!!!)

2. EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM 

+ ->  zoom range, IS!!!, f/2.8, Sharp

- -> DUST!!!!, Not tt great colors, Very exp and not an L, EF-S.

3. EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM 

+ -> Dream Lens!, L , Build, Sharpness, Zoom Range, IS

- -> Price, 24 is not wide enough & there aren't much wide options.

Bokeh

This is my new orchid.

Topics - Bokeh & Composition. 

With my new lens :)

Gimp experiments - 'Bud'dies

My first experiment with Gimp.

Selective coloring technique.

Crochet shots..

Crochet equipments are good subjects.. They are colorful and good looking.

From my spouse's crochet kit...

My first macro...

This is my first macro shot with my Canon 100mm.

Exif : f/2.8, Exp 1/60, ISO 640

Finally.. my new lens

Finally I got my second lens.

But its not a wide angle lens! Its a macro - Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM.

Flickr

As part of improving the photography, I am getting more and more involved in flickr.
Uploading photos and getting feedback is one way to sustain your interest.

My flickr Link

Wideangle - Decision Taken or Did I?

I thought I had made the decision on my wide angle lens. I thought the wide angle lens tt will join my 28-135 in my kit wud be Sigma 10-20mm.
Decided to go for Sigma coz of
* Slight price adv (~50$)
* Extra 2mm

Now the next step was to get it from a local store.
I called around 20 stores today including
Wolf Camera, San Jose Camera, Ritz Camera, Kamera Korner, Keeble & Shuchat.
Only in one Wolf Camera, the camera was available. But it was 570$!

Now the options are
* Buy the lens for 570 whose actual cost is 480$
* Get it online - This is the last thing I want to do.

So again I am rethinking of Tokina.

Advantages of Tokina are
* Fixed focal length
* Almost 'L' Quality

Tokina vs Sigma


Current decision is.
If I get Tokina for <500 in any local store, I will buy it.
I have to call all stores again. Oh.. Not today!

From Old Files

One of my favs from old files.
Jelly Fish Shot.
Sorry for the noise - Lighting was not good.

Exp 1/8, f/5.6, ISO 1000

Slow Shutter speed

This is one of my experiments with slow shutter speed.

Post processing:
- Tighter crop
- Edge blur


Exif Info : f/9, Exp - 5 s, ISO 200

Gimp - A discovery!

I have been searching for a decent 'advanced' photo editor.
Photoshopz there.. but its not free :(. I have been using iPhoto, Graphic Converter and some 'simpler' image editors I got from Download.com. iPhoto is good, but not gr8 as a photo-editor. Graphic Converter has lot of functionalities, but I used to get lost in the middle.

Recently only I discovered Gimp.
Its great!
Its good for 'advanced' photo editing, its not that complicated and above all its FREE!!!

But not everything with Gimp I like.
Gimp is a X-Windows application and it launches X11. Not very happy about it as I want to keep my Mac clean n fast.
The UI and controls are not superior to Photoshop(But again photoshop isn't free..)

Still, I am very happy with my discovery!

Get Gimp here.

B & W Photography

Recently I have a feeling like.. I have not done enough justice to my hobby!!! (Villain is Laziness).. I personally feel the knowledge level I have in photography not in par with my experience!
So thought of spending some effort to refine my photographic skills..
Thought of restarting from basics..

Read some where that the best way to improve your photography (Composition mainly) is to switch to black & white photography.. The reason being the errors we make will be more noticeable ( Yeah thats true, Some times colors save you from some one saying aaaah! :) - With Exceptions).

Here is one of the outputs...

Nothing ground breaking. One simple image.
The subject is 'my Piano'.

The topic is Low DOF...
I have tried to keep the rule of 2/3s also...



EXIF Info: Exp 1/8,f/5.6,ISO 1000

Search for wide angle..

My current lens is the kit lens(Canon 28-135mm IS USM) I got with 40D. Because of the cropped sensor, the widest I can get is ~45mm (28*1.6) :(.
I am looking for a wide angle lens... The shortlisted options are..
Canon 10-22mm
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6
Tokina 12-24mm f/4

I read good reviews about all three lens...
Canon is removed from the list because of its price (~700$).
Now I have to choose from Sigma and Tokina..
Sigma is wide(10mm) but Tokina has fixed focal length..

I am a bit towards Sigma as of now. But still undecided....

My Current Photography Equipments are -->

Primary Equipments
- Canon EOS 40D
- Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
- PlatinumPlus 6200DX
- Hoya Polarizer
- UV Filter
Alternate Equipments
- Canon S2IS
- Olympus Stylus 850 SW