The Gear Objective

100mm Macro 2.8 USM.

This is my only Canon prime. It is also my only Canon non-L lens.

I bought this lens many moons ago. It had a stuck shutter. I sent it back. Very sad.
But the short time I had it I knew that some day I would get another.

Why not just get a fresh copy? Because I got my 24-105L instead!

I eventually did get my current copy and the love story restarted as if it had never stopped.

I love macro. It is the reason I first got into photography and I had some pretty sweet little gizmos that gave me 1:1 on my P&S. This current lens is a continuation of the wonderful world of macro.

Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6

This was my very first SLR lens. I bought it retail(ouch). I bought my first SLR body-only because I knew that the kit lens was lousy. I did not know too much about lenses at the time. I was immediately impressed by the reach this lens had. I also observed that it was not as sharp as my P&S. No big deal. It was TONS faster! Over the years that I owned it I developed a love/hate relationship with the 70-300. The hate part was intensified as I was diagnosed with the incurable L-disease. And eventually It was replaced by the 70-200 f/4 IS L. But due to its remarkable service(I put it through its paces!) I salute the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6.


PhotHog

(It is obvious that I am still sick 3 posts in one week!)

The Gear Legacy

Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro Lens

I like this lens. Actually I liked this lens as it has been replaced by the 100mm USM macro.

However it served faithfully and I got some nifty shots with it.

Slow at f/2.5 for a prime 50.

Not true macro unless you buy the extender thing for it.

So this is a compromise lens... But as always the number one thing that makes or breaks a photo is the SUBJECT.



Photog

Ill

I have cold.

Erk.

This pic was taken in August of 2008


PhotHog










70-300@300
1/3200 sec
F/5.6
ISO 200

The Gear Ultimatum

EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM.

Super sharp.
Super quiet.
4 stop IS.
Built like a tank.
Other great stuff.

In other words: This is an UBERLENS.

Why not the 2.8? Too heavy. The f/4 is half the weight.
I like the 2.8, but I don't like the camera strap cutting through my spinal cord.
Seriously I like the snappiness of this lens and it is easily hand-holdable for all day.

Take this traveling, use it for weddings, for portraiture... etc.

Me like it.

Phothog

The Gear Supremecy

The next item reviewed is the Canon 24-105 4.0L. This is obviously a mid range lens. It is my "On the camera" lens. This lens being a L series is incredibly sharp and well built. Interestingly there is nothing really special about this lens. It isn't very wide or very long. Its f/4 aperture, while constant is not that fast. If I were to pick out a defining feature the closest thing I would say is its all round functionality.

This 24-105 has weather sealing which is good for me! And 3 stops of IS. I like IS but only as a extra feature, something as a safety net to catch important shots.

I briefly considered the 24-70 2.8L but its limited zoom was a turn off for me in regard to nature photography. Also no IS :( In retrospect I could have made it work while enjoying the f/2.8...

I think the perfect solution to this dilemma would have been a 24-105 f/2.8 L IS USM. But unfortunately that for the moment is not happening.

As it is the only time I need a wide open aperture is dark places... And that is what a speedlite is for.

In conclusion I use this lens as an every day shooter, wildlife, landscape, portraiture, occasions, and weddings. This is a great lens.

Phothog

The Gear Identity

Canon Speedlite 580 EX II

This is my flash. It is very powerful, being able to illuminate a subject nearly 200 ft away. I rarely use it at even half that distance, but I do not doubt that I could(As long as I brought a lot of spare batteries!)

This flash is Canon's top of the line flash. It has ultrasonic capacitor charging so there is no high pitched whine after each shot. I like this feature. It also recharges very quickly after each shot.

I use this almost 100% for "people shots" It has a swivel head that can point in about any direction... Bounce time! It has fully auto mode as well as manual from 1/32-1/1. It is weather sealed.

My favorite(but admittedly seldom used) ability is the famous "Stroboscopic" function. This feature emits a burst of multiple flashes very quickly, allowing multiple images of the same subject in one exposure.

There are many things to like about the flash. I have nothing to complain about. That is a high commendation from me!

Phothog

Quick gear post here... 17% left on my macbooks battery and the power cord is at home!!!

Canon 17-40L Lens.

This was my first L, and yes it was a transmitter of the incurable L-Disease. Very sharp. Very quiet. Very fast AF. Weather sealed. Built like a rock. Did I say it was sharp? Great lens, not half bad price for an L...

More gear coming soon(with pics!)

Phothog

Gear observed

Can a photog ever have enough gear? Short answer: No!

I am going to start a series of posts reviewing my gear, starting with my primary camera.

Introducing the Canon 50D(Cheers and loud hurrah's!)

I have had this for a while now, resisting the temptation to give it immediate accolades. However after putting it through its paces, I am now prepared to give it the praise it deserves.

The first thing that I do with a new Canon SLR(I have owned 2 including this one, so there is a tradition.)is remove the rubber eye piece. I wore glasses when I first started shooting and the rubber would smear my specs! So I got used to a hard eye piece and now even with contacts, I prefer it this way.

This review will cover what I like about the camera. It may have a great feature/s that I don't care about. These will not be reviewed.

The Good:
Tough magnesium alloy body. I need tough gear.
Intuitive buttons and wheels.
Nice sensor 16.something Mp.
Good quality ISO's even at 800+
Fast in two respects: Fast shutter speeds up to 1/8000 of a second. Fast frames per minute: 6.3
Good frame buffer(50 frames?) I never have filled the buffer in real life shooting.
Other stuff that I subconsciously appreciate that I can't think of right now.

The Bad:
The pop-up flash. I loath built in flashes on a camera. I don't listen to the "emergency fill flash" argument. Sorry... Not. Really. Although this pop-up is much more well behaved than my 400D, whose pop-up's button was regularly being inadvertently pressed. (I dealt with this problem in my own delicate way... I ripped it off).
The joystick. irk. Hard to control.
Battery life. What a joke. Using the live view is something I rarely do, which is fortunate, but the batteries are just sucked dry even without it.
Proprietary external control jack. This is really irritating because if you want to do loooong exposures(which I do) you need a gizmo that works with Canon's special little three pronged plugin. I got a off-brand. I have mixed results. To get the external controller that Canon has to offer would take a significant bite out of my wallet.

Overall this is a good camera for this simple reason: It is a mainstream advanced amateur camera. Lots of options. Lots of gear that can enhance its resume. And oh... the Lenses!!!(To be reviewed)



PhotHog

Time ?

Time is a hard commodity to come by at times! This shot required more time than average to capture... And then it was time to go!











Canon 50D
17-40L
F/4
680 seconds
Location: Crater Lake, Oregon

The days of past

The quality of ones pictures, the ease of capture, and the possibility of getting the shot, improve with the cost of your gear. That said, some of my favorite pictures were taken with my old P&S. Back then getting a shot was more of a challenge. The gear was not designed for the use I put it through, I was not as good, but I worked hard and long, replaced my HP935 photosmart three times, and ended up with some good shots!





























Camera: Hewlett-Packard
Model: HP PhotoSmart C935
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/4 sec
Aperture: 3.2
Focal Length: 12.7mm
Phothog

DST

Canon 50D
24-105L @105mm
ISO 640
F/4.o

Enough winter

I often feel the need to go back to look at different seasons when thoroughly ensconced in another one. I am rather tired of the bleakness of winter so I will go back to yesteryear's spring...

Snow Examined II

As if our last adventure was not cold enough, I found myself on the eastern side of the cascades well over 5000 ft and quite cold. It was actually quite a bit warmer then last time I was at Cresent Lake, but the driving wind, blowing snow at quite a horizontal angle made it seem quite harsh... Or at least it may have to some. I was however rather occupied and enjoyed every minute of it!




The lake freezes over in the winter, the cold weather now is just a taste of what is to come. In the meantime the fish in the lake attract eagles and here is a picture of one that flew right over head!


Traveling a short bit up Hwy 58 gets you to Odell Lake.

A large lake and a perfect place for eagle watching.




I had spotted the lone eagle at Cresent, at Odell, I saw two pairs as well as solitary one, bringing the total for the day to six!

Snow Examined

The pursuit of waterfalls led high into the mountains, around 4000 ft snow covered the ground, and by the time the trailhead was reached the world had turned white.

Hemlock Falls is the name of the falls, and is a mere mile and a quarter from the beginning of the trail. The only two difficulties in reaching the falls were these: The one and a quarter were uphill... in the snow... And once you reached the falls you could not see but a small edge as trees blocked the view! What is a photographer to do? Well, climb down in to the ravine and travel up the stream bed jumping from rock to rock, scrambling under giant downed trees, and finally stopping on a massive snow covered boulder... That was easy... Now what about getting back?

Getting back was a must as there were lakes to be seen, first the aptly named Lake In The Woods. The lake was originally a swamp but was drained to provide pasture for horses, then later in the century it was undrained and dammed up to create the lake.





Then there was Hemlock Lake, bearing the same name and water source as the above mentioned falls. Dusk was here and mist swirled on the surface of the lake...