Decided

In the last post I talked briefly about the Canon 24L, 85L & 100L lenses.  I also mentioned that I didn’t end up choosing any of those for my next purchase.

Here’s the reason

What you see in that video is the new Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5L II.  That won’t mean a whole lot to most of you, so here’s a couple of points.

The good:
- Replaces the Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5L (notice the II at the end of the other name)
- Minimal chromatic aberration
- Close to no visible distortion
- Awesome build quality

The bad:

- 82mm filter diameter, means I now have to get ripped off by Hoya on filters
- Manual focus, but then again that’s with all tilt-shift lenses.
- EXPENSIVE

As far as sharpness goes, this lens is easily sharper than the 16-35L, 24L, and 17-40L, this site here shows the comparisons between the lenses.  Here’s the thing, it’s not a little bit sharper, its noticeably sharper than the other lenses.  The capabilities of this lens stretches beyond anything else on the market at the moment.  According the DP review, Nikon’s PC-E 24mm f3.5D comes close but not quite. 

So what can one do with a lens like this?

- Architecture photography: Buildings that are straight in real life will look straight in the photos.  



Imagine if the buildings on the left didn’t lean towards the centre
of the image. 




- Landscape photography: This lens gives you the ability to tilt the plane of focus you can have as much or as little of the field in focus. 
- Product photography: same principles as above
- Portraits/weddings: A whole lot more creative options open up with tilt shift
- The “toy village” effect

Click here for an example of this lens in action in architecture photography. 
And here for landscape, here for portraits (notice the background)

Here for the toy village effect
And of course, the image that put the nail on the coffin (could not have been done any other way)

As soon as I get my hands on this lens, I will definitely be trying out all of the above.  The main reason for deciding on this lens though is that it opens up so many windows of creative opportunities.  There are certain things that you can only do with a tilt-shift lens. 

There is probably a handful of people in Australia that owns this lens, many will have the original version, but the MkII is something else.  And plus, I figured if I was going to buy something, I’d go all out. 

In conclusion, the TS-E 24mm f3.5L II with my 5D MkII is a killer combination.  With this lens in my kit, there really isn’t a whole lot that I can’t do. 

I leave you with a collection of tilt-shift images by Tim Grimshaw.

Here’s what happens when a tilt-shift lens and stop animation decides to hook up and have a kid (don’t worry, it’s work safe and you MUST see it)

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Spending Season

Over the last 2 years or so, I’ve sold many cameras and lenses to all kinds of people.  People who have absolutely no idea what to look for, people who were trying to decide between a couple of cameras, and people who knew exactly what they wanted and all I had to do was swipe their Amex.  I made the process seem easy and straight forward, I would ask them a series of questions and “decide” the right camera for them.

When it was my turn to buy something, I had absolutely no way of deciding (at first).  Here’s the story, a wise man once said “if you work hard during Christmas, Canon says you need to buy some new lenses”.  Of course I agreed, what good is money if you don’t spend it?  Before long, I had it narrowed down to a few lenses to add to my kit.

 

Here’s what I already have:
- Canon 5D MkII
- EF 17-40mm f4L

- EF 24-105mm f4L IS USM
- EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM

- EF 50mm f1.4 USM
- Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro

I’ve got most of it covered, but as some of you may know, you can never have enough lenses. 


Here’s what I narrowed my choices down to:
- EF 24mm f1.4L USM II
- EF 85mm f1.2L USM II
- EF 100mm f2.8L IS USM macro

24mm f1.4L II: Beautiful lens, nice and wide on my full frame body, and a huge aperture for a lens of this focal length.  Not to mention the corner to corner sharpness and wonderful build quality and balance when fitted on the 5D MkII.  If I bought this lens, I would be pushing some serious low light wide angle shots without needing a flash and some wide angle shots with a LOT of bokeh. 

Cons - as with any other wide angle prime lens, its great when I use it … if I use it. 

85mm f1.2L II: 85mm works out to be the perfect portrait range for a full frame sensor.  The massive f1.2 max aperture is … incredible.  Not to mention it’s also incredibly sharp, but you would expect that from a lens that has a RRP of ~$3600 AUD. 

Cons – same as above, perhaps even less versatile than the 24mm 1.4L for what I need.  It’s also the kind of lens that screams “cock” and “I like to get ripped off by Canon” every time I take it out at a photo shoot. 

100mm f2.8L macro: The most versatile and the cheapest of the bunch (RRP ~1500 AUD).  Only came out a couple of months ago, building on the strong platform laid by the non IS version many years ago.  It’s sharper, focuses faster, much better built, and has IS.  All this for only an extra couple of hundred bucks in the price tag.  This much improved performance means I would be able to throw away the Tamron macro, and also use it for portraits.  In fact, it’s such a good lens I think it matches up really well with the highly acclaimed Nikkor 105mm micro. 

Cons – not much, apart from the fact that I would be replacing a lens rather than adding one to the kit.

So those are the 3 candidates, each with their own qualities and drawbacks.  No I don’t actually need a new lens, but where’s the fun in that?  At this point I should add that there were a few other lenses that were thrown in the discussion.

Honourable mention:
- EF 14mm f2.8 II
- EF 135mm f2L

- EF 180mm f3.5L

For most of you this discussion will be pretty useless, but for those who have most of the zoom lenses covered and are feeling a little rich … then this thought process could help.

NB: I actually didn’t end up deciding on ANY of these lenses, I’ll explain next time.

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My Top 10

It’s been a while, and in my absence I’ve managed to compile a list of things that really grinds my gears (so to speak).  Some of you thought I was slacking off, but in reality I’ve been busy saving the world … but that’s for another day.

10. Allen Iverson: After 10 years with the sixers, a fallout caused him to be traded to Denver, who subsequently traded him to Detroit where he was forced to start on the bench.  Like anybody else with an ego the size of Russia, the disgruntled all-star left for the Grizzlies (who were the only team that wanted him).  The Grizzlies soon found out that they were actually a better team with AI on the sidelines, which annoyed him even more causing him to retire.  Over the next couple of days, past and present players expressed their support of his decision, highlight reels were compiled, and a retirement ceremony was planned.  3 days later, guess what I saw on the headlines of NBA.com? “Iverson to sign with sixers”.   Here we go again …

In honour of AI, let us relive his finest moments

9. Khloe Kardashian: If you don’t know, she’s Kim Kardashian’s sis and the wife of Lamar Odom.  She walks around Staples Centre like she owns the place.  Soon we may even see her in the starting line up alongside Kobe and Pau.  Enough said.

8. Staff Parking at Castle Towers: On an annual basis, without warning, security guards magically appear at the car park entrances of Castle Towers shopping centre to tell employees to turn around and park in the outdoor parking across the street.  Which means after a long 8-10 hour shift of dealing with customers, I return to my car which has been transformed into a sweltering mess of a rust bucket by the Australian summer.  Christmas is truly the festive season. 

7. 9 AF points on the 5D MkII: Don’t get me wrong, I love my 5D MkII and I’m not regretting the purchase in ANY way ... but it could be better.  Minor quirks that canon will no doubt iron out for the MkIII over the next couple of years.  Speaking of camera gear, I’m struggling to decide on my next lens purchase (more on that later).

6. Facebook: No, I will not send her a message to reconnect with ___________

5. Flickr: Ever heard of Flickr Explore?  Well its a thing on their site that finds the most “interesting photos” and gives it more exposure.  Turns out they favour certain photographers.

4. You know the world is messed up when a man injects his wife with HIV

3. Christmas Island & Macquarie Island: Both amazing places and plenty of photo opportunities, but due to certain restrictions they’re not as accessible as I’d like.  Coconut crabs at Christmas Island should make for some amazing documentary style photos/videos.  Macquarie Island … well that might as well be a planet of its own, until you see it you would never know a place like that ever existed.

2. The crackdown on sport stars: Listen people, we pay them to play the game, not to be a role model.  I couldn’t care less if Tiger Woods was a cheating bastard or a saint.  Likewise if Kobe Bryant decided to have another affair, I wouldn’t think less of him.  Honest or not, they’re still the best in their respective sports, and plus, who are you to judge?

1. Following on from #2, a couple of days after suspicion of an affair hits the news, more women put their hands up about past relations with ________.  Yes, it happens, and it happens too often.  Just let the man play in peace.

 

And with that bombshell, I leave you to ponder on my thoughts over a glass of hot chocolate.
p.s. I haven’t forgotten that this is a photo blog, I promise there WILL be some of my recent photos in the next few posts :)

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