Sunday, January 27, 2008

It's All in the Lens, Baby

The Kit Lens which shipped with the Canon EOS 400d
continues to challenge my focusing skills.
It is very versatile and I cannot understand all
the negative feedback in the wider Canon community.
Perhaps hobbyists are less fussy overall?

A true photographic airing was given this new treasure yesterday.
A whirlwind trip round County Meath, north of Dublin, made a nice change,
especially as the light levels were incredibly variable. Noon was a gloomy affair with dull cloud cover making a very Celtic atmosphere.
By the time we reached the Hill of Down, towards four o'clock, there was
an sparkle in the sunlight and colour burst into view in every shot.

Four seasons in one day?

That's Ireland for you...

2 comments:

David T. Macknet said...

That's the entirety of the British Isles, methinks. We generally get a bit of sunshine 'round 9 a.m., followed by clouds, then true dark, then some awful wind & rain. At least it's semi-predictable! Holland is the same way, really.

The fuss is possibly about the speed of the lens, as it's a zoom, is it not? If so, it's probably in there at around f4.5, which is kind of slow, and it also possibly doesn't let you get as close as you ought to be able to get. Me, with my Sigma zoom, I can put a diopter filter of 3x on the front of it, zoom all the way out to 200mm, and still get focus at 2 inches from the subject. This is very unusual, but very desirable, in a lens. My more expensive Tamron lens won't let me get closer than maybe 8 inches, no matter how much zoom I give it or don't.

What are the issues people have with it?

David T. Macknet said...

Yep - the fuss is about the speed, having read through some of the commentary. If you had a fixed lens you'd really notice the difference, particularly when taking things in anything other than bright daylight. With my 50mm fixed lens I can take evening shots w/o flash, no problem, but the same is not true of either of my zoom lenses: the difference between an f1.4 and f4.5's is huge!

Not to advocate spending money, but you should see if you can get hold of a fixed lens, just to get a feel for what you're missing, and then make a decision on it.