PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

Why Canon EF 24-105/4L IS USM? This is an interesting lens, I find it a great lens for portrait and outdoor works, in particular, it is sharp wide open at f/4 which I find the best aperture for portrait. Some people would prefer the 24-70/2.8, a faster lens in similar range. For my style, I find the extended focal length and IS feature from 24-105 gives more advantages over the 1-stop faster 24-70 at most of the time.

If I have to go into shooting moving subjects or actions, I would always prefer one stop higher usable ISO level (thus double the shutter speed) instead of one stop faster lens, not only because the faster lens is more expensive and bulky, but also a bigger aperture means shallow DOF coverage and subjects are more likely at risk being out of sharpness.

Lenses at f/2.8 and faster are good to work with sensors (some work at f/5.6 and some need f/2.8 or faster) for tracking subjects during continuous shooting. Some people would also love to produce special blur background effect given by a very shallow DOF.

Life run of my 5D kit combo for about a month, it is a very capable system ideal for travel and trip. The kit lens 24-105/4 is capable of covering most everyday work.

These are samples taken during our visit to Ocean Park and a flower/ gardening exhibition, just with some minor adjustment in contrast and sharpness, in general the 5D and 24-105 delivers very nice result, specifically, still very nice wide open at f/4 …. full article.

I finally go with a 16-35mm f/2.8 L II lens instead of primes after some careful inspection and refined requirement. Firstly, it comes with my most favorite focal length ranges, that is a compromised solution - versatile and high speed for landscape as well as event work in low light environment.

Secondly, 16-35mm f/2.8 L II is a new design lens optimized for latest Canon FF body, it has consistent performance across apertures. In fact, Canon made this lens to work at wide focal length and wide open aperture, I am surprised by its output at 16mm f/2.8. Lastly, 16-35mm f/2.8 L II has very nice blur background effect that worths its price for some creative and lower available light work.

I managed to trial run it with my Canon 5D for some indoor shots, well, this is where it worths the price double over the 17-40/4. All samples are wide open at f/2.8. See more samples at Canon EOS 5D - Dark Angel in Digital Photography.

First attempt to do barbecued pork for dinner.

It looks quite nice to serve ….

And there is a mess to be clean up ….

It has been a long wish since my first professional body Nikon D1x to have it shoot in low light (the acceptable sensitivity level is iso400), and it ended up running with wide open aperture, the result is not really up to my expectation.

I have been seeking my next advanced camera for ever best image quality, in particular, in terms of pulling out excellent details and delivering great image quality under lower light environment, it will also serve me mainly for landscape and portrait work.

I have been waiting for a while with hope that there will be one out soon that meets all my expectations (no surprise, it always fails, and I skipped the Nikon D2 series). But with the recent higher-pixel, higher-iso and FF (Full Frame refers to the use of the full film gate at maximum width and height for 35 mm film cameras) revolution in digital cameras, I finally have my shortlist - Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 5D and Nikon D3.

See Full Article.