Jer & Min Photography

The Canon EF 50mm f/18 II lens is amazing.  It is a very fast prime lens that is capable of creating great photographs.  I’ve been shooting with nothing but this lens all weekend to get used to it and familiar with its strengths and weaknesses (as of this writing, the weakness column is pretty short).

Here are a couple of the strengths I’ve found so far:

1. f/1.8 – This is a great low-light lens.
2. Bokeh* – Part of having a huge aperture is the benefit of having a very shallow depth of focus.  When wide open, the bokeh is absolutely beautiful.
3. Sharpness* – I am very impressed with the sharpness of images created by this lens
4. Price – It is less than $100.  Enough said.

To demonstrate the Bokeh, Sharpness, and shallow depth of focus achievable by the f/1.8, I’ve included the following photograph.

For this photograph, I focused on Min’s eyelashes.  As you see the bokeh shown on Min’s lower portion of her face is very creamy and quite beautiful (it helps to have a beautiful subject).  To view the shallow depth of field and the sharpness of this image, I’ve cropped a subsection of this photograph below.

You’ll notice, the only portion of this shot that is in focus is part of the eye.  Bokeh begins around the far edge of her eyelashes.  Additionally, notice how sharp and defined the actual individual hairs are.  To see a larger image, click on the photo.

I’m really enjoying this lens, I’ll put each shot I take with it in a set on flickr as a mini-project.

* Things such as Bokeh and Sharpness I have no way of offically quantifying other than my impressions and opinions of them.

One of the shots I’ve wanted to try is a long exposure at night while cars are driving past.  I like the motion and the colors I see in other people’s photos when they make similar photographs.

Last night I set out to do just that.  It turned out to be more difficult that I originally thought.  The difficulty had nothing to do with making the photograph, it was getting willing subjects to drive past.  I live in a very small town East of Park City, UT called Kamas.  It is a wonderful place to live, but not too many people moving around after dark.  I shot this at 8:30pm and had to wait for cars to go by!  I contemplated calling some friends and have them stage a drive-by but then felt that was cheating somehow.

A few things I learned:

1. Put a headlamp in my camera bag.  I had a devil of a time reading the settings display as I was trying to dial in a good exposure.
2. Turn off the IS feature of my lens.  You’ll notice some wiggle in a few of the stationary objects of the photo, this I believe contributed to this problem as I was tripod mounted.
3. Use Mirror lock-up.  This to may contribute to the vibration I saw.  Additionally, passing cars will contribute, but there is very little I can do about that.

They aren’t great photographs, but they are from my first time using my new 40D so I thought I’d publish them.  It is going to take me a bit to get used to this camera, but I’ll keep at it and see how things go.

None of the shots are landscape which is my favorite subject to photograph, but they are of my family whom I cherish more than anything.

Not really well composed, but I was trying out some different features of the camera and had a ton of fun.

My new camera arrived today.  I’ll post more about it as soon as I get done playing!

In the last 9 months I have mulled over a decision as to what dSLR to purchase.  I’m still planning on purchasing a small feature-rich compact camera in a while, but I’ve also decided to get something bigger as well.

During these last 9 months, I’ve mainly been deciding between Nikon and Canon.  Eventually I’ve decided that it is hard to go wrong either way with these two companies.  I know some may think otherwise, but I respect each and have learned quite a bit about both companies’ offerings.

Okay, enough of the fluff, this is what I ordered:

• Canon EOS 40D 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens (link)
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens (link)
• Tiffen 72mm UV Protection Filter (link)
• Tiffen 52mm UV Protection Filter (link)
• Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG for Canon EOS SLR Cameras (link)
• 2 SanDisk 4 GB Extreme III Compact Flash Memory Card (link)

Initially I had decided against getting a “kit” lens, but after reviewing my options, I realized that this lens gives me a usable lens at a discounted price.  It allows me to put off buying another zoom for a little while now.

Why did I choose what I did…

This may get me mocked a little bit, but hey, I’m a Software Engineer by trade so I’m a nerd and a bit analytical to say the least.  I began by listing my requirements in a camera, such as ISO range, lens compatibility, flash features, price, lens prices, and a myriad of other things.  I then weighted each requirement according to how important it was to me.  Once I did that I looked up features for about 7 different digital cameras and let the spreadsheet make my decision.

This decision was made increasingly difficult with the release of the Canon 50D and the Nikon D90, but without having enough of a period of being in the public, I couldn’t include them in my decision making process.

What’s left

I’m done purchasing for a little while (so I tell Min) but intend to increase my gear to include the following items:

• “Serious” Compact camera such as the Panasonic Lumix LX3
• Canon 17-40mm f/4L
• Canon 70-200mm f/4L
• Singh-Ray filters (Graduated Neutral Density Filters and ColorCombo)

Buyer’s remorse

Incredibly enough I’ve not felt an ounce of buyer’s remorse yet and I’m extremely excited for my camera to arrive.  As of right now, my gear has been shipped and is in transit…

Eventually, I’m going to be in the market for a compact camera.  The one I have (Canon PowerShot S410) is getting rather old but plays a significant roll in my photo taking.  I use my S410 on backpacking trips where weight and size is very critical.  Lately, as I’ve learned more about photography, pointing and shooting isn’t getting me the results I desire.  I have found times when I’ve wanted a camera that I could have a little more control over.  One of the compact cameras that has caught my interest is Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LX3 which until recently was available for pre-order only.

The Lumix DMC-LX3 is a small camera that fits the bill I need for a backpacking camera, it is a small, lightweight, offers complete control over things such as focus, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, format, and it has a very wide angle for a compact camera (24mm equivalent).

A video review of this camera is available here.  This camera is available for purchase on Amazon and other places.

I’m very interested to see reviews and photos from regular people once this camera is out to the general public for a little while.