Canon 50/F1.8 EF II

From one hand, I was happy to have a DSLR camera. From other hand, the sharpness of my shots sometimes did not satisfy me. I tried the change aperture size. It did not gain better result. I was sure that there was a way to create crispy captures with this lens. I just did not know how. I will open this big secret after realizing it.

While I was reading about the properties of different lenses, I found a very cheap yet very popular lens. This lens was Canon 50/F1.8 EF II. People usually say that 50 mm focal length is optimal and you can use it everywhere. Well, on my camera, the focal length of this lens increases to 50 * 1.6 = 80 mm. At that time, I was interested in taking portrait shot. In fact, I still fan of portrait shots. My only problem is the lack of models. I sometimes can persuade my wife to stand before my camera, but she hates it and she usually refuses my offer.

I especially liked how this lens is able to blur the background of the capture. Browsing the sample shots, I realized that I would have this lens as soon as I can.

Finally, I bought it. It looks so strange. Its length was very short in comparison with my kit lens. I hate changing lenses, but there was nothing to do but to change the lenses. I changed them as soon as I could. I took some snapshot with the smallest aperture number and I was afraid. I was sure that the auto focus of this lens did not work properly. Only after dozens of shots, I realized that the deep of the field is very small and it could be a challenge to make properly focused capture with the biggest aperture size. Learning that my lens worked good made me happy.

At last, I was able to enjoy my new lens. I loved the small deep of field very much and I took shots everywhere I could.

I still like this lens and I usually take it with me whenever I go to take shots. As the focal length of this lens is fix, I had to use manual change of the focal length, in other words, I must walk closer to the subject or walk away from it. But, this is the part of the capturing process. :)

Some weeks later, there was an occasion to use this lens capturing portraits. I was content with it.

The lens worked good in case of landscape shots, too. However, the practical focal length was a bit big for landscapes.

I can only recommend this lens. The shots taken by it are very sharp and the captured colors are vivid.

DSLR and First Impressions

I have not posted anything for a while. No, I do not intend to give up blogging. I was very busy with my work at the end of the last year. I did not have enough time even to go to take shots.

Also, I bought my first DSLR camera. I was content with SX10; I just wanted to move forward. I gave up smoking; therefore, my wife could not stop me. I am joking. Of course, she could. However, we had a deal about giving up smoking. In short, I have a Canon 500D (or Rebel Ti1 or Kiss X3) camera kit. The kit contained Canon 18-55/F3.5-5.6 EF-S IS lens. Many people say it is not worth buying this lens. However, its price was very low because of the kit.

My first impression was rather ambivalent. I liked the focus related functions of the SX10. Now, I have small black dots, which turns into red if the get the focus. By default, all of these dots are active. It means that the focus will be set on the closest object. Is not it very useful? As soon as I could, I made only the central AF point active. It gave me a bit more comfort. Changing the active AF point is not difficult. I am able to do it with viewfinder on my eye.

So, I had only one lens. It is indeed limited possibility in comparison with the SX10. All serene! I like landscape shots. I mentioned I was very busy; therefore, I could take my camera late afternoon. Soon, I realized that my old tripod is not suitable for the new DSLR. The moving mirror of the camera made the tripod shake. Yes, there is a mirror lockup function. I did not know of this feature that time and it is not the most comfortable method the prevent camera shake.

I tried to take shot holding the camera with AUTO ISO settings. It gave unbelievable good result. The shot above was taken with ISO 1600.

I liked the colors also. The shots taken with 500D contain more colors than I could achieve with SX10. One of my favorite shots was about the benches of course.

The colors were great. The sharpness is another problem. In certain conditions, the image can be sharp using this lens. In certain conditions... I read interesting articles about the unbelievable great sharpness of this lens. It is called “To people saying 18-55 is not sharp enough.”. You can read it on flickr. The author of the article showed some captures as an evidence. The only problem is that images having small size are always sharp. Examining the shot in its real size, hmm, well, maybe, the sharpness will go away. From the other hand, if this kit lens were so great, nobody would buy more expensive lens.

I like these lens and I have some nice shots taken with it. Just, I suppose there are better lenses.