I’ve been putting this post off for a few weeks, I ordered a new lens and have been waiting for it to arrive, but with the postal strikes it’s been long overdue.
But finally it arrived, so I thought I’d post about it – and several other pieces of kit I’ve recently got.
Canon 50mm f1.8 EF lens MKII
Recently I have been doing a lot of low light shoots, the Starskey Shoot, my sisters Vocation Dance Performance and a few others, the problem is the 350D doesn’t do a great job at noise reduction when its cranked up to 1600 ISO, the picture grain is bearable but only just, at such a high speed the image noise is an issue. Added to that the fact that both the kit lens and my Tamron 70-300 have a relatively high minimum f stop (4.5 & 5.6 respectively) meaning I have to crank up the ISO in order to get a decent shutter speed to stop them from being too blurry. Because of these reasons I decided to get the Canon 50mm f1.8 Mk II EF lens, after looking around it seemed a good value for money lens so I took the plunge.
The difference with this lens is that (unlike my other lenses) it’s pretty fast, there are faster on the market, the 50mm f1.2 would have been even better but since it’s an L lens the price tag that goes with it is probably around the price of a small house in Wales.
So far I haven’t had the time to take many shots with it, but as soon as I haven’t spare few minutes (and can find something / somewhere good to photograph) I will take some and post them.
Lowepro CompuDayPack
Lowepro make the best bags, it’s as simple as that. The CompuDayPack allows me to carry my laptop and my camera around without having to take 2 different bags…the only downside to this is that when fully loaded it’s pretty heavy, I don’t imagine I will be taking my laptop to many shoots, but on the odd occasion when I do this will be very useful. I can’t believe how many different compartments it has, I just don’t know what to put in them.
Canon EOS Wired and Wireless Remote
For as long as I can remember I’ve been thinking about getting a remote shutter release, but before now I’ve never really got around to getting one, but the good news is that I have 2 to make up for it.
The first one is the Canon Wireless RC-1 remote, it works just like a normal TV remote, the only downside is that you need line of site in order for it to work properly, and the sensor is on the front of the camera…and I also can’t use the half press feature to autofocus, instead it does it when you press the button.
The second one is the Canon RS-60E3 wired remote, it’s pretty much the same as the wireless one expect you can press the shutter button half down to use the AF.
Lens Hood for Canon EOS 18-55mm Kit Lens
I’ve been looking for a lens hood to fit the kit lens for months. The one I bought in America wasn’t the correct one and it also wouldn’t tighten onto the lens. So I searched EBay high and low for somewhere that did 58mm lens hoods that were about to handle a 17mm focal length, at least I found one and ordered it (from Hong Kong). It works pretty well, it’s a bit fiddly but it’s still worth it.
There are still a few more things I am planning to get in the near future, a 4GB CF card to add to the 1GB and 2GB cards I already have and a lens hood and UV filter for my 50mm f1.8.
Posted in: Photography