The Best Piece of Crap I Ever Bought
You’ll have to forgive me if you think the title crass. However, it’s appropriate. I’ve recently became the proud owner of Canon’s 50mm Mark II lens. Except for the glass, everything is made of plastic and feels like it might fall apart at any moment.
So why on earth buy such a thing? For one thing, it’s cheap at around $100. It’s also fast (in the parlance of photographers), at a maximum aperature of f1.8. This means you can shoot in much lower light when needed and blur the background to great affect. And because it’s not a zoom lens, it both takes very sharp pictures and makes you work a little harder by moving your feet to get closer or further away from your subject.
I’ve already gotten some fun pictures. (All of these link to larger versions in the photo gallery.)
I really like the sharpness of this garden gnome with the blurred colors of the flowers in the background. I have two more good shots in the photo gallery.
The Bruce is hard to take pictures of. He tends to either get come up to the photographer to be petted and held, ending any opportunities for pictures, or get annoyed and refuse to cooperate. He also moves around lot. So I was thrilled to get one of the better pictures I’ve gotten of him, half in shade, half in bright sun.
Our neighbor has a patch of Indian Blanket that yielded this colorful shot taken in somewhat low light.
Overall, I’m having a blast with the lens and if it falls apart after a few years, I’ve already got my eye on an upgrade.
Well, now you’ve done it. I’m gonna have to get me one, too! You captured some really nice shots, especially The Bruce, and you definitely have that artistic eye. I’ll be looking forward to more pictures in the future.
Wow, Bruce is quite the subject =) I’m staring at my olde pointe-and-shoote and wondering which damselfly will be its last, but too (lazy, cheap, or stubborn come to mind) …. yeah, so I’m not upgrading yet, even though the “zoom in” and “review” buttons are about to take permanent vacations.
Do you have albums of your work available for perusal? Even if it’s a lot of Bruce-ography? =)
Yes Heidi, I do. Check the Photo Gallery link in the navigation. It needs some more organizing and updating, particularly the album that was meant to hold my best shots. But there’s certainly no lack of pictures to look at.
Leave it to me to stare at the RSS feed and make it to the blog long enough to comment but not check the links =X /headdesk