With the most primitive means the artist creates something which the most ingenious and efficient technology will never be able to create.
Kasimir Malevich, Cubo-Futurist, Suprematist
Kasimir Malevich, Cubo-Futurist, Suprematist
But I've been working through the Canon system and I've discovered two things: 1. I like the cropped frame cameras like the 60D
I looked at everything on the market and finally settled on a Canon 35mm f2
The lens is probably the lightest lens I own. It has no special features. No special glass. No IS. No big hood. No bragging rights for the aperture. And I fell in love with it the moment I looked through it. It's sooooo neutral. No wide angle affectations. No "portrait-y" feel. Just a solid, middle of the road focal length and no big anomalies to speak of. It focuses quickly with the 60d and the 7D. And, at 3.5 and 5.6 most test reports show it matching the performance of the 35mm 1.4 pretty handily. Did I try the 30mm Sigma? Yes. I owned one back in the Nikon days and found it to be no great shakes. I sure wasn't interested in doing it again. It's sharp in the middle and by the time you hit 5.6 it's probably as sharp all over as this lens, but at twice the price.
So, what does this lens get me that's so special? Absolutely nothing. And that's it's charm. By nature of it's middle of the road focal length and neutral imaging performance it becomes transparent on many levels. I don't lean on an absurd focal length in order to "pull off" an image. It's fast enough for just about anything I shoot and when I stop it down to the middle aperture range it's as sharp as I could want it to be. Best of all, it was less than $300.
As a representative of the Visual Science Lab I'm officially declaring this lens to be the prime lens of choice for people who want a middle focal length for street shooting, general artistic stuff and for wise shoppers. I'm thinking of hot gluing it to the front of my Canon 7D and shooting it until the next cropped frame successor hits the shelves......
I can guess why everyone loves exotic zoom lenses and exciting, extreme focal lengths but I'm finding a lot of good, cheap lenses in the Canon line up that I think are overlooked. For example, when most people consider actual 50mm lenses the "wish" lens is the 50mm 1.1.2 L
Hell, my $700 Carl Zeiss 50mm 1.4 falls into the same pit of performance as the above two lenses. So why is it that, when we're out shopping for opinions on all the forae, no one ever gets around to mentioning the 50mm 2.5 macro
Here's my new, small kit for walking around the streets shooting: The Canon 7D (the small professional, cropped frame version of the 1Dmk4, really) the 20mm f2.8, the 35mm f2.0, the 50mm 2.5 macro. When I want something a little longer I pack my 100 f2.0 as well. With these three or four focal lengths I feel like I can do just about anything photographic in my style. And all four lenses run less than the new 70-200 2.8
I shot a function, an event, with the 7D last week. It does a better job with flash than the 5D2. The focus locks on quicker in subdued light and the finder is just as beautiful. I've learned how to lock in a flash pre-flash spot reading and get the same kind of results with flash that I used to get with the Nikon gear. I understand the general fascination with full frame equipment but I'll readily admit that you could do endless amounts of very professional work with the cropped frame cameras. At least that's my recent experience. I'm glad I have both. I'll save the 5 for picky clients. For myself? The 60D and 7D are mostly interchangeable and great. I'm happy to have them as tools. The lack of inference makes them invisible to me when I shoot. I like that.
The next thing up falls into the category of Best Lighting Thing I've Bought for Next to No Money.
It didn't seem like much of a risk when I ponied up $64 for the 160 LED panel
And I've used it on a full day of corporate location photography with especially good results. The light is pretty powerful, runs for an hour and a half on a rechargeable camcorder battery and has a dimmer control. I'm working on a video right now and find that two of these panels take care of about 50% of my lighting needs on location. When more light is called for I can lean on all the "plug in the wall" big panels I've accumulated. I even stuck one in the camera bag when I went to shoot event stills the other night at the Four Seasons but I didn't have the experience with fast moving events to use continuous light on an important shoot for a client. But I've been reading a blog from Neil van Niekirk and he's doing just that. He's using the small panels for quick fill and accent lights on wedding shoots and so far the results look really great.
Once I've shot a few projects that way I'll post some more details. Until then you might want to check out Neil's blog here.