wtorek, 10 marca 2015

Canon EOS EF 28-105/3.5-4.5 review

Canon's 28-105 is an old zoom introduced together with Canon EOS 5 film camera I believe.
Although I made few nice photos with this lens back in the day including a magazine cover which looked really good printed, I think this zoom is not as good as prime lenses I own.

All photos handheld at f/8.0 using Canon EOS 1Ds mark III camera.















Classic 50 perspective giving impression of tele lens.



Middle range 43 mm, standard focal length for 35 mm camera, more breath than 50. Image is sharp edge to edge.



Wide angle 35 mm, looks like wider lens actually.



Zoomed around 90 mm.



poniedziałek, 9 marca 2015

How to avoid soft corners using Canon EF 20/2.8

Simply pull back focus towards the camera as Canon's EF 20/2.8 has sharpness field curvature.
It is important to remember about it when we shoot landscape photos and we want the foreground to be pefrectly in focus.

I used Canon EOS 1Ds mark III.
Aperture on all photos f/8.0










Here the focus is near infinity so we can see very soft corners as they are simply out of focus.


I pulled back focus towards camera to increase sharpness of the foreground and in the corners which are still soft.


I kept pulling the focus and now sharpness is O.K. I think to get even better result I should stop down to f/11 or try to focus even more precisely.


Now when I pulled too far only the corners are sharp!
















czwartek, 5 marca 2015

Canon EOS EF 50/2.5 compact macro review

This review shows performance of Canon's compact macro when used as a regular 50 mm lens.
I used Canon EOS 1Ds mark III.

Images are sharp from corner to corner starting from f/8.0.
In my opinion 50/2.5 at f/8.0 is probably the sharpest  lens from Canon's EF range.

F/5.6 is not bad although we can see little softness not only in the corners but also in the edges.
At f/2.5 softness of the edges is very visible.

When I use this lens in the studio shooting full body shots I have to close it to f/8.0 or at least to f/5.6.
Contrast is very high through all the f/stops.

In my opinion this lens performs best in macro range unless stopped down.



At f/5.6 everything except far edges is very sharp and contrasty.



At f/2.5 the lens is useless, looks like this aperture value just makes the image brighter in a viewfinder.

wtorek, 3 marca 2015

Canon EOS EF 28/1.8 lens review

Canon's bright 28/1.8 is a very good lens. When shooting landscapes or interiors it is sharp corner to corner starting from f/5.6.
I made all the photos with Canon EOS 1 Ds Mark III handheld (much harder work than with EOS 6D in silent mode)
At f/4 this lens is good, at f/2.8 far corners are soft.
When working at full aperture f/1.8 at close distnaces everything is fine. Sharp in the center and soft in the corners but softness is mixed with shallow depth of field.
At greater distances softness of the edges and coma at the edges are quite visible.









At f/5.6 the lens is sharp from corner to corner.



Here at f/5.6.



Here at f/1.8, you can see softness and coma in the corners.



f/1.8 at closer distance, things look acceptable. You can shoot in available light without tripod.



Here full aperture again, shallow depth of field blends with corner softness.



At f/1.8.




At f/2.8 things get better.



Here at f/4.0 image looks very good, comparable to ef 20/2.8 at f/5.6 or even f/8


B&W at f/5.6

Canon EOS EF 20/2.8 lens review

This is field review of canon's EF 20/2.8 wide angle lens.
The photos were made with Canon EOS 6D camera, all handheld.

Lens was set on f/8.

Contrast, color and sharpness are very good except of extreme far corners, at least when the lens is used for landscape work focusing near infinity.

When I shoot with this lens at closer distances, softness of the far corners doesn't disturb. Photos of people or fashion even at f/2.8 are bit soft but acceptable.

I think I should close this lens to f/11 and pull back the focus towards the camera to get full frame sharpness when working at greater distances. You can read about it here.

Canon's 20 has just a little visible distortion.