Portrait lens

Photography forums usually tout an 85mm prime lens or a 100mm prime lens as "the" portrait lens to swear by, but the 70-200 f2.8 L with the extender 2x ii gives me amazing sharpness and fantastic Bokeh even in cloudy situations..

The little one posed for me a few minutes ago (originally brought the camera out to catch the backyard squirrel jumping off the trees but it proved too difficult for a hand held shot and that brought out the model) and junior joined in briefly for a shot..










This lens is so cool that I am having issues deleting shots off the hard drive to save photos! Want to keep every shot.

Tomorrow evening.. Hornets! Found a nest near the front yard and two big hornets. Will see how they pose..


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Palm Springs - Long weekend trip

We went to Cabazon to see the life size stone dinosaurs and followed it up with a trip to Palm Springs over the Memorial day weekend.

There are over 800 photographs to check and edit and after an almost non stop drive back yesterday was too tired to even wake up and go do Yoga this morning.

Did a quick glance through all the photographs for one good snap to share for this post and here it is..




There were 4 hummingbirds outside the kiosk on top of the Palm Canyon parking lot. Two of them were doing aerial acrobatics and Kissing? Was lucky enough to get this shot.


and yes, finally got the 70-200mm f2.8 L to close out the camera bag! This picture was taken with that lens set to 200mm.

There are some really cute pictures of our own two hummingbirds, which will be posted later!


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Lights, Camera.. Macro!

A new addition to the camera bag this weekend!!!

The Cannon 50 mm Macro lens. A Metal body lens with .5x Magnification and a very crisp focus and goes down to f 2.5! Was a little out of my price range (~300 bucks) for a long time but recent events with health and mental state have made me realize that sometimes this life is too short for holding off on some little "aasais"..

Have taken only 10 or so shots with it this evening and I am still learning to do a good job on the manual focus and the results are very very nice. All these three photos were only cropped and bordered from the originals.




It also seems to be very nice as a generic prime lens..







Now thinking that I should go for an eye check up tomorrow. Maybe it is time to wear reading glasses?!

zooming...zooming..

Just to put the size of the flowers in perspective...

18->51->115->154->200 mm
















That will do Sigma.. that will do.

Have visions of me saying like that the way "Farmer" says it to Babe...


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Another love affair begins..

As all of you know everything about my-exes...

The Tamron was sold off because it could not focus in low light. Later it was reported that it was not something a Tamron was supposed to do like a good lady should! Too bad the fact was realized only after selling it off.

Then came a quick make shift purchase of a used 28-90mm lens (with a small scratch) and eventually a 50mm prime lens which broke during the thanksgiving day zoo trip, so all in all a not so good run.




San gave me the go to get the lenses replaced a long time ago. One does not get these chances every day. Maybe once every three or four years and the pressure to do the homework right was just too much.

San had only two conditions.

a. A fixed budget

b. Once I get the lens (or lenses), I forfeit the right to complain about my photographic equipment for the next two years. Including no conversations about their ability, disability, etc. etc.

With a deal to get a new body for Thanksgiving 2011 (yes, we plan ahead) and months of web surfing, the final choice was...




The broken 50mm has been replaced with a new one. The scratched 28-90mm with a 18-200mm Sigma lens. This does what the old Tamron used to do, with the added OS or Optical Stabilization (same as the IS or Image Stabilization in the Cannon Lenses or the VR in the Nikon which stands for Vibration reduction).

Sample picture...




We will live happy ever after and have many many pictures together..



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The new find

The long quest for a unscratched lens was ended on Sunday. Realized earlier this month that my chances of getting a lens would increase 4 fold if I bought a used lens. (No three digit purchases were allowed).

Finally got a 50mm f/1.8 Canon II lens.

The hand instinctively tries to zoom and realizes that there is focus.. focus.. and fantastic sharp focus only!

Takes great shots without flash and great macro shots.

Here are the first few shots with this lens...








I am in love.. more so than ever before!


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Photo Sans Lens ?

That was an attempt at a pun, after San's request to try taking pictures with just the camera body!

I tried.. All I got was an overloaded CMOS sensor!

After some repeated pleading and researching, I found a lens for near 100 bucks which was

1. new
2. had some zoom as opposed to a 50mm
3. if possible a canon lens for the canon digital rebel xti
4. at least a f/3.5
5. an autofocus (EF lens)

and I got 4/5 on a New Canon EF 28-90mm f/4-5.6 III lens for <120 bucks from a local photo store!

Granted it is not a f/2.8 or a USM (ultra sonic) but the thing is great for the pictures I usually take!

Going to play with this lens over the long weekend..

and now for some pictures.

The first one is my princess photographed with the old S30 (the thing had to be taped at places to hold the battery, CF card etc. and the picture had to be cropped to get rid of the light spots, but still...)


and the second one is a photo taken today with the two of them posing for me




Some lens is better than no lens!

Just like that Cereal ad. which says "Kid tested, mother approved" why doesn't Canon come up with a nice lens that is "dad tested, mother approved"?


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Happy Deepavali Wishes and ....

Wishing you all

a Very Happy Deepavali

It happens to be on a work day here and that means it will be celebrated this weekend in the US of A.

The MIL has already made her usual sweets and savories... and those cannot wait till the weekend!

Now for the "and ... " part in the title.

A recent conversation between a husband and wife

H : I just sold my Tamron lens
W : Just look at all the money YOU lost making bad decisions !
H : It was not a bad lens. Just not the best for taking indoor closeups of kids in the dark!
W : Still, bad decision and you lost money on it!
H : A new lens costs 300 bucks. Need to buy it before the kids birthday so we can take pictures
W : Buy the cheapest lens.. something for under 50 bucks
H : !!!! A canon digital SLR lens for under 50 bucks ? Maybe I can buy a 50 mm fixed focus.. still will cost me more..
W : Can't you take pictures without the lens ?
H : !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is management 101 folks, Dilbert style. I always loved Dilbert, but now I have been Dilberted in my own home. The H is still trying to answer that last question!


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