{"id":5731,"date":"2012-10-05T01:00:03","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=5731"},"modified":"2012-10-05T09:32:54","modified_gmt":"2012-10-05T19:32:54","slug":"using-the-nifty-fifty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=5731","title":{"rendered":"Using the Nifty Fifty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some photo instructors advocate using only a fifty millimeter<\/a> fixed focal length lens as a creative exercise<\/a>. A nice idea for an exercise, but I really did not want to do this while on an extended trip along the Alaskan and British Columbia coast by boat.<\/p>\n

\"Workshop\"<\/a>
A workshop at Lagoon Cove, British Columbia<\/figcaption><\/figure>I did not get a choice in the matter.<\/p>\n

Looking to pack light I had taken only three lenses to accompany the Canon 60D that would travel with me. This set included a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f\/4-5.6 IS USM Lens, a 70-200mm f\/4 L series telephoto, and a 50mm f\/1.8. The 50mm was almost left behind, I grabbed it on a whim while packing realizing that it took up very little room.<\/p>\n

It was a few days into the trip when trouble appeared. I began to get occasional errors when using the 17-85mm, the camera complaining about a lens communication error. After a day this became a serious issue, the camera refusing to take photos with the lens. The other lenses worked fine, thus I was sure the trouble was in the lens, not the camera.<\/p>\n

\"Tools\"<\/a>
A set of tools awaiting use in the workshop at Lagoon Cove<\/figcaption><\/figure>Sitting down and experimenting, I discovered that the issue only occurred if I was attempting to stop down the lens, used wide open I had no problem. During a series of gray and dark days, this proved little issue, I just set for aperture priority and continued to shoot, with some loss of creative control.<\/p>\n

A couple more days and even that solution failed, the lens just jammed up entirely, with the aperture stop about halfway closed.<\/p>\n

I was down to the the telephoto and the 50mm… Time to get creative.<\/p>\n

The 50mm lens is interesting. It is small. It feels like you have forgotten to put a lens on the camera. It is sharp! The lens may be the cheapest lens Canon sells, just over $100, but there is nothing to complain about in the performance, crisp and sharp photos from corner to corner. It is fast. The very fast f\/1.8 ratio allows for photos in low light conditions as well as providing a wonderfully shallow depth of field when you want it.<\/p>\n

\"Hardware\"<\/a>
Cans of nails in the workshop at Lagoon Cove<\/figcaption><\/figure>I really missed the flexibility of a zoom and the 17mm wide angle in the close confines of the boat. The ability to go from wide to a moderate 85mm telephoto in a flash was a major issue when something popped up unexpectedly, something that happens on a boat in the wilds of Alaska.<\/p>\n

I did have my little Canon G11 along, giving me some capability with a zoom lens. But I really wanted to shoot with the DSLR and the higher photo quality offered by the big lens and larger sensor when the photo really mattered.<\/p>\n

On an APS-C camera like the Canon 60D there is a 60% crop factor, converting a 50mm to a mild telephoto. With a fixed focus I had to control the field through positioning myself instead of adjusting the camera. I do wonder if I got better shots as I had to become more involved and plan the shot?<\/p>\n

I did take some great shots with the 50mm. Going through the 1,800+ photographs from the cruise I am quite happy with a number of them. An unintentional creative exercise, but a successful one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some photo instructors advocate using only a fifty millimeter fixed focal length lens as a creative exercise. A nice idea for an exercise, but I really did not want to do this while on an extended trip along the Alaskan and British Columbia coast by boat. I did not get a choice in the matter. … Continue reading “Using the Nifty Fifty”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402,182],"tags":[463,635,221,634],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}