davephoto
11-06-2008, 02:36 AM
http://images1.fotop.net/albums/dave/2008hkmotor/2008HKMotor_29.jpg
Except for a couple of random photos during the past year, I haven't had a chance to use the modest 18-55 IS lens I picked up in December 2007*. I've been mostly shooting film. The 2008 Hong Kong Motorcycle show last Sunday gave me an opportunity to dust it off and take is out for a 'spin'. One neat thing I found was that the battery was still half-charged notwithstanding the fact that I hadn't charged it since last December (and I always leave the camera in the 'on' position!). The photos were taken within one hour of sunset. Some were with the assistance of a 580ex flash; most were not. The thing that still surprised me is the lightness of the lens and how (stupid) easy it is to use. Well, I guess any autofocus system would qualify coming from an older MF leica film camera. While none of the photos have any jaw-dropping qualities about them, the lens itself still performed admirably, especially considering it costs a fraction of what I paid for the lenses of my film camera.
For reference, the 18-55 IS was mounted on old reliable 20D shooting jpegs with my normal parameter settings: contrast at -1; sharpness at -2; saturation and color left at default. Again, there's no artistic merit associated with any of these shots. The quick 30-minute shoot was meant merely to reintroduce myself to the lens and was facilitated by some easy-on-the-eyes subjects.
As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed.
http://fotop.net/dave/2008hkmotor
* http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35867&highlight=saturation (http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35867&highlight=saturation)
Except for a couple of random photos during the past year, I haven't had a chance to use the modest 18-55 IS lens I picked up in December 2007*. I've been mostly shooting film. The 2008 Hong Kong Motorcycle show last Sunday gave me an opportunity to dust it off and take is out for a 'spin'. One neat thing I found was that the battery was still half-charged notwithstanding the fact that I hadn't charged it since last December (and I always leave the camera in the 'on' position!). The photos were taken within one hour of sunset. Some were with the assistance of a 580ex flash; most were not. The thing that still surprised me is the lightness of the lens and how (stupid) easy it is to use. Well, I guess any autofocus system would qualify coming from an older MF leica film camera. While none of the photos have any jaw-dropping qualities about them, the lens itself still performed admirably, especially considering it costs a fraction of what I paid for the lenses of my film camera.
For reference, the 18-55 IS was mounted on old reliable 20D shooting jpegs with my normal parameter settings: contrast at -1; sharpness at -2; saturation and color left at default. Again, there's no artistic merit associated with any of these shots. The quick 30-minute shoot was meant merely to reintroduce myself to the lens and was facilitated by some easy-on-the-eyes subjects.
As always, comments and criticisms are welcomed.
http://fotop.net/dave/2008hkmotor
* http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35867&highlight=saturation (http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35867&highlight=saturation)