Angles and shadows

Omni hotel parking lot, Charlottesville, VA

Tracks

Self portrait

40D at ISO 6400

ISO 6400 is achieved in the 40D by choosing ISO 3200 and -1 EV of exposure compensation, then pushing it a stop during RAW processing. Actually, ISO 3200 in the 40D is really ISO 1600 and -1 EV manipulated in firmware — it's why it says "H" instead of 3200. Anyhow, it worked out okay.



You can see some banding in the shadow areas in the shot above. Shadow areas were rendered poorly using this digital push process. I came away from this experiment believing that black-and-white conversion was the way to go.



The shot above shows banding, too, but it's sorta kinda useable. If you printed it fairly small it wouldn't be as noticeable. And as long as you stay away from the shadows, the 40D does pretty well considering it's being pushed two stops past its limit.

Canon's 28mm f/1.8

I got the Canon 28mm f/1.8 lens a few weeks back in anticipation of my daughter's birth. My thinking was, I'd need a fast lens that would give me a wide enough field of view on my APS-C 40D, but still be useful for full-frame work down the road. My only other fast lens is the Canon 50mm f/1.8, which has served its purpose but has survived a nasty fall in recent weeks and can no longer be trusted for serious work. Plus, on the crop sensor I simply had to step back too far to take a photo sometimes, not helpful when you're looking to take a lot of photos indoors.



In the meantime, I was also lucky enough to get in three weeks of time with the full-frame 5D Mark II, on which I had the 28mm lens most of the time. It's a vastly different lens on the two cameras. Not because the 40D's a dog compared to the shiny 5Dmk2...far from it. It's just that it's a wide-angle lens on the new camera, and a normal lens on the 40D.

Performance-wise, I noticed no difference in the 28mm on either camera. It uses Canon's ultrasonic focus, of which I am a huge fan, and locks focus almost instantly. I'd compare it to the 85mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/1.4 lenses.

I didn't do any pixel-peeping on the corners of 28mm files, nor did I conduct any tripod tests. I did notice some vignetting when I used it on the 5D Mark II, but it tended to be under extreme conditions (and is easily dealt with in Lightroom). All I know is this: it's my favorite lens in my collection, and I'd say that it's well worth its $420 price tag.

Here's why I like it:

• build quality on par with Canon 85/1.8
• super-fast focus
• focuses really close
• full-time manual focus override
  
• very sharp starting at f/2.8 or so (not tested, just my impression)
• nice bokeh
• 7 aperture blades make nice sunstars when stopped down
• small and lightweight, makes a wonderful walk-around rig

Cons? There have to be some, right? Alright, here goes:

• no hood included

Seriously, it's a nice little lens which is a step up from the more flimsy and slower-focusing f/2.8 Canon primes. I've heard some folks say the 28/2.8 or 35/2 primes are sharper than the 28/1.8, and I can't argue since I haven't (and won't) test this lens. Hell, its design is many years old at this point and any testing I do would be redundant, anyway. On my 40D it's a nice, fast, normal lens. Down the road it'll be a nice, fast, moderate wide-angle lens. How can I lose?



A similar lens is Sigma's 30mm f/1.4. A buddy of mine has that lens and loves it - it's on his camera most of the time, focuses fast, and is 2/3-stop faster than the 28/1.8. But it only covers crop sensors, so for me the choice was easy.



It fits all the criteria I set down for it: pictures look great wide open, it focuses faster than I can shoot, it's small and light. At f/1.8 pictures are slightly soft, but since when does a picture have to be sharp to be good?

Little baby hand

Badge of honor

I was playing around with the G10's macro mode, and took a shot of my old Digital Rebel's worn grip. Looking at it made me kinda proud, really, it shows how much I used that camera over 4+ years before I got my 40D.



The 2003 Digital Rebel (300D) still works as new. The eyecup fell off at some point, and some paint has rubbed off here and there, but the guts are intact. After getting used to the smooth responsiveness of the 40D this year, I find it harder to use — but I had no problem using it for a long, long time.

It was the camera that I learned so many things on. And I'm proud of how the paint wore off where my middle finger spent so much time.

Sometimes the small features are key

One of the things I like best on my Canon 40D is right up on the dial: complete setup memories. There are three of them (C1, C2, C3) which let me pre-program all the shooting settings I need, with instant access at the twist of the dial.

This came in handy when I shot a wedding earlier this year. I set it up so C1 was for outside the chapel, C2 was inside the chapel, and C3 was indoors at the reception hall. I was on the move all day, and there were a few times that this setup saved me precious seconds — and got the shot I wanted because of it.

But it's not just useful for the fast-paced madness of your typical wedding day. Earlier today I went for a walk, and set my camera up like this before I left:

• C1: "All purpose mode" ISO 200, f/8, aperture priority, one-shot AF, center-weighted average metering, center autofocus point, -1/3 av exposure compensation
  
• C2: "Action shot mode" ISO 400, f/8, aperture priority, AI servo AF, evaluative metering, high-speed burst, all the autofocus points, -1/3 av exposure compensation
• C3: "Panning mode" ISO 200, 1/30 second, shutter priority, one-shot AF, spot metering, center autofocus point, -1/3 av exposure compensation

I ended up using C1 and C2, but not C3. But at least I was ready for a sweet panning shot.