Fallen Broadleaf maple leaf at Oyster Bay, Olympia, Washington.
One good thing about being slightly less than sure-footed is that I frequently look down at where I’m walking, and see things that I might otherwise miss. As much as I love breathtaking, expansive landscapes, sometimes it’s the small and quiet moments that really affect me the most–particularly on a journey of self-discovery and renewal.
While I was not able to use the Zeiss 85mm lens I rented nearly as much as I had anticipated during the week that I had it, I will say that it is disappointingly soft wide-open, but sharpens up dramatically by f/2, and is wickedly sharp at f/4. The detail in the fallen cherry blossom petals is amazing!
Also, some big changes are coming as I am in the process of becoming an LLC in the state of North Carolina. More to come…
Last week was far busier than I had anticipated when I scheduled the rental of a Zeiss Planar T* 85mm f/1.4 ZE lens. I feel that I wasn’t really able to put the lens through its paces, mostly staying close to home due to a couple of developments that I’ll be announcing here shortly. Since I was working at home I worked with subjects at hand: loaves of bread, the cat, and our garden.
While soft wide-open at f/1.4 (to the point of being almost unusable), by f/2 this lens is razor sharp, and features the oft-fabled Zeiss micro-contrast: in-focus part of the image does seem to defy its two-dimensional nature. However, working in close quarters is where this lens struggles: the minimum focusing distance is three feet.
For this photograph of the daffodils that were in bloom in our front yard until yesterday, I had to resort to a 25mm extension tube, which presented me with the opposite of my problem: suddenly I had no choice but to be closer to my subject than I would have wished! That said, I think it works in this example. I’ll have a couple more to share after I get a spare moment to work them up.
More to follow…
Leaves along the back fence, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens | Exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/8, ISO 800
A face in the Holly | Canon 5D Mk. II and 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens | Exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO 1600
Berries and ice, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens | Exposed 1/125 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1600
Holly glistening after the thaw, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens | Exposed 1/80 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 800
Melting ice, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens | Exposed 1/80 sec. @ f/4.5, ISO 800
I made this image last Thursday during the second winter “storm” of the season in Durham. It was a dusting to this Midwesterner’s eyes, but a pretty one at that. Many of the images I created seemed to be a touch melancholy. It seems a fitting image for today, which carries a decidedly somber mood.
Fallen, Sandy Creek Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens @ 160mm | Exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 800
When I first received the new 70-200mm lens from Canon Professional Services, I was instantly reminded why I sold my old 70-200mm f/2.8 (non-IS) a few years ago: it’s big and it’s heavy. But it lets in a lot of light, and you can achieve very nice, selective focus with it. I didn’t have an opportunity to make any portraits with it, which is too bad because I think it would be an excellent lens for that application. I did take it out on the street, but I was very conscious of walking with an enormous white monstrosity: subtlety is not an option with this lens.
The image quality is remarkably high (although I wouldn’t consider its resolution to be any greater than it’s f/4 stable-mate, and while the image stabilization is improved over the previous version, I did not think it any better than the aforementioned 70-200mm f/4L IS. That said, this is the first zoom lens that I would consider using with the 2x teleconverter on a regular basis.
If you currently own the older IS version of this lens, you might wonder if it’s worth the upgrade. I would offer that I believe the image stabilization is certainly better, but if you shoot sports, that might not matter to you at all. The image quality is higher, and will enable you to use the 2x teleconverter freely. If neither of these features interest you, then you can probably pass on this lens and wait for something “better.”
Scattered leaves floating in the water, Whippoorwill Park, Durham, N.C. | Canon 5D Mk. II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Mk. II lens @ 80mm | Exposed 1/40 sec. @ f/3.5, ISO 400
