hardware – CanonBlogger

Hardware Review – Sigma 50-500mm

March 11, 2018March 25, 2018 Jason12 Comments

A while back I teased about a forthcoming lens review (nearly 3 months ago actually, in the Teaser Alert), and after several project shoots, the holidays, and scheduling delays, I am finally getting my act together to bring you the latest gear review…that of the Sigma 50-500mm. As a word of caution, you should be forewarned that the Sigma line-up of lenses that I have reviewed has become quite extensive. Right away this should tell you two things:

Sigma has been quite generous with me in terms of making a variety of lenses available. They likely are doing this for a number of reasons, but primarily because they know that I will give a fair, honest, and 9 times of out 10, a positive review of their equipment.
I like Sigma lenses! It should be no secret by now that I do like their lenses. They are optically on par with what one would expect from lens manufacturers by todays standards. Heck, sometimes I think the optical quality even exceeds that of the main brands out there (of course here I mean Canon and Nikon). The price is almost always right on – sometimes the price tag is a little high for my taste, but the advantage that Sigma has is that they are what is considered a “third party lens”, and because of that designation, their pricing is a notch below comparable lenses made by either Canon or Nikon for equivalent glass.

So, when Sigma came calling (actually I called Sigma), with the 50-500, the game face was put on. Right off the bat, here Sigma has been more than generous because I have now had this lens in my possession for nearly 3 months! I’ve posted a few photos from this lens over the past three months, so you may see some repeated images here, but they serve the purpose of demonstrating the various settings that I have used to shoot and test this glass. Having set the stage, let’s get started with the review. In the past, I’ve talked about things in terms of Pros and Cons, listing first the things I like, then the things I was not as much a fan of. While it has worked to a degree, I am trying to make things more uniform in the review section, so will start adhering to some more concise points and then indicating whether it is a pro or a con. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the

Sigma 50-500mm f4.5-6.3 Review

1. Focal Range: The focal range is how lenses are most commonly identified, and this is the measure of how much “zoom” there is in the lens. Here, the description says it all. This lens ranges from a widest point of 50mm to an impressive “zoom” of 500mm. On a crop sensor camera, that means you are looking at a range of 80 to 800mm! By any standard, this is a pretty wide range, encompassing a difference of nearly 700mm in focal adjustments. I am going to call this one a Pro.

2. F-Stop Range: The f-stop range is the measure of the minimum (or maximum depending on your way of thinking) aperture the lens can handle at various lengths. When dealing with a zoom lens, as you move further out, the elements have to compensate for the change in the length by increasing the size of the opening of the aperture, so you will see adjustments as the lens “zoom” increases. The Sigma 50-500mm is dialed in to a minimum aperture opening of f4.5 to f6.3. So, at the widest zoom of 50mm, the lowest aperture setting you can get is f4.5. Likewise, if you zoom this all the way out to 500, the minimum aperture is f6.3. So, don’t be misled by the numbers, shooting this lens at 500mm will not afford you the f4.5 that is capable at the widest setting any more than the f2.8 is available on a 70-200 at the longest zoom. When you have zoom lenses, there is a compromise in aperture capabilities that must be met when zooming out, and such is the case here. I did some experimenting at various focal lengths, and here are some apparent limits at different zooms:

Focal Length	Minimum Aperture
50mm	f 4.5
70mm	f 5.0
100mm	f 5.0
135mm	f 5.6
200mm	f 5.6
250mm	f 6.3
300mm	f 6.3
400mm	f 6.3
500mm	f 6.3

Given the technology of aperture limitations in zooms, I would say that the Sigma is on par with what the expectations would be for this range. To build this lens for any lower aperture settings would make the lens both heavier and longer. I don’t even want to think about what it would do to the price either! It’s not the greatest in aperture abilities, but it’s no slouch either. I’m going to have to thrown an “Even” flag on this.

3. Noise: I brought in the noise consideration based on my first Sigma lens I ever purchased, the 70mm Macro (f2.8) which did not have HSM. The inclusion of HSM in almost every lens since has been a Godsend. This holds true for the 50-500mm as well. It’s super quiet and has convinced me that I will never stray off the Hyper Sonic Motor (or USM on Canon glass, ever gain! ‘Nuff said. Pro

4. Size/Weight: My last big lens I reviewed here was the 18-250. It was a respectable weight, but this is by far the heaviest lens I’ve ever tested. Weighing in at a shade upder 4.5 lbs (that’s 1970 grams for you Metric folks), it can cause some serious arm strain after extensive shooting. I would recommend using either a monopod or a tripod for this lens whenever possible. It also bears mentioning here that due to the weight of the lens, you want to support it in the provided collar. Supporting the rig by the camera can result in some serious shear force, which can rip the lens right off the camera. Other size considerations involve the length of the lens both fully closed and fully extended. This will draw some eyes at either end…whether it be the short side (8.5″) or the long side (12″)! Here’s a comparison shot with it next to several other lenses so you can get an idea of its relative size:

Another consideration to take into account about this size is the filter required. For those interested in using the ND filters to protect front elements, you will need a 95mm filter to cover this – not a cheap thing to purchase by any means. Ultimately the size/weight considerations really will depend on your personal ability to handle it effectively. For me, most of the time it was not a factor, so I’ll acquiesce and call it a Pro.

5. Build Quality: In line with expectations, the Sigma quality showed here. Their now easily recognizable textured exterior exudes professionalism, and just feels good in your hands. Given the weight of the lens, you don’t want to hold this gingerly, but at the same time, if the body took a slight bump from another lens in your bag, the “other lens” would likely bear the brunt of it. No questions here. It’s a Pro.

6. OS/IS/VR: Due to the limited aperture range, and the weight, the presence of OS is invaluable. Using the OS allows you to keep your aperture value low, allowing for bother faster manipulation and shorter shutter speeds, as well as some nice bokeh in the background when your distances are good. What was extra nice about this is the ability to toggle between the vertical and horizontal planes to control vibration in different circumstances. When I was on a monopod, I switched to OS 2 to help control vertical (or up and down) vibration. When shooting handheld, I was on OS 1 most of the time, under the premise that my own face, body and camera holding helped to minimize the vertical and thus needed more help with horizontal. When I was on a tripod, I turned it off per normal procedures for when using OS/IS/VR. In my book, having versus not having OS/IS/VR is definitely a Pro.

7. Cost: The average retail market for this lens is approximately $1500. Given the focal range, the aperture range, and other considerations thus far, it seems to be pretty competitive. The Canon lens with the longest zoom range is their 100-400 and that factors in at $1800. Nikonians can salivate over their 80-400 for $1850. Both price in over the Sigma lens, and it still gives an extra 110-150mm of variable range. For my own personal budget, that’s a tougher call because while I would love to own this lens – I would have to sell something else to do so, and am not sure I want to dispose of anything else in my camera bag at the moment…the jury is out on this for me personally, but for those interested in purchasing any time soon: Pro

8. Image Quality: Image quality is always subjective to the viewer/shooter, so here I will just let everyone defer to their own tastes by sharing a few sample images taken over the last few months:

The Sigma 50-500 at 500mm f6.3 — Kissing Squirrels

The Sigma 50-500 at 113mm f5.6 — Chopper Series

Miscellany:

Other features that bear mentioning here include the locking mechanism and the focusing rings. I thought about including the latter in the build quality, but decided to bring it in here for discussion. First, the locking mechanism is a handy feature to have for keeping the lens locked in place to prevent lens creep. The idea is a good one, but for this particular lens, it would not lock in the “zoomed” position, where I would have thought lens creep would be more of an impact, than in the “closed” position. Having said that, from the lunar shots I did (as shown above), the fully extended lens did not experience much, if any, creep. This could be because the lens was recently brought back from a service stop where knobs and buttons and toggles were all tightened and such.

This brings me to the focusing rings. The rear focusing ring is the one used for fine tuning and the front ring is for zoom. This was an adjustment for me as my other zoom lenses have these rings reversed (where the zoom is on the back ring and the focus is on the front ring). it forced me to change my style of shooting a little, but since I was working off a lens-mounted setup most of the time rather than a camera-mounted setup, my shooting habits were already being adjusted anyway. The last part is that the zoom ring did seem a bit tight to move. Whether this is by design or because of the recent factory adjustments, I am not sure, but it was just a tad stiff to adjust.

Summary:

All in all, the Sigma 50-500mm is a great lens. It stood up for the challenges of both wildlife and aerial photography, as well as lunar and even a portrait shot of the canine companion. The compression it exhibits at the far end (which is characteristic of these long zooms) is to be expected, but I would probably not be using this for landscapes unless I was in a pinch and had no other lens with me. Still, it could be done, depending on what kind of landscape you are trying to capture. The zoom really had no noticable effect on image quality without going into some serious pixel peeping, and thus, meets or exceeds all criteria that I can think of. I would definitely make a positive recommendation on this lens for either a wildlife or sports shooter where distance from subjects is often greater than 10-15 feet. (The minimum focusing distance at 500mm is something like 6 feet!)

That does it for today – I hope you enjoyed the review and photo gallery from the Sigma 50-500. Here’s the final results/scores I give the lens:

Category	Score
Focal Range	8
F-Stop Range	7.0
Lens Motor Noise	8.5
Size/Weight	7
Build Quality	9.5
Optical Stabilization	8.0
Cost	7.0
Image Quality	8

Have you shot with this lens? Share your own thoughts in the comments or with me via email. Likewise, if you have a lens you would be interested in having me review, feel free to drop me a line or share your requests through the comment area as well. Special thanks to Sigma for giving me such an extended testing period to review the lens, and we’ll see you here again soon! Happy shooting!

Hardware Review: Sigma 18-250

March 4, 2018March 25, 2018 Jason15 Comments

The subject of today’s post: The Sigma 18-250mm lens review! You read that right – Sigma has a lens that covers the range of 18-250. This allows you to go from relatively wide angle shots at the 18mm end to zooming pretty far in at 250mm on the opposite end. But, is the quality really there?

I took the lens through its paces over the weekend and here’s what I found out about the Sigma 18-250! In the interests of full disclosure, I should also note that this was actually requested by myself for review, and that I am not being compensated in any manner by the good folks at Sigma. So, this is, in fact, a loaner and I am required to send it back no later than June 26th. Since I will be busy next weekend, decided I should get the review shots done with this weekend so the lenses can be shipped back on schedule.

Pros:

Weight – this has a nice solid feel to it. With I think a total of 13 elements in here, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t feel the slightest bit flimsy. The weight adds a certain durability, but I still took things carefully as this is only on loan from Sigma for the purposes of this review. Compared to the 70-200, it certainly felt heavier, but I am not sure what the comparative weights are. All in all though, I think the weight is a good thing.
Noise – Excellent! My prior experience with Sigma is my own 70mm Macro, which does not have the HSM (hypersonic motor). That thing is NOY-ZEE! This, on the other hand, rivals the USM operation of Canon lenses. Compared to the 70-200L glass I own, the two are pretty close to each other in terms of silence in operation. The test I did for this was switch focus to manual, then take the lens all the way out to the opposite end of its last focus point. I then switched it back on to AF and listened for the motor operation. Sure, I could hear it when listening, but man was it quiet!
Range – This is without a doubt, my most favorite element (bad pun) of this lens. The fact that I could go from wide angle work to close up work with such ease makes this an ideal lens for things like photo walks (which are becoming more and more popular), or for just a go-to lens on a regular basis without having to switch out.
OS – Optical Stabilization – the equivalent of IS on Canon lenses. While I don’t own a Canon IS lens for direct comparison, I will say that it went a full stop faster than my 70-200mm CanonL f4.0 did at the same focal length/light. In a day and age where fast glass is becoming pretty much the standard, I would say this meets the mark.
Size – This lens is remarkable compact – standing at almost half the height of my 70-200 comparison lens. Think about that – a wider range of zoom and half the length. I can store this vertically in my bag, saving precious cargo space for other accessories and accouterments. Alongside would be the 70mm Macro, the 10-22mm, lensbaby, flash and other such items. Very tempting for that reason alone.
Feel – The signature brushed metal feel of Sigma lenses is present here and it just exudes “cool” and “professional”. No bells or whistles, no fancy L rings or anything, just brushed smoothness. Gotta love it!
Image Quality – The bugaboo, the real deal, the end result – the pictures! So how does it stack up? Pretty well actually, but rather than wax on, I’ll just share some images I took for you to judge the IQ – just remember to distinguish IQ from compositional quality! 🙂 Here’s the results…

Cons:

Weight – Yes, I am listing weight as both a pro and a con – the weight did get to me after a while of shooting on the 40D. While it’s durability is not in question at all, the heaviness can get on your wrist and forearm. I should put this qualifier out that I am still recouperating a tender arm from our move last July, which I am for the most part over, but it still flares up with extended use. So, things like shooting for a day can wear on me. Lighter is always better, but if I had to choose between durability and lightness, the former would win every time. Take what you wish from this con then…’nuff said.
Cost – It retails at B&H for $529, which is always a big price tag to swallow no matter what you are buying. Then again, when you look at a comparable lens from Canon that has the OS/IS built-in, the Canon counterpart goes for almost twice that at $1025 (and you still don’t get the same range of focus). While it may be a lot to pay on first glance, you really are getting quite a bit of bang for your buck.

Truth be told, I couldn’t find much else to nit on. I also liked the fact that they made this lens so you can put the lens hood on while also leaving the cap able to attach. Don’t ask me why, but I like that… Believe it or not, the lens also performed fairly well with portrait work too. I did a few test shots with yours truly as the subject and even got one I liked! So, would I recommend this lens? Absolutely! To see a complete gallery of photos I took this weekend, including the portrait ones, and even a few of the moon last night with a TC attached), follow this link:

Sigma 18-250 Gallery of Images

Well, that should be enough content for the day (I know, my reviews are long-winded), so get out and shoot (with a Sigma if you like! 🙂 ), and we’ll see you back here tomorrow. Happy Shooting! Don’t forget – would love to hear reader thoughts and ideas for product reviews – let me know in the comments or via email!

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Buying Used?

September 1, 2011September 23, 2017 Jason2 Comments

I’ve not been in the gear market for a while, but while discussing some technical stuff with colleagues over in the NAPP forums, had some time to check pricing in various outlets for used gear, and there are some deals going on these days! In my previous experience, used gear would go for roughly 10-15% less than the new retail equivalents. That percentage is apparently a bit low now as some gear is selling for up to 25% off new pricing! So, if you’re in the market for gear, check out the used market for some serious savings! Here’s a few items I saw in just a mere matter of minutes:

Nikon D7000: New = $1200, Used = $1000 (16%)
Sony A580 kit: New=$899, Used = $699 (23%)
Sigma 50mm f1.4: New=499, Used = $420 (15%)
Canon 500mm f4: New=$7000, Used=$5600 (18%)
Canon 5D Mark II: New=$2500, Used=$2135 (15%)

There’s more out there, but that’s just a sampling of what you can expect to see. The nice thing is many of these items include useful accessories like bags, straps, cases, and media cards as incentive pieces…savings add up even more (about a 20% average in my estimation). For what it’s worth, I used the forums from Fred Miranda to look up used gear pricing and B&H for retail equivalents. Your mileage may vary.

Fred Miranda Photography Forum — Buy Sell Listings

What sort of discount would you expect to pay for used gear over it’s new counterparts? Is 15% the new minimum? 20%? 30% What’s considered a “good deal” anymore? Since I’ve not been in the market to buy anything lately, am totally not sure where things are except what I’ve seen above. Those sound good to me but I have not scoured all of the internet to be sure…so, let me know if you’ve had similar or different experiences. Likewise, if you’ve got any of your own deals you’ve noticed recently? Sound off in the comments!

Product Review: Backlit Box

May 11, 2011January 19, 2017 Jason3 Comments

When the folks over at www.backlitbox.com approached me about reviewing the product and participating in the initial research and design of their new product, I was happy to oblige as new products that come into the marketplace are always engaging to participate in during development. So, I submitted one print for work-up, considering the line of products (images back-lit by laser lights). I chose a shot of the moon hanging beautifully over the harbor of South Carolina. When I got the product, I was skeptical at first because there was hardly any color to the image. However, when I plugged it in, the color became quite brilliant, and lit things amazingly well – better than I would have anticipated.

I did have some notes to go back to Faxon (the owner): the back of the box had no hanging wire mechanism, which put me in an awkward position of having to nail a picture hanger into the box myself, and without knowing how it was wired up for electrical, made for a potentially damaging situation. The other thing I noticed is that a thin line of light was evident around the perimeter of the box on all four sides. As we discussed at length later, this was an unfortunate side effect of the production line, with no real professional way to mask this light spill (we both agreed that gaffers tape or electrical tape would just look rather amateurish).

Not long after that, I had an idea when noticing a piece of trim molding in my office was peeling…what if there was a thin piece of trim molding that surrounded the print…this could effectively black out the border thereby avoiding the light spillage. I relayed the thoughts to Faxon, and shortly before I left for my trip, he informed me that the 2^nd generation product was ready to ship and to send another photo in for production.

After sending in another image (a sunset over Folly Beach), I got the updated product literally 24 hours before my departure on vacation, and the end of the April contest series…so the review had to wait until now.

First off, let me say that I was (and am) very impressed with the professionalism that Faxon exhibited during the entire research and development process. Not only did he take constructive criticism well, but he also was quick to implement changes where improvements were desired, including not only a photo hanger on the back now, but also the trim molding to effectively eliminate the the white line of light around the border. Take a look:

The image looks amazing and I was surprised even that it was one from my own portfolio! Give the image quality, back-lit intensity, and visual appeal from this product, I must heartily give it a two-thumbs up rating, even though it is likely still in development. While most products usually are, this one even more so as he continues to improve upon the original design to deliver a better quality product to his client base. For the cost of printing, it almost is a no-brainer to consider these as part of your portfolio of products to offer clients. I’ve seen two different landscapes, and Faxon has shown me displays of portrait work and architecture work as well that have really rocked my socks off!

It’s a great product that will only improve with time, and is something every photographer should have both in their own portfolio, and as a product offering to their clients. For more information, and to upload/order your own images for production, please visit www.backlitbox.com

For those interested in having product reviews done on your own product line, please feel free to email me, as always. I do also appreciate the many requests for reviews of various products from the readership here, and all it takes is a request to me for a review to begin the process of communication with respective vendors for review copies, so keep chiming in with these ideas – it’s your suggestions that keep the product reviews coming, so sound off in the comments with what you’d like me to review next! Until then, happy shooting!

Do you Have Your Torx in Order?

April 7, 2011 Jason1 Comment

So, after years and years of advice and instruction on maintaining hard drive redundancy, and the benefits of upgrading from time to time, I finally am following my own advice and upgrading my venerable Macbook Pro. After a screamingly good deal came out for laptop disk drives locally, I went out and snagged a 750GB 7200 RPM hard drive from MicroCenter and brought it home. I also picked up a copy of Mac OS X.6 since my previous upgrade came through a friends DVD who was no longer living in the area. All told, I am in for a little over $100 – not too shabby! However, as they say, the Devil’s in the Details!

I’ve changed out lots of hard drives in my time…after all, it’s no secret that I am a working IT professional – that’s my day job. I’ve been doing that for about 10 years now, so hardware upgrades are pretty routine for me by this point – and I’ve got lots of tools to do it with too…everything from magnets, to phillips heads, to flat heads, to Torx bits for unique screws, and even a pair of nylon pliers. But all of this based on a Windows background. I’d never done much with Macs. The mentality I’ve always had though is that hardware is hardware, right? I did check out a few tutorial videos on YouTube and all the tools sounded like ones I own, so I jumped right in and off I went – until I got inside the Mac and was presented with two teeny tiny screws that required a Torx bit T6. I went to my trusty toolbelt and saw my Torx bits went from T30 all the way down to T4 – awesome! Until I noticed that one slot was missing – and sure enough, it was the dreaded T6!

A trip to Wal-Mart yielded no dice (it was getting late), so this morning off to Lowe’s I went. I did find the T6 bit – but it was in a package of other bits and a nut driver – for $20:

Suffice to say, I was a bit (if you’ll pardon the expression), a bit torqued to be missing what was likely a 50 cent bit and having to spend nearly $20 to reassemble the Mac. However, the eternal optimist, I put the positive spin on it – this is a nice kit I bought and the rest will probably go to Good Will since they are showing their age a bit. Finally, of course, the educational moment for me: I finally got my Torx in Order!

So, with the Mac now flying on a 7200rpm drive with plenty of storage, my weekend will likely be spent performing a fresh install of all my favorite apps. Which ones do you think will go on there first? I’ll give you a hint – the company name starts with A and ends with dobe! The takeaway from all this – make sure you have your Torx in order – it is definitely a good motto to add to your motto book! Have a great weekend everyone – just because I wont be shooting doesn’t mean you can’t so be safe, be smart, and…(wait for it)…

Happy Shooting!

The March Contest Begins

March 7, 2011 Jason6 Comments

With March now underway, and the February giveaway wrapped up (check my rare weekend posts making this announcement), I thought I’d take a moment and let the cat out of the bag. This month it’s quite an exciting prize! The winner is going to be awarded a 17″ Tether Table (a $200 retail value)! As if that’s not enough, the folks over at Tether Tools have also generously have thrown in a Jerk Stopper tethering kit that prevents your cables from snagging. If you want to know more about it right now, stop over to their website and check out the product line: Tether Table Product Page

In the meantime, here’s the nitty gritty details for the contest:

The Number: 1 image per person
The Size: Longest side must be between 600-800 pixels.
The window: 30 day window for capture date (nothing earlier than February of 2011
The theme is: Flat
The deadline: March 31st at midnight (my time)
The rest: You can read more about it at the Contest Guidelines page and the Rules of Engagement

Good luck everyone, and here’s the link: March Contest Giveaway

For the record, the Tether Table will be very slightly used, as you know a hardware review is likely forthcoming quite soon on this equipment…but then again, that’s something to look forward to, right?

As a final postscript today, a new poll is up on the sidebar, so if you don’t visit the archives much (maybe take some time soon – lots of good stuff there! 🙂 ), be sure to take a moment and sound off in the latest poll:

[poll id="17"]

Three Reasons You Should Be Using a Card Reader

March 1, 2011 Jason3 Comments

One of the most surprising things I learned about during our recent trip to Brainerd, MN was that many photographers are tethering their cameras to their computers for transferring photos over for processing. While tethering via cable is always an option, there are many risks to doing so, and during our talk, we took a few minutes to share some reasons why it’s better to use a card reader than to import from your camera. Since there were so many people that seemed to appreciate the insights, I thought I’d take some time to share some of those insights here:

Speed – Card readers have nothing else to do other than transfer data onto and off of a card to a computer. No camera firmware is required, no menus need to be loaded, and no power is needed. It’s a simple plug-and-play process for practically any computer and you can increase your transfer speeds significantly by taking this route over camera direct transfers. Seriously…with the super fast UDMA cards out there today, you can really see a decrease in transfer times, which gets you on with other things even that much quicker.
Reliability – Because cameras are such advanced devices that have so many working parts and components, the process of connecting them to a computer does take a certain toll and if the cable is frayed, or a connection is lost, or even power is lost, you can risk losing and/or corrupting your images during the transfer process. Eliminate the risk of losing those precious memories you’ve created and use a card reader!
Conserving Battery drain – In Minnesota it was cold! We were in negative temperatures for a good portion of our stay, and with lower temps comes decreased battery time. If we had to deal with draining our camera batteries to transfer images to a laptop or desktop computer, they likely would not have lasted. It’s important here to remember that plugging a camera into a USB port isn’t like plugging in a phone or other devices. Plugging in doesn’t charge the batter, it discharges the battery! Something to keep in mind when conserving your battery life.

So, what kind should you get? The answer here (as always) starts with “It depends…” What kind of camera and card are you using? Do you have multiple cameras and multiple card format types? Cards range in size and format from SD, CF, to Memory Sticks, and other proprietary sizes and shares. Formats also include the new UDMA which increases write/read transfer rates, and varying capacities from extended capacity (XC) and other older ones which may require specific types of readers. Check these considerations before making a purchase. My suggestion though is to get a reader that can read both standard capacity cards as well as the XC formatted ones. These can be found for as little as $5 through sites like Newegg.com and Amazon, but the better quality ones are available through camera retailers like B&H Photo, Adorama, and Sammy’s.

There are, of course, other reasons to use a card reader over a camera for data – and I could go on with a quite extensive list here, but would really like to hear from others: what are your reasons for using a particular transfer setup? Do you have a reader preference? Or are you using the camera to tether? Sound off in the comments with your own ideas and suggestions!

Hardware Review: Think Tank Airport International V2.0

August 25, 2010 Jason2 Comments

We all have camera bags. Whether you use a Point-and-Shoot, an SLR, or any other type of camera, you are putting it somewhere eventually that could be defined as a bag. These bags are made in such a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and straps, it’s really amazing sometimes how many options there are for the photographer today. But like it or not, if you have a camera – you are gonna need a bag! Continue reading “Hardware Review: Think Tank Airport International V2.0” →

Hardware Review: Sigma 4.5mm Fisheye (Circular)

May 10, 2010 Jason1 Comment

As things start to settle down again, I’ve got a pile of reviews pending work, so this past weekend, while in bachelor status temporarily, I really knocked out a few projects, including getting caught up on some overdue reviews and blog writing. Today, the first of these projects is the Sigma 4.5mm fisheye lens review. This is a super cool lens, and has a lot of opportunities for creative exploration. I took the typical test shots indoors to get a feel for where it’s strengths and weaknesses are, how it focuses, and then took to the streets. Continue reading “Hardware Review: Sigma 4.5mm Fisheye (Circular)” →

The Perils of Polarizers

April 19, 2010 Jason2 Comments

Happy Monday all! My apologies at the absence on Friday – it seems some gremlins absconded with all my time on Thursday, so in the absence of any halfway decent content, decided to make it a legitimate “no blog” day heading into the weekend. But, a new week is here, and I’ve got a cool topic to cover briefly with you…that being:

Polarizing Filters

Polarizing filters can be a godsend – they can really bring out blues in a sky, or minimize reflections in windows, and can really help to improve the quality of your work. At the same time, polarizers can also be very tricky to use. On my recent trip to Arizona (I shot a weekend with Rich Charpentier of The Airstream Chronicles), there were many opportunities to bring out the gorgeous blue sky, and contrast it with the amazing colors in the orange rocks that the American Southwest is known for.

The problem with polarizers is that the blue that is brought out is not a consistent blue – it usually gets stronger as you move toward the light source. So, when you go to stitch things together, the results can be less than satisfactory with evident banding and shifts on hue of the blue skies. Take a look at the example below to see what I am talking about regarding the banding…

See how the sky has blues that aren’t consistent? It’s because I did not rotate the filter to accommodate the shift in blues as I shot across the scene.

Another problem is kind of hinted at above – what if you have a sky where you want the blue to pop, but the foreground includes a water reflection that is an integral part of your composition? The answer here is to expose both with, and without the polarizing effect, and then blend together the two shots later in post production. Masking off parts of images is much easier to deal with than the polarizing effect in the sky, but it’s a pitfall of panorama photography to be aware of.

As it happened, later on that day I was capturing another scene where there was no sky, so it was a non-issue. Here, the key is to remember to spin your filter so that the reflection does reveal itself, otherwise you will think you are doing something severely wrong when you can see the reflection with your eye, but not through the lens. I probably spent a good five minutes trying to change the angle of view before I realized it was just a quick spin of the filter to reveal the reflection below me…

As, as you can see, there are benefits to polarizers and there are also downsides to consider as well. When used correctly, they can really add to the character of an image. For those looking at specific recommendations, here are the ones in my gear bag:

But enough about my thoughts on polarizing filters – what about you? Do you think they are legitimate tools to alter a scene? What about reproducing the effect in post production? Which ones do you use? Do you have a favorite or do you prefer all photography “au naturale”? Sound off in the comments or via email!

Happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow for more photography goodness!