Ontario Place

Ontario Place celebrates its 40th birthday this year (2011).  Opened to the public in 1971, Ontario Place was one of the largest tourist attractions in Ontario.  The trade mark Cinesphere which houses North America's first permanent installation of the IMAX theatre.  When I was in awe the first time I saw a film on it.  It was totally awesome.  Ontario Place attracted a lot of visitors in the first few years of operation.  But time matches on, and things changed.  Ontario Place hasn't kept up with the change of time and in 40 years except the price of entry which kept going up.  It basically looks the same and only minor changes in 40 years.  To celebrate it's 40th anniversary, Ontario Place has free admission all summer, but you still have to pay for all the rides.

Cinesphere with IMAX Theater -- NEX-5 with Kit zoom lens. Click to see larger

We visit Ontario Place pretty much each summer and last year we bought a summer pass for each member of the family.  We visited it again today, but the older boys already find it too boring. I don't believe we will be visiting it often unless there are major changes.  It's a shame, as I really do like it.  It's very well designed, just not enough to attract people back often.

Closing for the day -- NEX-5 & Kit zoom lens. Click to see larger.

As of today, many of the attractions, rides were removed or not working.  They are starting a face lift, but we will see how much.

View of Downtown Toronto. NEX-5 & Kit zoom Lens. Click to see larger.

In previous years, I would carry my 1D II or 5D or 30D or whatever current Canon camera I had, and a 70-200mm f2.8, 100-400mm zoom lens, plus a few primes.  It was murderous.  The last two years, I brought only a kid lens and a couple of small wide angle primes.  It was just as well.  Today, I used mostly the 18-55 kit lens, and occasionally the 16mm pancake, and only a few pictures with the Leica-R 35mm f2.  My only complain about the kit lens (and the 16mm pancake) is that the distortion is horrible, especially on the wide end for the zoom.  I find the sharpness quite acceptable for both lenses.  This is true for the Canon 18-55mm IS kit lens as well.  I guess we can not expect too much from a cheap lens.  What they offer is already pretty good for the price.

The Marina -- NEX-5 & Kit zoom lens.