Captain John's

Captain John's Seafood is a restaurant inside a large ship.  It's been part of the Toronto Harbourfront for decades.  It's a miracle that it's still around from the negative reviews it receives from people who ate at this place.  But, I have never dined inside, so I can't say first hand if it's as bad is people say.  It could be potentially a stellar place, though.  It's got uniqueness (ship), location (prime tourist area).  It just needs some good management and a makeover.

Captain John's -- Panasonic G1 & Kit Lens.

The Naked News

Before 1996, Ontario did not allow woman to go topless in public, and Gwen Jacob changed all that.  Gwen Jacob was a University of Waterloo student and was frustrated by the fact that men can go topless in public in Ontario, but women can not.  Consequently, she walked across her campus without top, and then did it again on a downtown street.  She was consequently charged with indecent exposure.  With many protests, the court later overturned the charges and today, if you are a woman, you can to topless in Ontario without worrying about getting arrested.

Why bring up such old news, you may ask.  Well, in Toronto at least, you can sometimes see female go topless in public, in what seems like news reporting.  Yesterday, I encountered such a situation.  I took a few pictures, but the one from the front is blurred.  I think you can guess why!

So what do I think of this?  I believe it's anyone's freedom to take off his/her shirt if she/he feels like it.  From what I can see, most people are not bothered by it, although you can see men snickering at the sight, and some women looked surprised, but no one said anything, or look disgusted. I guess you can say it's freedom of expression!

Naked News -- 1D IIn & Leica-R 35mm f2

Canon's New Lenses and the 60D

Canon today announced a plethora of L lenses, plus the 60D.  All the long lenses are out of the reach of many, including yours truly, but the 8-15mm f4 L fish eye zoom is the most intriguing.  Canon is not the first company to introduce a fish eye zoom.  Pentax takes that honour of the first fish eye zoom -- the 17-28mm full frame and the DA 10-17mm DX fisheye zooms have been available for years.  But, the Canon is the widest zoom fisheye with a constant aperture, and an L lens to boot.

The other more sanely priced L lens is the 70-300mm f4-5.6L.  Canon already has several lenses in this focal length.  The original 75-300mm IS, updated 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS, and the 70-300mm f4-5.6 DO, not to mention the non-IS version of the 75-300mm f4-5.6.  Looks like Canon love this focal length.  Looking at the MTF, the 70-300mm L looks to be very sharp.

Both of these lenses appeal to me, but they are still very expensive.

Many are disappointed at the 60D announcement.  It's a downgrade from the 50D, in terms of built quality and feature set.  Personally, I won't buy the 60D, if it uses the same sensor as the T2i/7D, but many will find it attractive, especially those using it for video.  It has the nice swivel 3" 1 MP LCD which will make doing video so much easier.  I am waiting for the 5D II, but hopefully Canon won't screw it up with another high density sensor with muddy low ISO images. I think by the time I save enough money for one, it will be couple years later and I am sure the 5D III will be out by then.

 

Street Circus -- 1D IIn & Leica-R 35mm f2. Click to see larger.

Seagull

Seagull -- 1D IIn & EF 200mm f1.8L @ f2. Click to see larger.

When I bought the Canon 100-400mm lens, I had the intention of shooting birds/wild life with it.  But, as it usually is the case, I just couldn't find the time/opportunity to use it much.  Consequently, the lens was very infrequently used, and finally traded for a more useful 16-35mm lens.  The 200mm f1.8 (and the 70-200mm f2.8 IS) becomes the longest auto focus lens I now have.  With a 1.4x/2x Canon teleconverter, I don't think I am losing much in terms of optical quality/reach.  Strangely enough, even though I have the the 1.4x (and the 2x) converter for years, only the 1.4x was used once with the 100-400mm lens.  I have never tried them with the 200mm f1.8L.  I know the focusing speed will be slower with the converter, but optical quality should be quite good.  Perhaps it's time to give it a try.

The Sony Revenge

A few years back, Sony said that it would capture a 30% (or thereabouts) DSLR market share.  Unfortunately, it was not even close.  In fact, their market share has been sliding and at times even behind Pentax.  The excellent A900 and A850 didn't help much.  All of other Sony bodies are unexciting and even lackluster.  Lack of video in their DSLRs is probably one of the biggest marketing mistakes Sony made, as everyone else has it.

But, times are a changing.  The introduction of the NEX series surprised many.  It's selling extremely well,  in no small part due to the radical design and small footprint, not to mention the very short lens register, which allows pretty much any kind of SLR lenses to be used with adapters. 

The just introduced A33 and A55 can be a game changer. Specifically, the A55 has some real features that other manufacturers haven't used in their DSLRs.  Not only did Sony include 1080P video, but it's the only DSLR that provide very fast continuous phase detect AF in both video and still, thanks to the use of a translucent mirror (pellicle mirror).  This mirror is fixed and does not need to be flipped up like a conventional mirror to take a picutre/video.  Sure the Nikon D3100 has continuous AF in video, but uses slow contrast detect method.  This will be great news for most amateur users who use the DSRL for home and casual video, where auto focus in video is important.  Another surprising feature is the speed of still capture at 10 frames per second, also thanks to the pellicle mirror design.  This kind of speed is unheard of in a consumer digital camera.

This camera may be the first to signal the start of electronic view finders in DSLRs.  Frankly, I am not against electronic view finders, after using the G1.  In fact, I prefer it for manual focus lenses.  I have no doubt that in 5 year's time, the EVF will be good enough to replace the optical mirror.

I think Sony will sell a boat load of the A55, especially if image quality is good (at least better than the 7D in low ISO).  I am tempted to try (buy) one.

 

Hotdog Stand at Union Station -- 1D IIn & EF 16-35mm f2.8L II. Click to see larger.

Riverdale Park

Riverdale Park -- 1D IIn & Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX HSM. click to see larger.

I have had the Sigma 50mm f1.4 for a little while now, but haven't really used it extensively.  Not because I don't like it.  On the contrary, I really like this lens.  Many people seem to have issues with the focusing on this and other Sigma lenses, but I guess I am lucky that the last two Sigma lenses I own (the other one is the 15-30mm f3.5-4.5) didn't have this problem. In fact, the Sigma is a much nicer lens than the Canon 50mm f1.4, in terms of build and optical quality. 

But, this lens is really larger than it really need to be.  77mm filter size for a 50mm f1.4 lens is just, well, unprecedented.  I know no other lens with the same focal length and maximum aperture having this ginormous filter size.  Look at the Pentax FA 50mm f1.4, it has a 49mm filter size.

I meant to compare this lens with the Canon 50mm f1.2L, but could never find the drive to do it.  Lens testing is never my cup of tea.  There is one thing that the Sigma is better than the Canon 50L.  The Sigma does not have focus shift when stopped down at minimum focusing distance.  Other than this, the 50mm f1.2L is almost perfect. 

Overall, I like the Sigma.  It's a bit pricey for a 50mm f1.4, but is worth the price in my opinion.

William

William -- 1D IIn & EF 200mm f1.8L @ f2.2.

One of the characteristics of a very fast telephoto lens, is the very thin depth of field (DOF), even at a distance.  This thin DOF makes the subject that's in focus look like it's carve out of thin air.  Unfortunately a lens like the 200mm f1.8 is just too heavy to be used all the time.  Without a monopod or tripod, it's hard to hand hold for longer than 5 minutes at a time on the 1D II.  But, whenever I have a chance to use it, it never disappoints me.

Red Leaf

Saw this tree today with beautiful fall colours.  It really stood out among all the green trees and grass.  It actually gave me a mild shock -- Is fall already here?  Come to think of it, it's really not that far away.  After all the humid and extremely hot days this summer, I am looking forward to cooler fall temperatures and colourful leaves.

On another note, what I have missed the most from the Canon T2i and 7D (and 1D III), is the sensor dust shaker.  I never had to worry about dust in the sensor of those cameras and after getting used to dust free images, it's almost unbearable to look at pictures taken with the 1D IIn (and the 5D), especially macro shots, where the aperture is very small and shows the dust particles so clearly.  Nothing I can do, unfortunately.  I just need to clean it myself once in a while.

Red Leaf -- 1D IIn & EF 100mm f2.8L.  Click to see larger picture.

Waiting

Ryan -- 1D IIn & EF 16-35mm f2.8L II. Click to enlarge

I am not a big fan of zooms, but I find the 16-35mm focal length very versatile and convenient.  The image quality is close enough to primes when stopped down a bit, though the maximum f2.8 aperture is a bit slow for indoors use. So far, very satisfied with the lens.

Canon EF 28mm f2.8 - The Unloved One?

Almost all of Canon's consumer primes have a large following, and garner good praises from their owners.  But, there are always exceptions, right?  The 20mm f2.8 and the 28mm f2.8 are two Rodney Dangerfield of lenses that seem to get no respect from prime lovers.

I happened to have owned both of these lenses (as well as the 28m m f1.8 version, brifly).  The 20mm is actually not bad, in the center, but the corners were not good the last time I used it.  Sicne this ultra wide angle was designed as a landscape lens, bad corners are definitely a no no, so it's understandable when it doesn't receive good marks from users.

The 28mm f2.8 was designed as a general purpose, go anywhere lens for film cameras.  It was one of the first very few lenses introduced back in 1987 with the new EOS mount.  Along with the 24mm f2.8, 35mm f2 and 50mm f1.8, they have the most common consumer primes in the EOS  mount.  But  the design has not been updated since with the exception of the 50mm f1.8, which was redesigned and downgraded to have a plastic mount and the removal of the distance window/scales.

Is the 28mm f2.8 really that bad?

Being a 28mm lens, it has to be pretty special to stand out, because this is one of the most common focal length in 35mm photography.  The other is the 50mm.  The fact that Canon also makes a 28mm f1.8 does not help promote the f2.8 version.  Most people who are looking for a lens in this focal length would get the f1.8 version, or spring for a third party version, like the Sigma 28mm f1.8.

The last time I had this lens was when I had my Canon 10D.  The 10D was not known for auto focus accuracy and not surprisingly, I didn't like the lens on this camera.  On the 1D series, or Canon bodies with more updated auto focus system, the lens works like a charm.

No, it's not sharp like the 100mm f2.8L macro, that's insanely sharp.  It's also not as sharp as the 35mm f1.4L, that's also extremely sharp, but it's sharp enough.  I would even go as far as very sharp.  It's also not contrasty as the L lenses, but keep in mind that this is the cheapest Canon prime lens you can buy, besides the Plastic Fantastic 50mm f1.8 II.

I am happy to say after f8, on my 1D IIn, the corners are very good indeed.  Could be worse on full frame though.  I only notice slight degrade in image quality at the far edges (1.3x crop).

If you have a good body that can drive this lens accurately, you will be very happy with the results.  It's very light and small and has a metal mount with distance window/scale.  The bad?  Arc-Form Drive (AFD) motor is nosier (but not too objectionable), and a redesign is really needed.  My verdict?  It's good value for the money.

Corner of Soho & Queen -- 1D IIn & EF 28mm f2.8. Click to see larger.

Observation Deck -- 1D IIn & EF 28mm f2.8. Click to enlarge.

 

Umbra Building -- 1D IIn & EF 28mm f2.8. click to enlarge.