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review: Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lens

August 6, 2011 Neil vN 10 Comments

review: Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom (lens review)

Venturing out again after posting a few photos shot with the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom, I tried for a more diverse range of images to show what this lens is capable of ... and also compare it with the Canon 15mm f2.8 fish-eye lens to see how the brand-new zoom lens stacks up against the older fixed focal length lens. I was brave enough to try this lens at 15mm for some funky urban portraits of a model, Kate. Bendy! The trick here is to keep as even as possible and not tilt the lens up or down, or else you risk making  Read more inside...

Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lens

August 2, 2011 Neil vN 6 Comments

Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fisheye zoom lens

To try out the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L fish-eye zoom (affiliate), I headed to Times Square in Manhattan. What better place to check out a fish-eye lens - there are enough tall buildings and billboards to fill the frame of a lens that gives a 180 degree view! Now, before I continue, I have to admit that even though I have a fish-eye lens in my bag, (the Nikon 16mm f2.8), I only occasionally use it. I feel that a fish-eye lens can be over-used very quickly when it draws too much attention to the distorted view that the lens gives, rather  Read more inside...

review: Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

May 15, 2010 Neil vN 22 Comments

review: Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

The Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II  (B&H / Amazon), is touted to have improved optical quality, faster auto-focusing, and much better stabilization than the much-loved previous version of this lens. Using the lens on different shoots and walkabouts and tests, I got a fair idea of how the lens performs.  In short, the lens is all that .. faster, sharper and with better image stabilization.  Noticeably so. The bokeh of this lens is pleasant.  Easily seen in this portrait of my little model, where she is busy collecting  Read more inside...

Canon E-TTL flash settings – Average vs Evaluative flash metering

April 18, 2010 Neil vN 23 Comments

Canon E-TTL flash settings - Average vs Evaluative flash metering

With TTL flash, (or E-TTL, as Canon call their specific flavor), the camera and speedlight working together according to various algorithms to control the flash exposure. The E-TTL flash exposure will therefore depend on various factors - the tonality of the subject and scene; the brightness of the scene; and how the camera interprets the sections of the metering pattern.  Other factors quite possibly also includes data from the lens.   How these factors inter-relate, we can only make educated guesses; and many  Read more inside...

review: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS lens

October 30, 2009 Neil vN 26 Comments

review: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS lens

The specialty of a macro lens is in allowing you much much closer to your subject than a normal optic would .. with the ease of continuous focusing from infinity to the closest distance.  No need to screw in additional rings or lenses or reverse your lens.  A macro lens works as a close-up lens, and as a more usual optic.  And that's the versatility of it. The main feature of the Canon 100 mm f/2.8 IS macro lens (B&H / Amazon) is that it offers stabilization.  Now this might not seem such a big deal to photographers who work  Read more inside...

common wisdom – Canon’s TTL flash vs Nikon’s TTL flash

March 25, 2009 Neil vN 63 Comments

Canon's TTL flash vs Nikon's TTL flash

One of the frequent topics on the various forums is the Canon vs Nikon debate ... and one of the usual replies is that Nikon is better in certain ways, and Canon is better in other ways.  And the common wisdom that Nikon's flash system is superior to Canon.  And this seems to be accepted as one of those general truths. Now, having shot primarily Nikon for a few years (D100 / D2H / D2x), and then Canon (mk2 / mk2N / 5D / mk3), and now Nikon again (D3) ... I have this observation about Canon's flash system vs Nikon's flash system ... they are  Read more inside...

Camera settings: Canon EOS-1 D Mark III

December 31, 2008 Neil vN Leave a Comment

Camera settings: Canon EOS-1 D Mark III

One of the advances that the Canon EOS-1 D Mark III  bodies made over the previous generation 1-series D-SLRS, is in an easier menu system - especially the 'My Menu settings'.  So while the menu system of the mk3 makes it easier to adjust settings, My Menu settings allow you to change a few of them on-the-run without having to delve into different parts of the mk3 menu. Here is how I had my cameras set up:  Read more inside...

broken Canon 580EX II hotshoe foot

August 30, 2008 Neil vN 12 Comments

One of the most visited pages on this website is the instructional post on how to repair the foot of the Canon 580EX speedlite.  Since the foot of the original 580EX is made from plastic, it is easy to break ... but also easy to repair. I broke the foot off my 580EX II some time back, by lowering my camera too fast to the ground by the strap.  The camera and lens tilted over, and the flash smacked the ground a touch harder than the gentle soft landing I anticipated.  Because the foot of the 580EX II is now made of metal, there is nothing to give, except the body of the speedlight.  And this  Read more inside...

dreamy goodness: Canon 200mm f2 L IS

July 29, 2008 Neil vN 41 Comments

Canon 1D Mark III - Canon 200mm f2 L IS USM (B&H) - 1/300th @ f2 @ 125 ISO [ click on the photo to see a larger image] Canon recently upgraded their legendary 200mm f1.8 with an 200mm f2 version which has Image Stabilization.  So out of curiosity I rented this lens from LensProToGo, to play with it and test it out. Here is the beast of a lens:  the Canon 200mm f2 L IS USM (B&H) This is the kind of lens which is best used (or in a way ONLY to be used) at its maximum aperture.  That wide aperture of f2 gives you an incredibly thin depth of field, and hence, that dreamy  Read more inside...

Tightening the hotshoe on the Canon 1D series camera

June 3, 2007 Neil vN 17 Comments

Tightening the hotshoe on the Canon 1D series camera

If your hotshoe on your Canon 1D series camera has become loose, it is an easy fix! Somehow the 4 little screws that hold the hot shoe to the camera body can wriggle loose over time, causing the flashgun to wobble. This can even lead to poor contact between the flashgun and the camera. Fortunately, to fix this, all you need is a set of jeweler's screwdrivers.  Read more inside...

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