Testing a Teleconverter….and a Bluejay!

I am thinking of purchasing a Canon 2x teleconverter, and was able to borrow a friend’s to test. I would only be able to use it on my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lens due to the design. For about $350 it would give me a 140-400mm f/5.6 lens. The closest Canon lens to that is the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS which sells for about $1700. this makes the 2x teleconverter pretty attractive for a non-pro on a budget! The friend who lent me the T.C. said he did thought it was soft, but he mainly shot it wide open – at f/5.6, and handheld. This would be about the worst setting for the lens. I chose to take that into account, and made sure I tried it at f/8 and f/11 as well. My testing was not very scientific, but my conclusion is that it would be worthwhile for my purposes.

A squirrel in the backyard provided a great target! First shot, f/5.6, 1/200, ISO 400, 235mm on a monopod (cropped from original). Second shot, f/8, 1/60, ISO 400, 400mm on a monopod. Along with another test I did earlier, I have to say I may get this in the near future – especially when compared to the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS for $1350.00 more!

Later this morning after the squirrel left the deck, a bluejay came by to wrestle with a peanut my daughter left out for him.  I have not seen many bluejays around so it was a treat!  These were take with my Tamron 1.4 teleconverter on the same Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L IS lens. That made it a 98-280mm f/4 lens. The first shot was taken at f/5.6 and 1/640, ISO 640, at 280mm. The second was taken at f/5.6 and 1/800, ISO 640 at 280mm – both shots were handheld (and cropped a little).

I think if you have good technique, and/or a ‘pod of some sort, and you do not shoot wide open, then teleconverters can do a good job to get photos you may not otherwise get. They can also save you money!

Night photography

Our photo club had a night photography excursion the other evening, we just went downtown, but we had a great time!

I love helping other people, but sometimes I don’t spend any time on my own photography – that evening had a great balance of both!

You can get some great blues in the sky after the sun goes down…

This was taken at f/5.6 for 2 seconds at ISO 400. Tripod mounted, and a focal length of 17mm on my Canon 50D.

You can get some interesting colour casts when shooting at night. One way to deal with them is to simply go to black and white.

This was taken at f/22 for 10 seconds at ISO 100. Tripod mounted again, and at 44mm focal length. The small aperture give the star effect to the lights.

Here is another in black and white;  f/11 for 13 seconds, ISO 100 and 21mm.

 

 

Bang a drum.

As you may or may not know, my wife is an excellent Henna Artist. She has been talking for a while now, about applying henna to a drum head. She finally found a willing participant!

It turned out really well, and she asked me to take photos – I had some time, so I put some extra effort into the task.

She was happy with the photos, and so was I.

Note: The glowing of the drum head came from putting a flash inside the drum.

Equipment:

Camera: Canon 50D

Lenses: Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, Nikon Micro-Nikkor AI 105mm f/2.8 with EOS adaptor

Flashes: Canon 580EX II, Canon 580EX, Nikon SB-24, Cactus v4 radio triggers, optical slave

Other: Background stand with black backdrop, light stands, Manfrotto 190D tripod