Parked in the River Wharfe!
I’m sure there’s a story behind this one. I’d love to know what it is.
Rule 7: The best camera is the one you have with you (Chase Jarvis)
very true.
Category: The Rules
Ilkley Moor Sunrise
I said I’d go back, and I was true to my word.
This week, as I’ve been driving to work, I’ve witnessed some beautiful colourful sunrises. I thought it would be worth trying my luck by returning to Ilkley Moor to capture the sunrise over the rocks.
I take my hat off to landscape photographers. They really are dedicated to their art. Up at stupid o’clock, wait in the darkness not knowing if you’ll bag the shot (and most of the time they don’t!) Out in all weathers and in the remotest places on Earth. Though almost in my back yard, so to speak, I had a taste of that this morning.
By the time I got to the Cow and Calf Rocks, there was just enough light to see where I was walking. The only problem was I had to get around to the other side of the rocks to get the shot I had in my mind. As I walked around them I realised I wasn’t going to get it. The ground fell away and I couldn’t tell if it was a gentle slope down there or a shear drop. Besides which, it was windy; and I mean windy! (20mph winds with gusts of up to 60mph). I’d only just crested the peak when it hit and I didn’t think it was worth taking a tumble in the dim light, so I weighed up where I was and set up.
Rule number 6: The best tripod is the one you have with you
It’s at times like this that I’m glad I bought the tripod I did. I’ve always held by the truth that you should never scrimp on a tripod – go for the most you can afford. Yet you have to get a tripod with a bit of heft, but not too much heft that you feel like your back is going to break as you carry it. I’ve had numerous tripods in my time, but I’m becoming more and more impressed with the Sirui traveler tripod I currently have. Only once did a gust carry it off the ground slightly, the rest of the time it stayed well and truly put.
As I started shooting I began to realise that the camera was struggling with the light. Even with an exposure of 30 seconds the ground was a bit dim, plus the sky was brightening and I was loosing the impact. Out came the ND grads and the flash and I finally got what I came for, and despite the winds, I had so much fun fighting them.
having packed up I started walking back to the car and suddenly saw a mitten someone had left on a bench for someone to find. The little lost item in pink and white reminded me of bagpuss. I’m not usually a fan of monochrome images with a single item of colour, but I thought it would work for this. I’ve also added the old photo filter in Gimp, in honour of the saggy old cloth cat from my childhood.
It started to rain just as I got back to the car. I may not have got the salmon pinks and golds I was looking for, but it was a great way to start the day and well worth it.
Neewer Wide and Telephoto Lens Review
Rule number 3: Photography is an expensive hobby
Rule number 4: but it doesn’t have to be.
Since digital SLR’s adopted the APS-C sized sensor, many film photographers converting to digital suddenly lost their wide angles. Like many, I liked my standard zoom to stretch to 24mm. Since manufacturers are a bit slow to catch up, the only other option is to buy an ultra wide angle zoom, but since they are rather expensive, (anyone else notice that lenses for a smaller sensor aren’t that smaller and are actually more expensive than they used to be for their 35mm equivalent?) I looked at a much cheaper option – Wide angle attachments.
The ones I went for were a package of wide angle and telephoto lens attachments in a 67mm thread. (Let’s face it. they’re really just filters that screw onto the front of a standard lens!) They’re available all over ebay and Amazon in a variety of filter sizes and prices.
First Impressions
The Neewer lenses are a pretty standard set and I imagine the same lenses will be offered under a number of different brands. They are boxed in a plain white box and each have a soft cloth case and front and rear caps, so not bad. They do weigh quite a bit and are fairly substantial.
Wide Angle Lens
Let’s start with the wide angle attachment. This is actually made up of two lenses, a wide angle one and a macro one. The macro lens can be used on its own, but the wide angle lens will only work in partnership with the macro lens.
This is where the old adage of ‘you get what you pay for’ comes in to play.
As you can see, there’s some serious vignetting and a real lack of sharpness at the edges. By the time you crop these out, you have less than what you would have had at 18mm. If you zoom in to remove the vignetting, you get to about 50mm and you end up with a strange zoom style motion blur that I really don’t find that pleasant.
I’ll be honest, If I wanted a blurry effect, I’d use a lensbaby.
Macro Lens
OK. So the wide angle lens is a bust. What about the macro lens?
I’ll admit that I’ve never really done macro well, and I’ve only one other macro lens to compare it too, but the other lens (a Sigma Macro filter) was sharper.
That’s not a bad result, but look at the full size crops below and you’ll see some nasty colour fringing at the edges as well as loss of sharpness. it does pick out some remarkable detail in the centre though.
- corner crop full size
I’d say the macro lens was an average one, and you’re likely to find much better close up filters for not much more.
Telephoto Lens
I didn’t really want the telephoto lens, but it came free for the same price other’s were selling the wide angle lens alone for. This really is a hefty attachment though and I wouldn’t be keen to have this on my lens on a regular basis.
Actually, the results weren’t too bad. A little edge softness compared to 105mm without the attachment, but not at all bad.
Conclusion
I guess I could have done this review in a couple of choice words, but that’s not exactly helpful. So, does rule number 4 come into play here? Can you buy these and save some money, or is it worth spending (much) more? In this case, I’d have to blunt and conclude that these lenses suck. Save up your money and buy an ultra-wide angle lens. There are Sigma and Tokina lenses available for a couple of hundred quid and if you’re real lucky, you’ll find a second hand bargain. Just don’t waste your money on these.
WeavingLight 