Lens Talk

• 18 Comments

•


click to find prices on Tamron 18-270mm

A co-worker asked me today what would help him minimize the amount of lenses he needs to carry around during his travels. Although I'm a big fan of Canon products, I think Tamron has this area on lock. Personally on my travels, i’m carrying around the Tamron 18-270mm Di II (this is a newer version not to be mistaken with the older version). It mounts on the Canon 5D Mark II as an EF mount, auto-focus works, but you'll get crazy Vignette on that full frame. This lens will only work properly on cropped cameras. It also can't maintain an aperture throughout, and ends up at F/6.3, but the IS they have will help in slow shutter speeds. Something I don't worry too much about since these cameras are fairly clean with High ISO.

If you want to see a sample Video, the Video below was shot mainly with my Tamron 18-270mm. That's correct, the actual lens that's in my bag was on loan to my buddy Roland as he wandered around China.

Not the sharpest lens in the bag, but hey the Image Stabilization works wonders for both Photo and Video, and runs you only over $620.00 bucks. You can't complain about that type of range for that type of price. This is the Tamron 18-270 Di II lens that i'm using on my Canon 7D.

Below are examples I took while at the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate park. First shot is wide (there's a butterfly somewhere in the middle) and the second shot is zoomed in at 270mm handheld with their IS on. Click the images for the large version.


Above: Image shot on Canon 7D at 18mm


Above: Image shot on Canon 7D at 270mm


Click here to find Tamron 18-270 Di II lens that i'm using on my Canon 7D.

• 1 Comment

•

I sometimes rock my Black Rapids Dual Camera straps wearing two cameras at a time with one Wide Lens and one Zoom Lens. This way I won't need to swap lenses when i'm in the zone. It also looks quite macho too. You can purchase these Double Camera Straps by clicking here.

Anyways, i'm a fan of Lens Hoods. They serve more purpose than blocking out glare on the glass, they can also protect the glass or filters from bumping into things. When running around with those Black Rapid straps, it's easy to swing your camera into a table, chair, or concrete post! (Done that before). I found a bunch of them on eBay for fairly cheap. Click Here. You should make sure you get the correct filter size when buying these hoods.

So I placed an order this weekend for my new Canon 100mm IS Macro. (Going to replace my old 100mm Macro - up for sale BTW). I believe it was the last weekend of the available Canon Rebates. So now the price of the 100mm IS Macro jumped back up at least 80 dollars. So i'll need to rock some new Lens Hoods and I thought i'd give these Rubber Lens Hoods a try as suggested by DSLRVideoShooter.com (peep the video below).

Click here to check out some Cheaper Rubber Lens Hoods from eBay for as low as .99 Cents!

or Amazon.

• 1 Comment

•

click for larger version of Seattle Panoramic

The above image was something I quickly shot off the Pier across from Seattle. (Click the image above for a larger version) The original image stitched from 5 RAW 22 Megapixel images was HUGE!! I had to scale it down quite a bit for the web. For those who aren't rockin' big DSLR's, you can get very nice 100 Megapixel Panoramics from a decent point and shoot too. Just take several photos and stitch them together.

So now that many DSLR videographers are branching into Photography, I thought I'd share one of my favorite Panoramic tips. Photoshop has ways of stitching several photos together to make a Panoramic image, but in the past that feature didn't work so well. Using it Photoshop CS3 or newer works quite well, even in balancing exposure. The feature can be found in Photoshop by clicking File > Automate > Photomerge.

What you'll need to do is just take a series of photos from side to side (leaving a bit of overlay in between for cleaner stitching), and make sure you shoot the images in proper series so Photoshop can line them up from 1,2,3,4,5, and so on.

If you want even more professional looking panoramics, you need to find the 'No Parallax' point. The video below will explain this better, but you'll basically need a special tool to keep the center of the lens lined up. These special Panoramic heads also work pretty cool with Video too. You can find some common Panoramic Photogrphy Brackets by clicking here.

• 1 Comment

•


Video Details from Fabio Cunha:
A time-lapse experiment. 4020 shots used from more than 8000 shots. 1 shot for every 2 seconds interval. Canon 7D with Tamron 17-50mm 2.8. Cheap intervalometer and a crappy tripod.

I'm going to start doing this more often and share videos I like on my blog. Vimeo user Fabio Cunha created this Timelapse video of Los Angeles. Fabio messaged me back on my question and provides me with the exact Timelapse Intervalometer (Timelapse Remote) that was used in the video above for the Canon 7D. You can find the Intervalometer model below.

• 2 Comments

•

I was in Hawaii with the Canon 5D Mark II + 24-70mm F/2.8 and Circular Polarizer last year when I shot this. I was about to trash this video, but then remembers a few friends who had questions "Is a Polarizer worth it?, What do they do?" So here it is peeps and others who might be interested in the Before and After use of Polarizers on Lenses. The video shows the difference in how much contrast and saturation you can obtain. This is not the same as an ND filter that simply blocks light. These circular polarizers are designed to block light from a certain direction, so you turn them in front of the lens depending on the situation. Yes you can use these in combination with ND filters. These are also recommended with normal video camcorders and point and shoot cameras that can accept filters. These are not just for DSLR video and photo cameras. You just have to remember to get the right size for your lens.

cpl-filter
find-price-button Circular Polarizers for Photography and Video Camera Lenses