2026 Setup

I've rarely had gear transactions go so smoothly. MPB received my 24-105mm lens on Monday and I had my 85mm lens and battery grip by Friday. The 24mm lens, ordered on February 1st, the last day of the instant rebate, was ready for pickup at Best Buy on Friday although car exhaust issues delayed the actual pickup until Saturday. 

Photographing events will be a more deliberate process without the zoom lens but I'm fine with that. I plan on being more selective in what kind of events I spend time photographing and how I photograph them. My main focus will be a project starting in March involving the New York State rivers, lakes and streams that were the focus of people's lives in times long past and which still perform many of the same functions today. When the project gets going there will be a link in the sidebar to the right.

Until then, I expect to get out with this three prime kit in the Slingshot 202AW once the weather warms up a bit. There will be some muscle memory adjustments to be made, particularly involving the battery grip which I added so the camera doesn't move around in the bigger 202AW sling bag. There is also no need to have a hand on a lens without a zoom ring.

Here is the gear laid out and in the bag. Filters, batteries, etc. are in the top section and external pocket of the bag. The bag weighs a bit over 8 pounds.

Winter Waiting

This is a period of waiting. Waiting for some warmer weather. Waiting for my recent lens transactions to come to fruition. As I updated in a recent post, I will be using three prime lenses only in 2026. The RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM, the RF 45mm f/1.2 STM and the RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS STM.

I've been zoomless on a couple of occasions in the past but not with this collection of primes. The 45mm was only released in December although I have owned multiple copies of the other two lenses.

Here is a graphic from https://www.the-digital-picture.com/ showing the three lenses without lens hoods, which I will be using on all three. 

The inner barrels of all three lenses extend with closer focusing. The 45mm lens, which doesn't focus nearly as closely as the other two, keeps the inner barrel inside the body of the lens. You can see in the graphic above that at infinity focus the inner barrel of the 45mm lens is recessed inside the lens while the inner barrels of the other two lenses are flush with the lens body.

The extension on the other two lenses remains within the lens hoods when attached. Here is a graphic showing the lenses at closest focus.

While I wait for the 24mm and 85mm lenses to arrive, I've been out with the 45mm lens adding images to this winter's prime lens project at https://www.trulandphotography.com/Prime-Galleries/Winter-of-45. Here are some from Ground Hog Day.

RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 100

RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

Winter Settles In

Temperatures haven't been above freezing in my area since it reached 40 degrees on January 22nd, eight days ago. Most daytime high temperatures have been in the teens. Current forecasts going out ten days do not envision above freezing temperatures. I'm ready for spring.

It has been sunny lately and I've been out for some short walks in the local area although the routes have been somewhat limited by over a foot of snow left by the recent storm which seems likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

Here are some scenes from a recent walk over to Waterford.

Hudson River
RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

Shadow Selfie
RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

Waterford Harbor
RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

Peebles Island
RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/3000 sec., ISO 100

Peebles Island
RF 45mm f/1.2, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

Peebles Island
RF 45mm f/1.2, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100