Some New Gear for the Mid Year

On New Year's Day this year I posted a Blog entry titled Old Gear for the New Year. I related my "gear journey" up until that time and resolved "to stop thinking about gear so much and, having built a system that should be capable of some good photography, go and make some good photographs." My plan was to be using the same kit on July 1 as I was on January 1.

Well, not exactly. Lens wise, I did add an EF 50mm f/1.4 USM to use with full frame bodies as a setup for street photography. Then Canon came out with the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM, which is great for that kind of shooting, and which has replaced the 50mm. So, as far as lenses go, I have simply added the 40mm pancake to my bag since January 1.

WIth respect to camera bodies, changes were made to upgrade quality. When Canon announced the 5D Mark III and it began to become available it was time to get a 5D Mark II. The other change is that I recently replaced the 30D I picked up for sports and wildlife with a used 50D from LensRentals.com. So, instead of two 5D bodies and a 30D (which I wasn't actually using), I'm now using a 5D Mark II and a 50D. As was the case with the 30D and 5D bodies, these two cameras pair quite nicely as they are very similar in terms of interfaces and features. Both are two generations of processor upgrades and add features like live view shooting, automatic sensor cleaning, autofocus micro adjustments, etc.

One of the 5D bodies has been sold. The other will go to Canon for one of my free clean and check services and then will be sold. The 30D is a part of a separate kit, with the 50mm f/1.4, a Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM and a Canon Speedlite 270EX.

The day after the 50D arrived I walked around Peebles Island with my 300mm f/4 on the 50D and my 24-70 f/2.8 on the 5D Mark II. Here are two shots that show the extremes of my focal length/field of view options these days. The first shot is made with the 5D Mark II and the 24-70mm zoom lens at 24mm. The second shot is the 50D with the 300mm lens and 1.4X extender, the equivalent of 672mm with the crop sensor factored in. Both shots are centered on the old mill towers in Cohoes. These are the original images, no cropping.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

Canon EOS 50D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, EF 1.4X II, f/5.6 1/4000 sec.,  ISO 400

And, I did manage to capture a deer in the middle of a trail for my Peebles Island Trail Scenics Project. This was taken with the 50D and the 300mm lens and is not cropped at all. I probably should have either used f/4 or raised the ISO up to 800 or both. A shutter speed of 1/20 second is way to slow to be hand holding, even with an image stabilized lens. The shot is a bit fuzzy and probably wouldn't be suitable for a large print.

Canon EOS 50D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/20 sec., ISO 400