I have always had a soft spot for Tokina lenses. When I first got into photography, one of my absolute favorite lenses was the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 for my Canon DSLR. Amazingly built lens, great optics. Felt like a truly pro-grade lens for a reasonable price. Tokina recently entered the Micro 4/3 fray and has…
Pentax K-01 Announced – My Thoughts
Today, Pentax announced their large sensor entry into the mirrorless camera market. The camera has a 16 MP APS-C sized sensor, and that should be great. I’m sure image quality in this camera will be excellent. Where Pentax both succeeded and failed was with making the camera use the K-mount. The K-mount is the Pentax…
Finding Texaco
Here in Ohio, the Texaco brand is defunct. There are no current Texaco stations in the state, at least to my knowledge. However, every once in a while, you may pass by an old abandoned gas station, and they sort of look the same. Dilapidated, grungy, old. It is rare that you pass by a…
12 Lenses Spanning 50 Years Do Battle – Part 3
Today is the third of three parts in this lens comparison. See Part 1 for the evaluation of center sharpness as well as a description of the lenses. Part 2 looks at edge sharpness. In the previous two parts of this evaluation, I took a look at center and edge sharpness of these twelve lenses. Today…
12 Lenses Spanning 50 Years Do Battle – Part 2
Two days ago, I posted the first test between these twelve lenses. See Part 1 for that test. Part 1 also describes the lenses tested. Part 3 evaluates bokeh. Part 2 – Edge Sharpness While sharpness isn’t the most important metric of a lens, it is one that most people notice right away, and can…
Blue Droplets Frozen in Time
Today I finally did a little photographic project I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time. I’m sure most of you have seen pictures of water drops, perhaps you’ve tried it, perhaps you have always wondered how it’s done. Today I did it. It was a very simple setup. I put my camera…
12 Lenses Spanning 50 Years Do Battle
Ok, so they aren’t doing BATTLE per se. This is one of those lens tests that’s really just for fun….don’t take it too seriously, please. Part 2 is now up, and evaluates edge sharpness. See Part 3 for a look at bokeh. 50 Years of Lenses Over the years, I have accumulated a rather extensive…
5 Dos and 5 Don’ts for Beginning Photographers
You’re a photographer just getting serious about the craft… There’s so much gear, there’s so much information, there’s so many buttons! How do you settle down and get started, and most importantly, how do you get great pictures! I thought I’d put together this little list of five things that helped me progress from a…