Sunday, January 6, 2008


SASKATOON, CANADA. (January 2008). A few New Year's orchids from inside the climate-controlled Mendel Civic Conservatory, which makes for a nice reprieve from the prairie cold. Original photo properties: Olympus E-410 dSLR, OM Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f1.8 lens (100mm, 35mm equivalent), handheld, manual focus and exposure, matrix metering, 1/50s f1.8, ISO 200, 3648 x 2736 pixels, RAW.

6 comments:

  1. Nice shot! I like the bokeh. I'm glad to see you're (finally!) using your 50mm f/1.8 more often (and I'd be even gladder if you posted more often!). I'm toying with the idea of getting the cheap equivalent for my Canon ... But I'll probably go with the 85mm f/1.8 which'll be better for portraiture (and what I really want to get into more!).

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  2. Thanks, Soho! Yeah, I'm pleased with the bokeh from this lens, too. At f1.8, the depth of field is pretty shallow and it can be a bit tough to manual focus correctly, but I really couldn't have expected much more considering what I paid for it.

    What's the focal length multiplier for a Rebel again? 1.5x? 1.6x? Again, I don't know Canon lenses very well, but I don't think you can go wrong with either a 50mm or an 85mm. I find anything from 80mm to 135mm flattering for portraits anyway, so I guess it just comes down to a matter of personal preference regarding working space. I generally like my 50mm (which, with Oly's 2.0x multiplier, equates to 100mm on my E-410), but do sometimes find it a little long for certain indoor confines. The OM Zuiko 40mm f2.0 pancake would be ideal but apparently this lens still fetches premium prices on the used market.

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  3. I ended up caving this afternoon an ordering the 85mm f/1.8 USM. I cannot wait to get it into my hot little hands and shoot, shoot, SHOOT!

    Hmmmmm, "focal length multiplier"? Is that the same as crop factor... I think so? If so, then my Rebel XTi is 1.6 which means it'll be fantastic when I upgrade the body, but for now it'll be a bit of a tight squeeze indoors in cramped quarters.

    Gotta keep patient for a little while now, because I ordered the lens in the USA (cheap prices compared to Canada!). It's being shipped to family over there, and they won't be coming to visit here until February.

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  4. Congratulations on your new 85mm! You'll get plenty of great pictures with it, I'm sure. Happy shooting!

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  5. 85mm is a perfect head to shoulder portrait lens. I have a Hexanon f1.8 for my old Konica T2 and relatively new FS1. Both of them aren't digital though. I did quite a bit of children photography then and the results are splendid with a lens of that focal length. However let's skip the technical and get shooting. Let's see what you got.

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  6. Zhu, that Hexanon f1.8 would be a terrific lens on my Olympus E-410! Trying to get more shooting in but it's tough to find the time ...

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