{"id":1473,"date":"2012-11-19T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2012-09-27T23:21:26","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T07:21:26","slug":"using-the-nifty-fifty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/?p=1473","title":{"rendered":"Using the Nifty Fifty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some photo instructors advocate using only a fifty millimeter<\/a> fixed focal length lens as a creative exercise<\/a>. A nice idea for an exercise, but I really did not want to do this while on an extended trip along the Alaskan and British Columbia coast by boat.<\/p>\n

\"Workshop\"<\/a>

The workshop at Lagoon Cove, British Columbia<\/p><\/div>I did not get a choice in the matter.<\/p>\n

Looking to pack light I had taken only three lenses to accompany the Canon 60D that would travel with me. This set included a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f\/4-5.6 IS USM Lens, a 70-200mm f\/4 L series telephoto, and a 50mm f\/1.8. The 50mm was almost left behind, I grabbed it on a whim while packing realizing that it took up very little room.<\/p>\n

It was a few days into the trip when trouble appeared. I began to get occasional errors when using the 17-85mm, the camera complaining about a lens communication error. After a day this became a serious issue, the camera refusing to take photos with the lens. The other lenses worked fine, thus I was sure the trouble was in the lens, not the camera.<\/p>\n

\"Tool<\/a>

Tools hanging at the ready in the tool shed at Lagoon Cove<\/p><\/div>Sitting down and experimenting, I discovered that the issue only occurred if I was attempting to stop down the lens, used wide open I had no problem. During a series of gray and dark days, this proved little issue, I just set for aperture priority and continued to shoot, with some loss of creative control.<\/p>\n

A couple more days and even that solution failed, the lens just jammed up entirely, with the aperture stop about halfway closed.<\/p>\n

I was down to the the telephoto and the 50mm… Time to get creative.<\/p>\n

I really missed the flexibility of a zoom and the 17mm wide angle in the close confines of the boat. The ability to go from wide to a moderate 85mm telephoto in a flash was a major issue when something popped up unexpectedly, something that happens on a boat in the wilds of Alaska.<\/p>\n

\"Shop<\/a>

All manner of supplies line the walls of the workshop at Lagoon Cove<\/p><\/div>I did have my little Canon G11 along, giving me some capability with a zoom lens. But I really wanted to shoot with the DSLR and the higher photo quality offered by the big lens and larger sensor when the photo really mattered.<\/p>\n

On an APS-C camera like the Canon 60D there is a 60% crop factor, converting a 50mm to a mild telephoto. This meant I had to control the field through positioning myself instead of adjusting the camera. I do wonder if I got better shots as I had to become more involved and plan the shot?<\/p>\n

I did take some great shots with the 50mm. Going through the 1,800+ photographs from the cruise I am quite happy with a number of them. An unintentional creative exercise, but a successful one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some photo instructors advocate using only a fifty millimeter fixed focal length lens as a creative exercise. A nice idea for an exercise, but I really did not want to do this while on an extended trip along the Alaskan … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[227,228],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2dWYW-nL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1473"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1478,"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions\/1478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nordicquest.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}