New Toy

One thing about photography…it’s an expensive habit! It’s very difficult not to get pulled into the trap of always wanting the next bit of kit. I got my latest addition yesterday when my new 85mm 1.8 lens arrived from Hong Kong (I buy all my photography supplies from eBay…no way I’m going to get ripped off by the camera shops here!). I got to try it out for a few minutes this evening in the garden and I love it! The photographs are just so sharp compared to what I’ve been able to get with my wide-angle.

So to break the long blog silence, here are a few of the shots I took…

She really wasn’t in a smiling mood, she told me “all finished, Eve tired.”:

Long Suffering

The wide aperture (that’s the 1.8 bit and means the shutter can open up really wide and fast) means I can get small areas of the photo in focus while the rest blurs away. I couldn’t have gotten this effect with my wide angle:

Huff

8 Responses to "New Toy"

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  1. aquaasho

    April 28, 2007 at 12:01 am

    So beautiful!

  2. Angelina

    April 28, 2007 at 6:28 am

    Wow Claire, those are gorgeous! It looks like that lens was well worth the expense. And as always, Eve is too cute, even when she doesn’t feel like cracking a smile :)

  3. One Way

    April 28, 2007 at 11:35 am

    Those colours are amazingly sharp; just shows what a prime lens can do. I love the sharpness on the second one especially. I too have just bought a 1.8 lens (a 50mm) and I’m really looking forward to using it as I’ve only ever used cheap zoom lenses in the past.

  4. omaniblog

    April 29, 2007 at 12:18 am

    I love the dandelion shot. Absolutely love it. I wish even more that I could have been one of the lucky ones.

  5. John of Dublin

    April 29, 2007 at 9:47 pm

    Yes, as mentioned on Flickr, it’s a great lens for portraits. Ideal distance from the subject to avoid facial distortions and the extra aperture gives you good light to work with and a nice tight depth of field not always enjoyed on portraits by digital SLRs. The dandelion shot shows this up quite well – especially considering you were likely taking this from maybe up to 3 metres away. I’m sure the optics are much sharper too being a fixed focal length lens. A very good lens choice – Eve will only thank you for it when she is older!

  6. John Cav

    April 30, 2007 at 12:46 am

    Beautiful shots there. Especially the second one. The sharpness of the dandelion is pretty impressive. There truly is nothing better than a nice new toy!

  7. Susan

    May 10, 2007 at 9:12 pm

    gorgeous shots of your daughter – do u shoot other people’s kids professionally? Love the dandalion shot and loads of your previous ones. Susan

  8. gingerpixel

    May 10, 2007 at 9:55 pm

    Hi Susan, thank you and yes, as a matter of fact, I have just started to take shots of other people’s kids professionally :)