Check out this link on UV filters. After a blurb on UV light and its effects, they test the best and score them according to UV ray reduction. One thing that they don’t test is durability… UV Filter Test

We have been busy adding new images to the stock inventory! Here is a sample of our portfolio:

Sequoia National Park

A great lens, not quite as good as the new Leica 18mm, but much, much cheaper. This test was done on a Sony NEX 5n, so it will not represent true corner performance on a full frame. You can get an ides of the lenses characteristics though. The lens itself is tiny, it weighs 350g and is 71mm long. Distortion is well controlled, you can expect some lateral chromatic aberration in the corners, but it is easily corrected. Specs:

Yep its quite a mouthful, but the Contax 17-35mm N Mount – EOS conversion lens offers very good wide angle performance on the Canon SLR. Its a big lens, that is no lightweight, weighing in at 900g or 2lbs! it requires 95mm filters. Optical performance is very good for a wide angle zoom, it is not perfect, with somewhat softer corners at wide apertures. With one or two exceptions this type of wide angle zoom performancer is the norm for almost all manufacturers. Lets talk about the good, and there is plenty of that Zeiss look! The lens renders with that 3d zeiss look that we all like! It shows great macro contrast, good shadow illumination and reasonable chromatic abberations or CA for short. CA is almost a non event these days, and lightroom deals with very well. Wide open at 17mm you can expect a full stop of fall off (vignetting) this decreases to about 2/3rds of a stop at F8. Fall off at 35mm is less, with about 2/3rds of a stop wide open and a little less than 1/3rd of a stop at F8.

Sample images for the Contax Planar 50mm F/1.4 EOS conversion are being added I am working on a Photographer based review. This lens has all the benefits of the classical planar design, and full autofocus and auto aperture! More to come.

Here we have a very good review of UV and Polarizing filters by Lenstip. They even comment on the usability, and flare associated with each filter. All in all a very good test, and one that could save you a LOT of money!

UV Test Page

Polarizer Test Page

Getting Ready

Ah the joys of Travel in this modern era. Today. getting ready for any trip requires a ton of preparation. What lenses do I take, which camera bodies, how much weight am I willing to pack around, what to check, which bags – well you get the idea.

The first thing that you need to do is make a list of the places that you want to shoot. Once you have this list, then get a map and plan the best route. Do this east to west, north to south or the opposite, so that you can change your route at the last-minute, according to weather.

Next, I try to create a shortlist of hotels for each location where I plan to stay. This is usually determined by either sunrise or sunset shooting, or both. Remember to get their addresses prior to leaving. Driving should be planned at the poorest light time (usually the middle of the day), and do not under-estimate the time required to travel short distances in other countries, I have seen 250km take 7 hours in India for example. If you are planning to drive, then a portable navigation device is a must. You can preload destinations, shoot locations, and add tons of other valuable info.

I then check Internet sites such as pbase against my list of locations. These websites are excellent for finding out what locations, lenses and focal lengths that have been previously used by other photographers. Also remember to check out Google images, it can help with unique viewpoints. Check out each location with Google maps, this can tell you compass orientation for sunrise and sunset. I also use this for mapping locations for set up.

Buy a guide book before you leave, personally, I like DK books, but you may have a favourite. These books are invaluable for guiding taxi drivers, guides etc… Consider a few Apps for your smart phone, I find citymaps2go invaluable