the mystery of the unsharp lens!

There's nothing that defeats the joy of a new lens like lack of sharpness. I just bought a copy of the Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 second, and, like anyone else, immediately started playing with it. Now, I had heard quite a few things about how sharp this lens is supposed to be, and I know with 3rd party lenses, the quality can tend to vary, but I was still VERY disappointed with the photos kept turning up at soft at 2.8.

Then, a small epiphany! The lens had come with a Tifffen UV filter (a cheap brand). So I did a little experiment to test the sharpness (aside from cropping, all the photos are straight out of the camera).

Here we have the original, uncropped shot.

100% Crop @ 2.8 WITH filter

100% Crop @ 2.8 WITHOUT filter

Yikes! Look at the difference! That's the equivalent of wearing and not wearing glasses for me. 

Now to get comparable sharpness WITH the filter, I had to stop down to 3.5.

As you can see, even now, it's not quite as clean looking. What's more, the colour appears a bit washed out too, with the black looking more grey-ish. Plus, at 3.5, it pretty much defeats the purpose of a fast lens. 

Moral of the story? Don't stick a cheapo filter in front of an expensive lens. Invest some money to protect your glass and not compromise on quality. 

I'm just glad this comes with a hood :) 

rob bell memorial 2011

More photos of the Rob Bell here :)

backyard, literally.

The cat wouldn't stop meowing...turns out there was a visitor in the backyard :)

Mmmm, dinner!

Uh oh, the rabbit knows something's up.

Mmmm, dinner!

Lazy Sundays...

The cat has discovered the window can be a good sleeping spot :P

Canadian awesomness pt.2

why it's awesome to be Canadian.

Weekend trip to Jasper! Saw some goats, saw some sheep, saw some mountains, ate a lot of food, and got some pictures out of it, too ;) Full set will be on facebook soon.

Also, the Racketlon Tournament photos are up on facebook. Check it out!

Feedback is always appreciated :)


Athabasca River

Valley of the Five Lakes

These sheep really blend in well!

You lookin' at me?

Not many people have this as their backyard!