Thursday, April 17, 2008

Sky Watch Friday: First Shots With A Different Lens


Canon 40-D: 17-40mmF4L 1/90 sec. f8 ISO 100

I finally decided it was time to upgrade from the 28-135mm Canon EF that I purchased shortly after I got my first digital SLR. While that lens is an excellent value for the price, it does not compare in construction quality to the Canon L telephotos that I am used to using and the image quality while good is nothing to be excited about.

It was a hard decision between the Canon 24-105F4 L and the 17-40F4L, but I was able to find a used 17-40mm in good condition. I especially liked the option of having more on the wide angle end as 24mm was not that much less than 28mm. It didn't hurt that this lens was only slightly more than 1/2 the price of a new 24-105.

Reviews indicated that is not the sharpest lens in Canon's arsenal, but that it does acceptably well especially if one uses unsharp mask in Photoshop. So far, I have found this to be true. All in all I am pleased with the lens and look forward to using it extensively.

27 comments:

Trish ~ ♥ ~ said...

nice shot of the PA sky!

ellen b. said...

Beautiful and dramatic sky! Happy weekend.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Willard: What a great capture, that tree is really special in the scene.

Champ Townboy said...

Nice shot!!

dot said...

Thats a great shot!

Michele said...

I feel it is a stunning shot and I love the perspective of the photo... very nice colors.
The Rocky Mountain Retreat

Lilli & Nevada said...

a very dramatic sky capture

Snap Catch said...

great catch! In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west, the people create distinctions out of their own minds and then beleive them to be true…. mine’s up too hope you can drop by

Daniel J Santos said...

Beautiful image, well done.

Tom said...

Way to go Willard...
This is a beauty,love the trees and the sky in this.. it really seems to go on for ever and stay clear to the left there.. I look forward more each week to Sky Watch and seeing what folk post.
Cheers for joining in again
Tom

FO - 2 said...

Beautiful secene.
Lovely! :)

Ida

Anonymous said...

When I started scrolling down and saw this I just said ... wow!
This is a beauty, it's just like seeing perfection!
Love the trees and the sky in this

SandyCarlson said...

Enjoy the new camera! This is a wonderful sky. I love the way the tree limb continues the line of cloud. Gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

That new lens is doing a nice job, Willard.

DeeMom said...

SO neat getting new stuff for your camera

Great picture

Pernille said...

Beautiful photo. I love the tree against the beautiful sky. Nice job:)

Unknown said...

Great sky shot! Very good composition.

Misty DawnS said...

This is a fantastic photo. I've got a lot to learn from you after I get that professional camera.

Hope to see your critter photo for Camera-Critters this weekend.

Ramosforest.Environment said...

Excelent shot. Good explanation.

Petunia said...

This is great! well done!
Sorry I haven't got the time to visit you earlier.
Have a nice weekend!
Petunia's Sky Watch

Anonymous said...

Very nice composition Willard! I like that "hairy" tree in the dusk.

I use my 17-40 f/4 "L" lens quite often, but find that mine is optically the sharpest at f/8 & f/11. I use it when I only want to carry one wide angle zoom rather than a couple of wide primes. Of course, for the "good" photos, only primes will do. It's amazing though how much the optical quality of zooms have improved in the last few decades.

Like you, I debated between the 24-104 and found mine used at KEH. That's a very good price you got!

Dottie said...

I love that shot.

Kerri Farley said...

A Great shot, Willard! Perfect Skywatch!

Andree said...

What I love about this photo is how it sweeps my eye from top right to bottom left as the color changes. It is very dramatic. I've been so crazy with spring here that I am trying to catch up with SWF (which is HUGE now!). So I was so happy to see this!

Thank you for coming again and for your praise. From a photographer such as you, it is very meaningful.

http://meeyauw-pad.blogspot.com/2008/04/sky-watch-friday-home.html

Sharon said...

I don't know how I missed this beautiful photo Friday! Wonderful colors.

Marvin said...

Beautiful.

Sand said...

Beautiful sky, the tree is amazing! I really like the composition of the photo!