on May 17th, 2007Downtown LaFayette
I went down to LaFayette Georgia today to do some computer work for my mother. After upgrading her RAM and tweaking some network settings I grabbed my camera and went out for a little walk. Downtown LaFayette is pretty close to what you would expect Mayberry to look like in the mid 80’s except with some newer cars. I love photo-exploring; however, I never know what camera equipment to take with me. My pack holds much more than I would ever actually use. From my past experience I have noticed that the two lenses I use almost exclusively are my 17-50 f2.8 Tamron and a 75-300 f4-5.6 Canon lens. Today I grabbed my laptop bag because it is much lighter and put the long lens in it and went out with my Tamron on my camera. I never changed the lenses while I was out. If I was psychic I could have just left everything else in my car.
In case you were wondering this is what I carry in my photo bag.
- Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT – black with battery grip for my large hands.
- Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD >– I love this lens. This is the best lens I have ever owned.
- Canon EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 II – in a carry bag that came with it.
- Sigma EF 28-135mm F/3.8-5.6 Macro IF – the Macro label is misleading, it meary means there is a switch that lets it focus closer only at 136mm.
- Canon EF 80-200mm F/4.5-5.6 II – this lens is more than duplicated by the 75-300, but since the longer lens is technically a borrowed lens I keep the other one with me also.
- Canon EF 28-80mm F/3.5-5.6 V USM – this lens is also duplicated by the Sigma, but for somethings it has very nice quality and is much smaller and lighter.
- Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 – this lens is very old and until I purchased the Tamron above earlier this year was my go to low light and large aperture lens – for the record this is a Mark I and it is old enough to still have the Passed JCII seal on it.
- Original Lensbaby – this lens is also borrowed and one day I may even master it enough to have useable photographs from it.
- Quantaray MF 500mm F/8.0 Mirror Lens – this one also lives in a carry bag. I don’t know why I keep it in the bag it isn’t worth protecting. The thing is a hunk of junk. I suppose thought that if I ever needed a tripoded shot at F.8.0, no other apertures at all, and at 500mm it might work. Keep in mind though that with the Digital APS-C size conversion factor this lens is like a 800mm lens on a 35mm Camera.
- Canon Speedlight 380EX – this flash is almost a decade old. I feel absolutly no need to replace it because I don’t like flash photography. I suppose one day I will have to learn to live with it, but that day is not today.
- Canon EOS Elane IIe – this is my backup camera. A back up digital camera is just too expensive right now.
- I also carry various filters, cables, and memory cards.
Now you see why I don’t like to carry my whole pack around with me everywhere I go. With that being said; would anyone like to by a 500mm Mirror Lens?
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