Hi All,
I'm just back from my visit to London, Manchester and Liverpool over the
Christmas and New Year.
During my trip to Milan, I couldn't get many shots in with my EF 50f1.4 . As
soon as I got back, I bought myself an EF 20-35 f3.5-4.5 USM, as suggested
by many members of this list. Excellent lens, with a feel that is nearly
like that of a classic MF lens. Also got the Canon lens hood and a Tiffen
filter with it.
This lens was very useful in London, and was the one used almost
exclusively, though I was also travelling with my 50mm and my Tamron 28-200
LD IF Super travel lens.
Before I left for my holiday, I took a few test shots with my 20-35mm. One
of a table with a chequered tablecloth. If any list members are interested,
mail me and I'll mail the photograph to you. It would give a good idea of
the coverage as well as the distortion produced by the lens (in both cases,
excellent).
I also took a test shot with a flash, the 380 EX, which can go only 24mm
wide.
My drawing room has white walls and a white celing, and I took a photograph
of the clear white wall from a distance of about 1.5m . The room was
absolutely dark, and the photograph was taken in P mode with a shutter speed
of 1/90s. The flash was not bounced.
The photograph came out exactly as expected: The central portion of the
photograph has an evenly exposed circle. It looks as if the shot is badly
viginetted, but its just that the flash wasn't wide enough. The diameter of
the circle is nearly as much as the height of the photograph, so you can get
an idea of how much was dark on the sides. It was shot on slide film, and
scanned by the developer to a JPEG. I can mail it to anyone who wants it
(tell me which resolution you want it at - 3K x 2K which comes to about 2MB
jpegs per photograph, or a smaller size at 500KB per photograph). Its a
useful photograph to get to know the limitations of your gear, what to
expect from it.
I have another photograph taken of the same wall at a distance of about
3.5m. You can ask for this one too.
I did some camera related shopping in London.
Got myself a shoe spirit level, which can fit onto your flash hotshoe. Very
well made little gizmo, I bought it from Jessops on New Oxford Street (get
off at Tottenham Ct. Rd. station and walk in the opposite direction from
Oxford Circus for 200 yds) for UKP 8.99.
Also in London, I managed to lose the 77mm Canon Lens cap for my 20-35 lens
(dropped it from a topless double-decker bus while leaning to take a
photograph of Westminister- if anyone of you finds it at Lambeth Palace bus
stop, you're welcome to keep it. Just let me know :-)
Jessops didn't have it. I trudged around Tottenham Ct. Rd and finally found
a replacement cap in a place called West End Camera.
They also had an EOS 5, which the shop owner convinced me was the camera I
should have (he disapproved of me mounting my 50mm and 20-35mm on my 500N
:-). Tried to sell it to me for UKP 299. If any of you are interested, he
may still have it. I think it was a display piece, but looked to be in
excellent condition. The shop also had other useful EOS knickknacks, like an
dioptre adjustment eyepiece.
I also found another shop, Kingsley Photographic, 93 Tottenham Court Road,
it was across the road from West End Camera, in the direction of Oxford St.
The person there, Neil, and was extremely helpful. The shop had a wide range
of tripods and bags, and odds and ends available.
Also bought lens cap holders from Jessops for UKP 2.99 (they stick to the
lens cap on one end, and the other end has an elastic band to go around the
lens itself, so you don't have to worry about losing your lens cover like me
:)
I also needed a camera bag, but a Lowepro Mini Trekker was around UKP 90 in
London. I got back to Helsinki and bought it from my local camera shop for
FIM 535 (about UKP 53). Nice bag, tons of seperators, very comfortable to
wear.
I managed to fit my camera with the tripod grip, mounted 20-35, a 50mm f1.4
and the Tamron 28-200, a 380EX, the AA/R6 battery pack for my 500N, a small
flashlight, my homemade cable release, the lens hood for the 20-35, some
batteries and the spirit level into it. Still has space for more stuff.
This is the new Mini Trekker, with a tripod holder on the outside. Till now,
I was very happy with my tripod, which was light and compact and about 4'6"
tall. With this bag, I feel I can lug a larger (taller), heavier (more
stable) tripod around. I remember giving some advice on this list a few
weeks back to someone who wanted to buy a tripod and suggested that he go
for something light enough that he wouldn't mind taking everywhere. With
this bag, lightness and small size isn't a big criteria anymore because it
becomes so easy to carry a bigger tripod.
The same shop also had a used EOS 6xx. It was an excellent camera, really
fast FPS, a good feel, spot metering and aperture stop down button. The user
interface was very different from what I'm used to for an EOS, but it still
felt like a very good camera.
Finally, lets get to a question I have: This shop also has a bunch of Fuji
MS100/1000 slide film. It expired in April 2000, and he's giving it really
cheap. What are the disadvantages to using this film ? I don't do any really
critical work. If I get this film and use it, what should I be careful
about?
Also, I have 3-4 rolls of Fuji Provia 100 slide film, which expire 01/2000.
I think I should use them quickly, but how much do you think I would suffer
it I instead took till about Feb-March to use them ?
Thats all for now, hoping for some answers on the topic of expired film-
Couldn't find much on the net about it.
Cheers,
Shashvat
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