It was a bright, clear, and cool morning, so I took the new *istDS for a walk.
It was clear, bright, and cold this morning--so I decided to take the new camera with me for a quick walk through town. The whole story, properly formatted and whatnot, is on my livejournal: <http://www.livejournal.com/users/ouij>. I attach a version below: <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Brunellus/Digicam%20Test/DA%2018-55%20Walkaround/Courthouse18mm.jpg> Fairfax Courthouse. Pentax *istDS ISO200, Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. 18mm, 1/500th @ f/8. I take a lot of pictures of the courthouse--it happens to be my favorite test subject. I have to say that I've never really used a wide-angle lens before. It's funny that I should be so intrigued by the wide end of this zoom, which is really more like 28mm in full-frame 35mm. I've gotten so used to the 46 degree angle of view of a 50mm lens on my film bodies...so all of a sudden here's a lens that takes in 76 degrees, and I'm a bit disoriented by the whole experience. <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Brunellus/Digicam%20Test/DA%2018-55%20Walkaround/Courthousedoor18mm.jpg> Courthouse Door. Pentax *istDS ISO200, Pentax DA 18=55mm f/3.5-5.6. 18mm, 1/124th @ f/8 I'm not a scientific tester, but here's a bit of detail from the last image. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it all came out. I had originally thought that I'd take a whole set of treebark pictures (after the style of the Pentax Lens Gallery but I was too cold and shivery. Time to get a real tripod and some fingerless wool gloves. <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Brunellus/Digicam%20Test/DA%2018-55%20Walkaround/CourthousedoorDET.jpg> Detail, cropped from actual pixels, resized for web. Note cracks in the old paint, & the chain from which the light inside hangs I expected a bit of distortion at the wide end, and got it, especially close-up: <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Brunellus/Digicam%20Test/DA%2018-55%20Walkaround/plaque.jpg> Barrel distortion? 1/19th @ f/8, 18mm Flare performance was okay; the supplied hood does a good job of keeping stray light off the front element. However, I did decide to force some flare: removing the hood and shooting against the light produced these results: <http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/Brunellus/Digicam%20Test/DA%2018-55%20Walkaround/cannonflare.jpg> Flare. 18mm; 1/350th @ f/8. The sun was just out of the frame, and the hood was off. Green, six-bladed aperture ghost images and a bit of magenta cast. Impression: not a bad walkaround lens. Presently, this is my widest angle of view lens. I have yet to try and see what sort of weirdness I'm able to get when I mount it onto the MX. No aperture ring and some massive vignetting, I expect, but an 18mm f/3.5 has got to be worth a bit of fun. -Luigi -- "I need a camera to my eye To my eye, reminding Which lies I have been hiding which echoes belong" -Wilco, "Kamera" www.livejournal.com/users/ouij
