Canon 50mm f1.8

I got Canon 50mm as a kit lens of my 30D camera. At first, knowing nothing about lenses and SLRs, i had few complaints with this lens. It has no zoom. To get a group picture you need to move far from the group so you can fit everyone into the frame. It is very hard to get everything in the frame to focus (i don't know the technical term for it hehe).

So I read about lenses and learned about wide angle lenses. And one of the best selling canon wide angle lenses is the 17-40mm f40. I bought one at a discounted price expecting so much from it. To my frustration, I should have bought high end digital camera with wide angle lens instead. Well, i believe this can be a good lens depending on the subject of interest, only its not useful to me at this time.

Suddenly I like my Canon 50mm, it can do nice portraits easily and is much sharper than 17-40mm.

Elegant ferns-- using Canon 50mm. Composition is not good but its fine, i am satisfied.

Camera Lens - Basic Info

Here are basic info about lenses.

Lenses are classified into wide angle, normal and telephoto. It is measured by focal length (in mm). Digital cameras and camera phones mostly have wide angle lenses ranging from 8mm-35mm which is ideal for group pictures (taken within a short distance). For normal lens, like 50mm, you need few steps back from the group to get the same picture composition as the wide angle. And for zoom lenses you need to move away farther from the group to take the same composition. Basically thats the concept.

There are also two types of lenses -- prime and zoom. Primes has fixed focal lengths (no zoom- e.g. 50mm, 24mm) and zoom lenses has a range of focal lengths e.g. 14-70mm, 70-200mm which you can adjust instead of moving physically.

A shot during the foto fest. I was the last guy at the back but able to get some good shots. How? Using my 50mm lens. Its interesting how this lens can take picture through small openings. Here is a sample shot.


The blur on the lower right and upper left are actually the arms, ears, nose hehe of those in front. It was just a small opening to take this shot.

Below was taken from outside the cage but looks like I am inside the cage hehe. The screen is actually about 2x2 inches which is too small for my lens to sneak in.

Starfish.

Cameras Strictly Prohibited

I know most cinemas specially Ayala malls strictly prohibits still or video cameras inside movie houses. Obviously trying to prevent piracy. But can a still camera like my digital eos (no video or sound recording capability) can do movie piracy? If yes, i don't know how. So I though its not practical to surrender my camera.

And above is what i got hehe... shadowy image of Emma Watson. The timing is just bad.

Photoblogging

I was looking for idiots guide to photography but realized I don't actually need it at this stage. Although the original "idiots guide" is out of stock, all similar books are not useful to me. I thought I need to explore my camera first and learn by experience.

Above is G's bbq. Pork bbq sells at Php12 while chicken isaw at Php6. Is it clean? YES.

Camera Setting: High shutter speed (10-15) and medium ISO (100-500).

Here's another shot using high shutter speed. Birds generally fly with their feet stretched backwards and beaks open.

Street Photgraphy

Street Photography? Hehe.. sounds good. Pictures were taken somewhere in the suburb streets of Makati. A foreigner colleague asked me what game Filipinos love to play, and my instant answer is... Basketball. We are sticking on a game we all know malay/indones genes are no good. Asean nations are football fans... except us.

A familiar scene in almost every street of Manila specially during summer.



And every street corner has it's own grotto. I'm a catholic but it annoys me to see a grotto occupying the side walks. It's not legal and i think the street is not proper for such icons. Our grotto has counterpart in Thailand (a deity in mini thai temple) but they always put it in a sacred place near establishments or in their yards and not on the streets.





I have seen this in a nearby garage. A second hand BMW selling at 400K pesos. I am ignorant about cars and thats all i can say.




WARNING: If you are offended by dogs having sex on the street please STOP and click the left arrow at the top-left of your screen.














I warned you so.

This is a public market along Olympia, Makati. And that's the Ayala central business district at the back- maybe just a kilometer away. As foreigners often say Manila is a city of sharp contrast. Shanties standing near skyscrapers. So with the central business district of old Manila - Roxas Boulevard.

The good thing about this place is that they sell everything at a lower price and you can bargain (hehe of course nothing unusual)... Well it's a lot cheaper than getting it from SM or other supermarkets.


I like this shot, the contrast of pink and lively green.








Another shot. This thing grew up wildly crossing its owners fence towards the sidewalk.






Flower portrait. The best set up I can have with my 50mm lens. Same case, this flower crossed the "border" so I got this close up shot from the sidewalk.




My best shot so far. Click to enlarge.









I am excited with my camera and hoping for a better location and subjects soon.