11March2010
Canon EF 35-105mm F/4.5-5.6 dSLR Lens Review
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: lens reviews; reviews.
First, a short story. The reason why I shoot with a Canon dSLR, the EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT, is because last year I spotted an EOS 50e film camera going cheap at our local Sunday Morning car boot sale. The 50e had an EF lens, which I knew would work with a digital body, so I got it for a song and planned on buying a second hand digital back and using the 50e’s lens on it.
That lens was the EF 28-80mm f3.5-5.6. When I got my 350d from eBay, the 28-80 served me well, but a few months ago the Auto-Focus started to stick. I’d line up a subject, press the shutter release half-way down and nothing would happen. I’d have to fiddle with the front element to free the AF, and the camera would focus, but this quickly became a pain and I stopped using this useful little zoom.
I’ve since expanded my lens collection with the 50mm f/1.8, the 28mm f/2.8, the 75-300 f4-5.6 and numerous M42 lenses, but I’ve always missed a general purpose walk-around zoom for those times when I don’t want to be lens juggling with a bag full of primes.
Being on a tight budget means that a new lens would be out of the question, so I kept my eye on eBay looking for a Canon zoom going cheap, and I got the 35-105mm for about £36. It doesn’t get the greatest reviews, but we all know that to get the best out of any glass you need to use it a couple of stops down from wide open and not at the extremes of the focal length.
I’ve been out with the Canon EF 35-105mm f4.5-5.6 quite a few times now, and I have to say I’m impressed. It seems like a solid piece of kit, that as long as you know its limitations (the aperture mainly), you’ll be able to make very nice photographs indeed. Lets look at some of the shots I’ve taken so far.
(Remember that these are not test shots. These photographs have been edited in Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop and Nik Silver Efex Pro to produce a final image.)
Being a budget lens, the 35-105mm is a bit plasticky. This at least means it’s light, so as a walk-around lens you’re not going to be getting neck-ache. It’s biggest drawback is the slow aperture. f/5.6 at the long end is not that much light, so high-ISO’s or a tripod are the order of the day to avoid camera shake.
Auto-focus is responsive enough, if a little noisy. The front element rotates when focussing, so If you’re using a Polarising or a Grad filter you’ve have to re-adjust them after you’ve focussed on your subject, but that’s common to most cheap zooms.
Let’s get back to the main strength of the 35-105mm – its focal length. You’ve got a great range, from wide to telephoto, although on a crop-sensor body like my 350d, the wide end has a 35mm equivalent of about 55mm, which means that I’ve got to get my 28mm out if I want a really wide angle of view.
Where I thought this lens was superb was when I put it on my 50e Film SLR. Being full frame (duh!), the 35mm is really wide, and I enjoyed walking around shooting with this lens on the old Canon Film SLR, and I can’t wait to get the film developed.
Obviously if you’ve got the cash I’d recommend a newer IS or Image Stabilised lens, but if you’re on a budget like me, these cheap Canon Zooms are a practical solution. Hey, at this price, if it breaks it’s not the end of the world anyway.
My technique for grabbing a bargain lens on eBay is simple. Do some research. Decide on the focal length you want and how much those lenses are new on Amazon, so you don’t get sucked into over-paying for a second-hand one. Set your budget, then every night do a search on eBay, looking at items ending that night and newly listed. If you see a newly listed without any bidders, send the buyer an email offering to “buy it now” at a reasonable price. If you’ve got to get involved in an auction, use a service like Gixen to bid for you at the last moment so you don’t get involved in a bidding war. I’ll say it again, always know what the equivalent, new, lenses are going for on Amazon so you don’t overpay for an old lens when you could have got a new one, with a warranty, for a similar price.
At the end of the day any lens is only as good as the photographs it produces, so click on the link underneath the picture below and have a look at it, at its original size. The shot was taken on a tripod and I think the overall quality is good enough, especially the detail in the parts of the Fort you can see at the end of the moat.
In conclusion, I really like the Canon EF 35-105mm F/4.5-5.6 zoom lens. It’s good enough for what I need, and the price was right. Recommended!
Cheers, Rob.
12January2010
Pre Photowalk Bag and Camera Checklist – Canon EOS 350d / Digital Rebel XT
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: articles; technique.
W – White Balance. Are you set to AUTO?
I – ISO. Have you returned your camera to its base settings? (Normally 100 / 200).
F – Focus. Is your lens set to auto-focus? Are you using single shot or continuous focusing?
E – Exposure. Are you in the right mode? Are you at an aperture or shutter speed that will be right as soon as you turn your camera on?
Also check that you’re shooting RAW, you’ve formatted your card, your batteries are charged, and you’ve got spares in your bag.
Cheers, Rob.
4October2009
Old Canon Eos 350d / Rebel XT Commercial
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: news.
Hey! Thats my camera!
29July2009
Wishlist: Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Wide Angle Lens
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: wish list.
Alright, alright, I know I was warned about this when I bought a dSLR, and I admit it, I’ve got Lens envy.
As you’re probably aware, I’m using an old Pentacon 29mm F2.8 M42 manual lens on my Canon EOS 350d / Rebel XT at the mo’, as my wide-angle lens, and there’s nothing really wrong with it. What I have found however is that squinting through the 350d’s small viewfinder while trying to focus manually is a bit of a pain, and when I want to change to my 50mm F1.8 Canon lens I’ve got to go through the hassle of changing the adapter ring that lets my Canon take the old M42 lenses.
The Canon 50mm F1.8 is a great lens, the auto-focus is fast, it’s sharp, and the huge aperture leads to great boka and low-light capability, but it is a little long. When composing landscapes the 50mm throws me into the scene a little too much, and sometimes I can’t back up enough to get the framing I want.
This is where the Canon 28mm f2.8 comes in. More like a 50mm on a crop-sensor camera like my 350d / Rebel XT, the 28mm gives that little extra angle of view that I crave.
The 28mm is a prime lens – that is, it’s a fixed focal length, no zooming here, but that’s what enables it to be so fast (a big hole to let lots of light in), at a relatively affordable (around £200 in the UK – a lot cheaper in the US) price.
So there we go. I can’t afford it at the moment, but this lens seems to be my next logical choice – and then perhaps the Canon EF 135mm f/2.8SF? 
Cheers, Rob.
30June2009
Canon EOS 350D Noise Ninja Profiles For Free Download
Posted by Rob_Nunn under: news.
As an occasional user of the Noise Ninja noise reduction software, usually in the Photoshop plug-in form, I took half an hour a couple of days ago to create some custom profiles for the Canon EOS 350D Digital SLR.
They consist of basic profiles, ISO 100 – 1600, taken with a 50mm F1.8 lens, with no exposure compensation, using the Noise Ninja Chart displayed on my monitor.
To install them, save the profiles to your hard-drive, unzip them, fire up Noise Ninja, then click “Profiles”, “Install Profiles” and point the browser at the folder where you’ve unzipped the files.
Download the Canon EOS 350d Noise Ninja Profiles here.
Cheers, Rob.
