JayKnight Life: Running, Reviews, Photos

   Technology is always evolving. If you don't keep up with it, you will get left behind. Computers are obsolete within nine months to 18 months. Cell phone companies come out with new models every six months in some cases. Automakers come out with a new model every year. In a similar way, Photography has advanced leaps and bounds since its early days. But i feel like the progress has accelerate in the last two decades.  The Canon EOS 630 is evidence of that evolution to me.       I remember my first point and shoot camera had a disposable flash. Anybody remember that? These things had a flash with 10 or 12 lights in them that basically burned out after one flash.... and smelled like a pop/cap gun had gone off. I kinda wish I could find one of those. But I'm pretty sure they don't make them any more.     My mom had an old Polaroid Camera that I thought was cool because you didn't have to take it to a store to be developed. But you still had to ...

   OK, Cool so, I'm doing this review on the Cannon 70-200mm 4L.  To most people this is just another lens. It's not an iPhone 5, an iPad. Camera lenses  are cool to photographers (amatuer and professional) and a hard sell to anyone that doesn't use a camera often.      When I upgraded from the SX20is to the T3i there was at least one person that said.... "I thought your other camera was working just fine for you."       But anyway on to the review. Before I bought the lens I did a lot of research to make sure it would fit my style, improve my pictures, give me more flexibility or even just allow me to get the shot i wanted when i needed it. I'm sure a lot of photographers can agree to this... We're spoiled. We want what we want no matter how hard someone says it'll be to get. (that applies to my day job as a tv producer too)     So why does this fit into my camera bag ?    ...

      So, I admit that I have a problem. I've gotten into the habit of taking my camera with me everywhere. No, I'm not talking about my iPhone... I'm carrying this huge DSLR around with me. I'm still a little inconspicuous because I don't have one of those professional "L" lenses (the big long white ones with the red ring.) So, here's a few reasons why I'm lugging it around.     1. I'm Crazy     2. I want to be prepared if I want or need to take a picture     3. Networking,        The problem (or benefit) to lugging this camera around with me all the time is that I'm always thinking about what I could capture in the lens. So, a walk in the park isn't just a walk in the park any more. It's a photo-op for anything, everyone and at any moment. I pick on the park because there are times and places when I have to leave the thing behind (malls, schools, hospitals, church -- well sometimes.) The main reason -not listed abo...

50mm lens w/Opteka semi-fisheye lens 50mm Lens (same distance)       So, I've been playing with my Opteka, HD2 Macro- semi-fisheye lens.. and learning some new and magnificent things. To get the true fisheye look I have to pair the lens attachment up with the 15-55 kit lens that came with the T3i... but I've always wanted to use it with my 50mm lens. Why?.. well for one thing it's one of the best lenses ever. I love the bokeh of the lens... the sharpness of the lens and i love that I can take pictures from f1.8 all the way up to f22. So, when I paired the lens up with the 50mm, i thought that i could put it down to the lowest aperture and shoot away-- i was wrong. What I got was some weird blurry fuzzy looking pictures. Why do i say weird.. because everything looked clear in the viewfinder... but not so much when i switched to live view or snapped the picture. So, again.. not knowing too much about what I was doing .. I put that idea aside for a little while-- u...

 A couple of shots that I haven't had a chance to post yet from a couple of weeks ago. This is from the top of East Rock in New Haven. I'm not only trying out Canon's raw photo format, but I was also trying out a semi-fisheye lens from Opteka. It basically just screws onto the end of the lens. I like the effect in some cases, but it has it's limits. The attachment causes a lot of color fringing and blurring around the edges of the photograph. Bokeh is still good, ... but if you try to zoom out too much you'll see the edges of the lens. it's actually pretty good for close-up shots and for very wide angle landscape shots. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect it would make for some cook videos. That might be all I use it for in the end. I'm more looking forward to getting a Sigma or Tamron 18-200. The Opeteka wide angle was screwed onto the end of the 55-70 that came with the camera.

    These pictures were shot with on My new Canon 600D (3Ti), but with an old 50mm lens from my dads old film camera. This thing takes some amazing pictures. In some of these shots the aperture is way down to 1.8. I had to back it up to 2.0 to get his hole face in focus. I can't wait until it stops raining so I can take this thing out for a test drive. The depth of field or bokeh is great. You can't even see how messy or clean my house is.      I also want to play with the lens that came in the kit, an old 70 - 200mm telephoto.. and some macro lens attachments. So, stay tuned!