OCOLOY Week 32

Monday 19th of October 2015

Weather this week: almost entirely rainy or heavily overcast. Most of these pictures were shot at ISO 2000; the lowest was at 400, and that had to be pushed a bit in Capture One.

Lens this week: Fuji 18 – 55mm! Yep, I decided this week I needed a break from the exclusive 35mm usage, as a sort of preview of things to come once I’m done with the OCOLOY project.

The 18 – 55 is odd. The stabilisation I find is mostly useful for keeping the viewfinder steady when composing at 55mm; for reducing the effects of camera shake during the exposure it doesn’t really seem all that effective, and in some cases actively makes things worse. Probably I’d be best turning it off and sticking with my usual 1/125 minimum Auto-ISO shutter speed.

And I know it shouldn’t really matter to me, but after getting used to the fabulous detail and sharpness rendered by the 35mm (and now 14mm), the 18 – 55 seems rather mediocre, although it’s pretty good in the middle, and I like that it focuses fast and quietly. I like having ‘absolute’ aperture rings, though, and I’m not yet sure how I feel about the zoom aspect, as shooting with one requires a different mindset than when using a prime: you need more self-discipline, to ensure you choose the best place to stand for the right perspective before thinking about how wide a field of view you want. It’s a little too easy with a zoom to just stand in one spot and use field of view to ‘compensate’. More options, more potential to choose poorly. That or spend longer trying to discover what works.

As an aside, this is what bothers me about the phrase ‘zooming with your feet’. Zooming in is completely unlike physically moving closer. The latter changes perspective, the former does not.

Blyburgate sign and Chinese shop Blyburgate and Chinese